FREE Thoughts Blog

April 22, 2023

It’s Time for Transformational Climate Policy

Harmful effects of climate change are happening faster than expected. We need policies and initiatives that do more to keep up with the pace of change.

Evidence of the human impact on climate change is well-established. The challenge for policymakers now is to understand the true pace and consequences of that impact and how to combat it.

In the AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023, published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the panel indicated awareness that its reports understate the magnitude of the problem we face. Climate change is effecting the world at a more rapid pace than ever before, creating “climate surprises” that leave societies with little time to mitigate or adapt to their impact.

Without a full comprehension of the scale of the impact, key decision-makers are stuck in an incremental, “business-as-usual” way of thinking that deals with climate issues happening today, rather than planning responses based on long term threats.

FREE president Dr. John Byrne, Aalto University’s Dr. Peter Lund, and Dr. Job Taminiau recently explored the need to move past a business-as-usual policy mindset in their recent commentary published in WIREs Energy and Environment. They write:

“Commonly practiced “business-as-usual” (BAU) benchmarking and search processes to find least-cost options can only deliver out-of-date and mostly wrong characterizations of costs and benefits when the underlying process of climate change has advanced several iterations beyond BAU,” the authors write. “Policy research suffers from a deeply misguided understanding of its task as it scours the rear-view mirror of past change in hopes of finding the future.”

This backward-looking, reactive policy mindset is stymieing progress in the fight against climate change. As Byrne, Lund, and Taminiau write, the gravity of the threat of climate change demands a new approach. It is not enough to merely react to problems facing the world today.

Business-as-usual strategies hinge on the desire to create the least amount of social and economic disruption. This thinking falls into the trap of policy hesitancy, in which those in power become paralyzed by the fear of transformative change.

“The flaw of incremental climate policy-making and the research that informs it is now obvious: using the cost of mitigation and adaptation as the ranking principle to guide decisions is a formula for doing nothing or very little,” Byrne, Lund, and Taminiau write.

How decision-makers can create transformative change

So what does transformational policy look like in practice? In their commentary, Byrne, Lund, and Taminiau discuss multiple examples of this approach, including a shift to decentralize decision-making using a community-based model.

In such a model, local authorities place community stakeholders at the center of policy decision-making. For example, community-based utility agencies in California are offering a competitive alternative to traditional gas and electric companies, such as San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric. The community-based agencies now collectively serve more residents in California than major investor-owned utilities, according to the authors.

“Polycentric climate policy action where decision-making authority is redistributed and governance of energy is transformed has led to change that outpaces in just 5 years what conventional policy and market systems largely failed to achieve,” the authors write.

Lasting climate policy must reach further and be greater in scale than anything most policymakers currently consider. It must redefine “lowest cost,” instead investing when necessary to avoid billion-dollar disasters associated with threats such as rapid sea-level rise, increasingly intense and frequent high-energy storms, and irreversible biodiversity loss.

A key example of a transformative policy mentioned by the authors is the push among more than 600 global cities and states to switch to 100% renewable energy systems. This undertaking could have a dramatic impact on how these communities fight and prepare for the growing impacts of climate change.

“Achievement of 100% renewable energy requires planned policy and regulatory action in coordination with behavioral and social change to prioritize low-carbon options. Policy platforms of this kind incorporate a broad range of strategies to support change throughout society and the economy,” Byrne, Lund, and Taminiau write in their commentary.

This is just one example of what can happen when we replace traditional ways of thinking about climate policy with proactive, transformative planning. To do so on a large scale, researchers and experts need to help guide the way.

Organizations like FREE can play a pivotal role in helping to produce up-to-date research that assists national and community leaders in making informed decisions. FREE’s climate experts work across the public and private sectors to engage leaders in the realization of transformational policy.

Changing the way we approach and execute climate policy is a massive undertaking. It’s one that needs buy-in at all levels of society as community leaders contend with how such policies will change the lives of entire populations at the local, state, and country levels.

At a time when the impacts of climate change are outpacing collective knowledge, we need to design effective climate policy and demand more from decision-makers. Only then can we hope to see truly transformative change.

November 3, 2022

Simply Switching to Electric Vehicles Today is Not Enough to Address Climate Change

By: Deborah Bleviss

There is no doubt that purchasing an electric vehicle (EV) is quite chic right now, and it is indeed true that non-fossil-fuel-based vehicles will play an increasingly important role in achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Moreover, focusing on personal vehicles makes sense; they account for almost 60 percent of the GHG emissions from transportation today in the US, with transportation making up the largest sectoral share of US GHG emissions, 27 percent (EPA, Transportation GHG Emissions).

But simply buying and using EVs today is not enough. Here are the reasons why:

Electricity generation is still overwhelmingly from fossil fuels. Indeed, fossil fuels generated more than 60 percent of utility-produced electricity in 2021 (EIA, Electricity Generation by Source). Hence, EVs are not GHG free when tracing electricity back to how it is generated. But they are better than a fossil-fueled vehicle. A typical gasoline vehicle produces over 11,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent emissions per year. In comparison, a fully electric vehicle produces less than 4,000 pounds, while a plug-in hybrid (runs on gasoline and electricity) produces less than 6,000 pounds. A typical fossil fuel hybrid produces not much more than a plug-in hybrid, just over 6,000 pounds of CO₂ equivalent emissions (DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center, Vehicle Emissions).

