Energy, Affordability, and Health: Evidence That Can Offer Solutions
As the nation’s energy and climate thought leaders plan to convene in the coming months to discuss energy affordability, reliability, and the transition to cleaner systems, these topics are again front and center in policy debates. These conversations are unfolding alongside rising utility costs, more-frequent climate-driven power disruptions, and renewed scrutiny of how energy systems intersect with public health, housing affordability, and household financial security.
Over the past several years, Policies for Action researchers have produced a growing body of evidence to clarify these challenges. Rather than treating energy as a standalone issue, this research examines how utility pricing, rate design, outage management, and decarbonization policies shape real-world conditions for households and communities. Together, these studies help policymakers understand where current systems fall short and which policy levers hold the greatest promise for improving well-being.
This study finds that customers in predominately Black, Indigenous, and Latino utility service areas, in states such as Alabama, California, and New York, consistently face higher electricity rates than majority-white areas. In California and New York, these higher rates coincide with lower electricity consumption, suggesting constrained energy use rather than efficiency gains.
This case study documents how inadequate outage preparedness, slower power restoration, and limited access to renewable energy programs compound heat-related risks in a historically disinvested neighborhood.
The analysis shows that low-income discount programs can significantly reduce household energy burdens, yet availability varies widely by state, deepening disparities.
This research examines how pricing structures, utility debt, and disconnection practices intensify energy insecurity, particularly for households of color, and recommends policies that could reduce these disparities.
Using nationally representative data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (2022–2023), this study shows that households facing energy insecurity have substantially higher probabilities of anxiety and depression, even after accounting for income and food insecurity. Behavioral coping responses such as keeping homes at unsafe temperatures or sacrificing essentials to pay energy bills are strongly linked to poor mental health outcomes.
This piece highlights how extreme energy burdens, widespread poverty, and elevated chronic disease rates contributed to disproportionately high heat-related deaths during Chicago’s 1995 heatwave.
Upcoming energy event at Urban
Policies for Action and the Urban Institute will soon convene researchers, policymakers, and community-based organizations to discuss these and related topics. Stay tuned for registration details.
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