Contributed by Duane S. Baldwin, Vice President, Advanced Energy at TRC
The most recent study of household energy burdens by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) confirmed a major challenge that every utility is wrestling with — low-income households are struggling to afford the energy they need to heat and cool their homes, cook their meals, do their laundry and meet other daily needs.
The ACEEE study of data from the Department of Energy reported that low-income households were paying three times as much of their income on energy than other households, with an energy burden that is above the 6% threshold used by the DOE as a benchmark. The numbers are sobering. A quarter of all U.S. households have a high energy burden, and 13% of households have a severe energy burden that is more than 10% of their income. This puts energy costs in direct conflict with these families’ ability to afford housing, food, healthcare, and other necessities.
That ACEEE report was based on data available as of 2021. Given the sustained inflation that the U.S. economy has experienced over the past two years, it is safe to assume the next study will show that these statistics have gotten even worse. Every utility I talk to is seeing higher numbers of households with unpaid bills, and I am hearing more discussions in the industry about how the energy burden is likely causing a surge of decisions that create unhealthy home environments, including the inability to cool homes during heat waves, with residents resorting to heating homes with open ovens during the winter, and more. Rising energy burdens are forcing too many families into impossible financial situations and unhealthy living conditions.
More than ever, utilities in the industry need energy equity programs to address these issues, relieve the financial pressures on these families, help them have safer, healthier homes, and benefit from greener energy. But even more importantly, our industry needs successful energy equity programs to help more families. Launching programs isn’t enough. We need to ensure that they are designed to truly succeed.
Renewable Energy World has done an excellent job of providing a platform for an ongoing industry discussion about how to make these programs successful. Two examples that stood out to me are this article by Dr. Matthew Slavin and this article by Kari Lydersen earlier this year. Both discuss the importance of lowering the barriers to renewable energy solutions for low-income households and overcoming obstacles to the growth of community solar programs. To add to this discussion, I want to share something I discuss with every renewable energy team that I have the opportunity to talk with: Trust matters. In order to build momentum with renewable initiatives that are part of energy equity programs, you have to build trust first.
For so many low-income households, their most frequent interactions with utilities may be for overdue notices or shut-off warnings. For these families, the day that their utility bill arrives is a stressful day where they may face a Sophie’s Choice-type decision between paying that bill or buying groceries. This can erode trust between these customers and their utilities, which fuels an antagonistic relationship. This is a major obstacle to energy equity programs, which depend on open communication and trust. For utilities to be able to get to a point where they can advocate for programs like community solar and EVs, they must first build trust incrementally.
To illustrate this, I will share lessons from energy equity programs operated in Massachusetts by the sponsors of Mass Save and Duke Energy. Mass Save is a collaborative of Massachusetts’ electric and natural gas utilities and energy efficiency service providers including Berkshire Gas, Cape Light Compact, Eversource, Liberty, National Grid, and Unitil. It empowers residents, businesses, and communities to make energy efficiency upgrades by offering a wide range of services, rebates, incentives, trainings, and information. Thanks to the Green Communities Act of 2008, Massachusetts utilities and energy efficiency service providers that sponsor Mass Save are required by the state to provide energy efficiency programs to their customers.
The sponsors of Mass Save have a collective focus on energy equity, and identified an initial list of more than 30 communities with high concentrations of low and moderate-income households. These households are intentionally selected for enhanced incentives to help reduce barriers to adopting energy efficiency measures, which can ultimately lower their monthly utility bills. That number has grown to 51 communities today. The program was strategically designed with a crawl-walk-run approach that ranged from low/no cost basic weatherizing and HVAC equipment maintenance to more advanced offerings such as upgrades to battery-powered yard maintenance equipment and appliance upgrades.
But what proved to be just as important as the design of the offerings was the Mass Save sponsors’ strategy for building trust and communication with these households. The centerpiece of their strategy was the Community First Partnership Program, which established partnerships with dozens of community groups, local organizations, churches and others who already have deep ties to residents of the community. These partnerships helped overcome not only trust challenges but also language barriers and complex work schedules of people who may work multiple jobs and be difficult to reach. These were also critical for helping residents to understand that programs called low-cost or no-cost would truly be low-cost or no-cost, rather than something that would be a financial trap. These partnerships established the trust that was so important to getting yeses.
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Another key lesson from the sponsors’ success is the importance of building toward bigger asks, which I believe is critical for energy equity programs that include renewable energy goals. Programs are more successful when you begin with smaller, simpler asks, prove the positive impact of those steps, and then move on to bigger asks. Weatherizing was a compelling way to start because it was intuitive to understand and because people could quickly see the impact on their comfort and energy bills. That paved the way for more complex discussions such as upgrades to electrical panels, upgrades to major and minor appliances, and ultimately renewables and battery storage. I believe the same is true for achieving more success with renewable-focused energy equity programs: starting with services like energy efficiency that establish trust and a relationship before graduating up to the bigger asks involving things like solar power.
The success the sponsors have achieved speaks to the power of this trust-building strategy. In 2023 alone, the Mass Save sponsors weatherized over 9,500 homes for low- and moderate-income customers and nearly 2,800 heat pumps were installed in the homes of low-and moderate-income customers. Also, in 2023 alone, weatherization was provided for 14,000 rental units. Since 2013, the sponsors of Mass Save have successfully weatherized nearly 350,000 homes, with 3,000 more served each month.
Duke Energy’s Income Qualified Programs (which include the Helping Home Fund and the Income Qualified Weatherization Program) also offer important lessons about the role that trust-building plays in the success of energy equity programs. Just like the Mass Save sponsors, Duke Energy has made collaboration with community organizations a centerpiece of the program. It partners with the North Carolina Community Action Association (NCCAA) and works with a network of 40 community-based organizations (CBOs) to deliver the programs to income qualified households. These collaborations are critical to establishing trust and creating dialogues that help get yeses from residents. These CBOs are essentially the face of Duke Energy’s program, enabling conversations that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.
One of the clearest outcomes of these CBO-enabled conversations is that these programs need to start with services that have an immediate impact on day-to-day quality of life before moving up to more advanced topics. In so many cases, energy efficiency was even too advanced of a topic to start with. The CBOs would learn that engagements needed to start with even more basic solutions such as offering help with leaks, broken windows, broken light switches and other issues that low-income families are not able to hire someone to fix. By starting with those, the door would be opened to discuss weatherization and energy efficiency next. Higher level topics would come after moving up the ladder from those more basic needs. To date, this strategy has enabled Duke Energy to provide no-cost services to more than 7,000 households, including thousands of more advanced projects that include appliance replacement, HVAC repairs and replacements, and more.
For me, the practical evidence from these programs is clear: placing a focus on trust-building through collaboration with established community groups and a patient strategy of demonstrating positive impacts by solving basic needs before graduating up to bigger asks are vital approaches to introducing and successfully scaling energy equity programs. As the need for these initiatives only continues, I hope those of us overseeing these programs can apply the lessons and encourage broader adoption.
About the author
Duane S. Baldwin is the vice president of TRC’s Advanced Energy Practice. He has more than two decades of experience managing energy and information technology initiatives in the public and private sectors. Duane has managed energy efficiency and sustainability contracts for many of the largest utilities in the eastern United States, helping provide benefits to millions of customers.
Prior to his current role leading Advanced Energy client acquisition and development at TRC, Duane managed large energy contracts in the commercial sector for Lockheed Martin and held senior consulting and project management roles at Booz Allen Hamilton and AYB. Duane earned a Bachelor’s degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master’s degree from the Harvard University Division of Continuing Education.
