Measuring the use of energy poverty coping strategies and the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

Riva M., Debanné L., Kutuka S., Bertheussen M., O'Sullivan K.C., Das R.R.

Graff M.

Abstract Household energy consumption is crucial for a productive and safe life. Despite its importance, 33.7 million U.S. households experienced energy insecurity in 2020. This paper examines the prevalence, correlates, and effects of energy bill assistance programs, which aim to alleviate the hardship. This analysis relies on logistic regressions and the 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, a nationally representative survey administered by the Energy Information Administration. Results reveal 16 percent of the energy insecure population received assistance to pay its energy bill in 2020. Several socioeconomic and housing characteristics are associated with receipt of assistance; however, logistic regression estimates suggest prior participation in energy assistance and receipt of a disconnection notice from a utility provider are indicators substantively and significantly associated with energy assistance participation that warrant attention from scholars and practitioners. Lastly, outcomes generally indicate previous participation in energy assistance does not impact the odds a household will experience energy insecurity. Based on findings, I offer three policy recommendations: 1) increase resources spent on energy assistance to align with demand; 2) enhance communication between utility providers and low-income households regarding available assistance opportunities; and 3) prioritize engagement with populations that never participated in energy assistance to facilitate successful application processes.

Shapira S., Teschner N.

This study explores the associations between energy poverty, food insecurity, and a set of outcomes-including the self-reported burden of chronic illness, physical disabilities, and mental health-among social-aid recipients across Israel. We highlight the socio-demographic characteristics and housing conditions of energy-poor households and analyze the association between energy poverty and health and well-being using multivariate regression models. Of 1390 aid-recipient respondents, more than 85% met the criteria for living in an energy-poor household, and almost all of them also struggled with food insecurity and were raised in poor households as children. In addition, the severity of energy poverty was positively and significantly associated with the occurrence of diabetes, hypertension, and mental illness, and, as compared with energy-secure households, severely energy-poor households were more prone to forgo acquiring prescription medications, medical aid, or required health treatments due to financial hardships. These findings highlight the nuanced negotiation over necessities that aid-supported households make; despite being at greater risk of being sick, energy-poor households are more likely to forgo buying medicines and seeking healthcare so as to pay the electricity bills. Hidden energy poverty, coupled with what might be hidden morbidity, may have significant implications for healthcare systems, and a climate-sensitive health policy at both the municipal and national levels is required to strengthen resilience among low-income households.

Martiskainen M., Hopkins D., Torres Contreras G.A., Jenkins K.E., Mattioli G., Simcock N., Lacey-Barnacle M.

Experiences of poverty can manifest in multiple aspects of everyday life, often in interlinking ways. One example is ‘double energy vulnerability’, where a household faces both energy poverty and transport poverty simultaneously. This can result in trade-offs, where prioritising one essential need (e.g., transport) makes accessing another impossible (e.g., heating). Such decisions are not easily made, and they can have distinct spatio-temporal characteristics. They can vary between space and time and across different household members, and result in stark inter- as well as intra-household differences. People with socio-demographic and contextual vulnerabilities are particularly at risk of experiencing double energy vulnerability. Based on 59 household interviews across the four nations of the United Kingdom, we provide novel, multi-nation empirical evidence on the lived experiences of double energy vulnerability, drawing on our themes; ‘being locked into infrastructure’, ‘facing high costs and low incomes’, ‘choosing between energy and transport’, and ‘missing out’. A cross-national lived-experiences approach sheds light on double energy vulnerability as a relational, contingent and ongoing phenomena, attending to everyday experiences and capacities. We provide suggestions for further research, such as further study of double energy vulnerability amongst refugees and migrants. We also highlight that the study of lived experiences can aid the recognition of how different forms of poverty intersect and how they need to be taken into account in the design of Net Zero policies.

Clair A., Baker E.

