What is it about?
Millions of Americans are regularly unable to pay their energy bills. For these Americans, avoiding being shut off from their electricity service is a daily challenge and one that requires them to take financial and behavioral risks, such as acquiring utility debt or burning trash to generate heat. In this article, we evaluate the incidence and predictors of household use of these strategies and offer policy recommendations to better target particularly vulnerable households.
Featured Image
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
Why is it important?
In this study, we find coping strategies to be prevalent and often used in combination. We also find that households with young children and those with individuals who rely on electricity to power their medical devices are more likely to use these coping techniques, as are households with deficient housing conditions. There are, however, efforts that the government can undertake to help these especially vulnerable populations.
Perspectives
This research underscores how difficult the trade-offs are that low-income and energy insecure families must make to keep their heat and lights on.
Sanya Carley
Indiana University Bloomington
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Behavioral and financial coping strategies among energy-insecure households, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2205356119.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