Cold homes are associated with a range of serious health conditions as well as excess winter mortality. Despite a comparatively mild climate cold homes are a significant problem in the UK, with a recent estimate finding that over one-quarter of low-income households had been unable to adequately heat their home in winter 2022. The magnitude of cold housing in a country that benefits from a mild climate indicates indifference towards, or acceptance of, a significant minority of people living in inadequate conditions on the part of policy makers. Cold homes are therefore a source of social harm. Recent changes to the household energy price cap, the rising cost of living, the ongoing effects of the benefit cap, and below inflation uprating to social security benefits is likely to greatly exacerbate this issue. In this research we use data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study to explore whether living in a cold home causes mental health harm. We control for mental distress and housing temperature on entry to the survey in order to account for the potentially bi-directional relationship. Multilevel discrete-time event history models show that the transition into living in a home that is not suitably warm is associated with nearly double the odds of experiencing severe mental distress for those who had no mental distress at the beginning of the survey; and over three times the odds of severe mental distress for those previously on the borderline of severe mental distress. These results show the significant costs of failing to ensure that people are able to live in homes in which they are able to live comfortably by even the most basic standards. These costs will be felt not just individually, but also more broadly in terms of increased health spending and reduced working.

Carley S., Graff M., Konisky D.M., Memmott T.

When households struggle to pay their energy bills and avoid being disconnected from the grid, they may accrue debt, forgo expenses on food, and use space heaters or ovens to warm their homes. These coping strategies can introduce significant physical and financial risks. In this study, we analyze an original survey with a representative sample of low-income households during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, from June 2020 to May 2021. We evaluate the prevalence of a wide range of coping strategies and empirically estimate the determinants of these strategies. We find that more than half of all low-income households engage in at least one coping strategy, and many use multiple strategies. Households with vulnerable members, including young children or those who rely on electronic medical devices, and households that live in deficient housing conditions, are more likely to use a range of coping strategies, and many at once. Our findings have direct implications for public policy improvements, including modifications to the US Weatherization Assistance Program, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and state utility disconnection protections.

Ballesteros-Arjona V., Oliveras L., Bolívar Muñoz J., Olry de Labry Lima A., Carrere J., Martín Ruiz E., Peralta A., Cabrera León A., Mateo Rodríguez I., Daponte-Codina A., Marí-Dell'Olmo M.

Several studies have shown how energy poverty (EP) increases morbidity and mortality, being a growing problem worldwide. We conducted a scoping review to synthesize the state of knowledge on the relationship between energy poverty (EP) and health, analysing the results according to different axes of inequality (gender, age, ethnicity/country of birth, social class, territory). We searched different bibliographic databases (MeSH and free-text terms); Eligibility criteria: 1] studies or interventions related to EP or its different expressions (inadequate temperatures; financial strain, inadequate housing conditions, composite indicators, heating and energy efficiency improvements); 2] health or health risk outcomes; 3] OECD countries; 4] English or Spanish language; 5] published before July 2020. We selected 38 studies out of 2768 (23 observational and 15 interventions). Almost all were quantitative (89.5%) and almost half were conducted in the UK (47.4%). The most studied EP expression was inadequate temperature. Eleven studies disaggregate the analyses by at least one axis of inequality and 21 target a vulnerable group. The studies linked EP to poorer general health, poorer mental health, poorer respiratory health, more and worse controlled chronic conditions, higher mortality, higher use of health services and higher exposure to health risks, with worse results for vulnerable groups across dimensions of inequality. Current scientific evidence should guide structural changes and immediate interventions to ameliorate EP. Future research must take into account the effects of inadequate warm temperatures and social inequalities, especially in the current context of climate and social crisis, the latter being exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic. • Energy poverty (EP) is a growing social problem and an expanding research topic. • We synthesize the existing evidence on the health effects of EP with an equity lens. • The evidence on the negative effects of EP on physical and mental health is robust. • EP acts as an amplifier of health inequalities. • Energy transition process should address EP in a context of climate change.

Stojilovska A., Yoon H., Robert C.

This article is a qualitative study exploring coping strategies of energy-poor households in urban settings in four European countries with different levels of energy poverty: France, Spain, Austria, and North Macedonia. We have drawn inspiration from previous studies conducted in the health area that pay attention to the behavioral, psychological, and emotional response, which provided a partial understanding of coping strategies as largely individual, with a negative impact on households. Based on the evidence of interviews with energy vulnerable households and observation of their practical actions in four cities, we categorize coping strategies to reflect a more comprehensive snapshot of the everyday experience of energy vulnerability. The results demonstrate that the coping strategies of energy vulnerable households are manifold and complex. We expand the concept of coping strategies to include a collective response which is more likely to enable household empowerment that fills up their resilience reserves and facilitates rebound from energy vulnerability. Contrarily, other strategies lead to lock-ins, which may further deplete energy vulnerable households’ resilience reserve, thus making their lived experience more taxing for them. Lastly, we emphasize that personal and structural lock-ins determine energy vulnerable households’ choice of coping strategies.

Charlier D., Legendre B.

Energy poverty currently affects a significant number of European households, representing a growing problem in the EU. But fuel poverty is not an easily understood phenomenon and requires a well-structured definition, which takes into account all relevant issues, and a corresponding measure based on available data to develop the most appropriate policies. The aim of our research is to present the existing approaches to fuel poverty, which are often used in the formulation of policy, presenting the advantages and disadvantages particularly regarding policy interventions. Some of the approaches are broad, and do not propose any quantitative measure of fuel poverty, while others are more precise and result in quantitative indicators. As a main result, we show that two main families of policy tools can be developed: affordability policy - reducing the proportion of income households need to spend on energy - and efficiency policy - retrofitting dwellings to make them more energy efficient. • Many different approaches to fuel poverty exist. • Existing definitions are useful to define energy policies. • Two main families of policy tools exist: affordability policy and efficiency policy.

Riva M., Kingunza Makasi S., Dufresne P., O'Sullivan K., Toth M.

• Between 6% and 19% of Canadian households are in energy poverty. • Energy poverty is significantly higher in rural areas and Atlantic provinces. • Older adults and those living alone are more at-risk of energy poverty. • The risk of energy poverty varies by housing conditions. • Canada does not recognize energy poverty as an issue; this limits effective responses. • Energy poverty is not identified as an issue in Canada, limiting effective responses. Canada is one of the largest energy producers in the world and one of the largest consumers of energy. A cold climate, dispersed population, affordable energy prices, and high standards of living contribute to Canada’s high energy intensity. Yet, some 6% to 19% of Canadian households are experiencing energy poverty. Relying on data from the 2017 Survey of Household Spending, this study explores the social and spatial distribution of energy poverty across Canada. Energy poverty is measured at the household level, using expenditure-based indicators computed before and after housing costs. Logistic regression models are applied to examine the association between energy poverty and factors related to household composition, dwelling characteristics, urban/rural location, and province of residence. The odds of energy poverty are significantly higher for one-person, lone-parent, and older households, and for households with someone living with a long-term illness or disability. Energy poverty is significantly higher for households living in duplex or row housing, in single-detached and in mobile houses, in dwellings built prior to 1960, and in dwellings requiring major repairs. In comparison to homeowners with a mortgage, energy poverty is significantly higher for renters in urban centers. There are geographical patterns, with the odds of energy poverty almost twice as high for households in Atlantic provinces and in rural areas. These findings demonstrate that energy poverty is patterned across a social gradient in Canada and that it varies across space. The implications of the results for research and policy are discussed.

Ambrose A., Baker W., Sherriff G., Chambers J.

The number of households experiencing fuel poverty is thought to have risen by at least 600,000 in the UK because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The concentration of fuel poor households in poor quality, energy inefficient accommodation that they have little power to improve means they are particularly negatively affected by the retreat into the home brought about by successive lockdowns and restrictions. For many such households, the home is not the place of sanctuary that it needs to be at a time like this. However, our empirical research into the lived experiences of fuel poverty reveals additional consequences for fuel poor households, chiefly associated with restricted access to third spaces and other disruptions to their usual coping strategies. Based on our evidence, we highlight three key considerations for policy on fuel poverty in the era of Covid-19: the need to rapidly upgrade the energy performance of the existing housing stock; the need to address the additional financial hardship faced by fuel poor households; and the need to prioritise access to third spaces and high-quality public spaces while restrictions last. This paper develops the concept of energy poverty by considering the role of spaces outside the home as part of the overall experience of energy poverty and the range of ways in which policy makers can mitigate its impacts.

Graff M., Carley S., Konisky D.M., Memmott T.

Energy insecurity refers to a household’s inability to meet its basic energy needs. Previous research has shown that this type of material hardship can lead to negative mental and physical health outcomes, especially for children and the elderly. This study analyzes a state-representative sample of low-income households to evaluate if households of color are more likely than white households to be energy insecure, and, if the reasons are either poor housing conditions or higher energy burdens. We find that energy insecurity is widespread. Over a year period, 30 percent of respondents were unable to pay at least one energy bill, 33 percent received at least one disconnection notice, and 13 percent were disconnected from their electric utility service. Regression analysis further suggests that Black and Hispanic households are more likely than white households to be energy insecure. Additionally, deficient housing conditions and higher energy burdens are both independent predictors of household energy insecurity. Through a mediating variables analysis, however, we find that housing conditions and energy burdens only explain a small proportion of the association between race and energy insecurity. These results indicate that there remains considerable uncertainty about the reasons that households of color experience energy insecurity at higher rates than white households and that future research is needed to uncover the mechanisms underlying these disparities.

Grossmann K., Jiglau G., Dubois U., Sinea A., Martín-Consuegra F., Dereniowska M., Franke R., Guyet R., Horta A., Katman F., Papamikrouli L., Castaño-Rosa R., Sandmann L., Stojilovska A., Varo A.

Trust is a fundamental ingredient of prosperous democracies. In Europe, trust in existing elected democratic institutions is fading while authoritarian nationalist movements grow. Experiences of neglect, ignorance, and inferiority are one explanation for this. This paper explores the link between the experiences of households in a state of energy poverty and their trust in institutions and social networks. Using qualitative data from ten different European countries, we show that a lack of trust in both public and private institutions is widespread among energy-poor households. Our interviewees show distrust in various dimensions. In their contacts with institutions, they report experiences of powerlessness, bad and unfair treatment, and feelings of inferiority. While some interviewees do trust single individuals within institutions, others trust only their own social networks and some have no trust in anyone. We further show how trust in networks or (people in) institutions can strengthen the coping capacities of energy-poor households while a lack of trust even cuts people off from the support they could attain and thus deepens their state of energy poverty.

Hernández D., Laird J.

This article reports on the first known study to estimate household characteristics and coping behaviors associated with utility disconnections in the United States. We capitalize on a measure of disconnections available in the Residential Energy Consumption Survey that the U.S. Energy Information Administration administers. Using the 2015 panel, we analyzed the prevalence of disconnection notices, disconnection of services, and related coping strategies, including forgoing necessities, maintaining an unhealthy home temperature, and receiving energy assistance. Findings indicate that nearly 15% of U.S. households received a disconnection notice and 3%—more than three million households—experienced a service disconnection in 2015. Our results further demonstrate that more households forgo necessities than maintaining an unhealthy temperature or receiving energy assistance. However, many families used a combination of strategies to prevent or respond to the threat of being disconnected. We discuss implications for future research on material hardships, survival strategies, and the health impacts of poverty.

Bartiaux F., Day R., Lahaye W.

Energy poverty is a multidimensional issue and the capability approach is fruitful to show how energy-poor households are restricted in many aspects of well-being. With reference to Nussbaum’s Cent...