Electric vehicles remain outside the affordability scale for most Americans. Their prices continue to be higher than fossil-fueled vehicles. As of June 2022, the average cost of an electric vehicle was $54,000 compared with the average price of a fossil-fueled vehicle of $44,400; both have risen sharply since the beginning of the year, 22 percent for EVs and 14 percent for fossil-fueled vehicles (Inside EVs, EV Prices). Moreover, the dominant electric vehicle brand on the market today is Tesla, whose models all exceed the average price of a fossil-fueled vehicle, ranging from $47,000 to over $200,000 (Motortrend, Price of a Tesla). Hence, while demand for EVs has increased, they remain a small fraction of overall personal vehicle sales, estimated at just over 5 percent (Car and Driver, EV Sales ).

Price aside, electric vehicles have other issues that make their potential purchase a problem for would-be buyers. First, their ranges are generally less than for fossil-fueled vehicles, especially high-efficiency vehicles. Lower-priced EVs, in particular, tend to have lower ranges. Ranges for EVs today typically are 200 to 300 miles, with some still getting less than that and a few, generally with price tags over $100,000, getting ranges in the 400-to-500-mile range (Inside EVs, EV range). In contrast, the 2022 hybrid Toyota Camry LE, with a combined fuel economy of 52 miles per gallon, a base price just below $28,000, and a CO₂ equivalent emissions of 5,600 pounds per year, has a range of 686 miles (fueleconomy.gov). Added to this problem is the limited infrastructure enabling electric vehicle owners to fuel up when their fuel supply is low. There are 46,000 public EV charging stations in the US today, of which 41,000 are slow-charging level 2 chargers that can take 4 to 10 hours to charge a fully electric vehicle (US News, Charging Stations). In contrast, there are 145,000 fossil fuel service stations in the US, and refueling takes minutes (American Petroleum Institute, No. of Service Stations ).

Using electric vehicles instead of fossil-fueled vehicles in congested urban conditions does nothing to relieve the traffic congestion that exacerbates fossil fuel use and thereby increases greenhouse gas emissions. While EVs do not directly consume more fossil fuel in traffic congestion and do not add to local emissions, their usage in urban congested areas only adds to the number of vehicles in those areas. As a result, everybody slows down and is subjected to stop-and-go conditions that cause fossil-fueled vehicles to consume more fuel and emit more greenhouse gas emissions. Not using personal vehicles at all—electric or fossil fuel—in congested urban conditions and instead using public transportation is the best strategy for reducing GHG emissions in these areas. The National Academy of Sciences has recently estimated that a person taking public transportation results in a 55 percent reduction in their CO₂ equivalent emissions compared with driving or ride-hailing (NAS, Update on Public Transportation’s Impact on GHG Emissions ).

So what should consumers, businesses and governments do to reduce greenhouse gases in personal travel?

Buying energy-efficient fossil-fueled cars is a good short- to medium-term strategy. As already noted, a fossil fuel hybrid produces half of the emissions of a typical fossil fuel car. Purchase and use of these vehicles will buy us time to address the price, range, infrastructure, and fossil fuel electricity generation problems facing today’s electric vehicles.

To the maximum extent possible, leave your personal vehicle behind—fossil fuel or electric–and use public transportation if you are traveling in an urban area. It is indeed true that public transportation does not function well in some parts of the country. This makes advocacy for investing in functional public transportation systems critical. It is essential to ensure that public transportation systems are inter-connected in an urban area (for example, buses and rail transit systems) and that public transportation users can access this type of transportation from the first mile of their commute to the last.

With public transportation so crucial in reducing GHG emissions, prioritize converting public transportation vehicles totally off fossil fuels. Already the percentage of electric buses worldwide, estimated at 13 percent in 2018 (Bloomberg, Electric Buses ), substantially exceeds the percentage of personal vehicles globally that are electrified, estimated at 1.6 percent at the beginning of 2022 (IEA, Electric Vehicles). Being able to plug electric buses into renewably generated electricity goes one step further. Montgomery County, Maryland, is leading the way here, having just started a program that enables county electric buses to recharge through electricity generated by a solar microgrid (Montgomery County, Solar Microgrid for Electric Buses ).

Be strategic in driving electric vehicle prices down, including a focus on fleets. Increasing the volume of electric vehicles sold is critical to driving down costs. Focusing on fleets to do this, owned by governments, private companies and car sharing companies such as ZipCar, makes sense. They can purchase en masse rather than buying one at a time. The US federal fleet is under a mandate to green its vehicles and hence can be an important source for increasing the size of the EV market. And among private car-sharing companies, we are already seeing many engaged in demonstrations in cities globally where EVs are among consumers’ choices.

Similarly, think creatively about how to increase the range of electric vehicles, not only through better batteries but also by using renewable technologies in the vehicles to capture energy for usage by the vehicle. These may include solar panels on vehicle roofs and wind turbines that capture the energy of air blowing through vehicle grilles. Indeed, Toyota has been testing a rooftop solar system on its Prius Prime since 2019.

Invest in solar photovoltaic arrays and potentially other renewable technologies that can directly charge personal EVs. This avoids the usage of the fossil-fuel-intensive electricity grid. These types of investments can start with demonstration programs, potentially in cities with extensive roof infrastructure upon which solar panels can be placed. While these panels should first be used to provide needed energy services for the buildings on which they are placed, by improving the energy efficiency of these buildings, there is the potential for these solar panels to generate more power than is needed for the buildings, power that can then be used to charge EVs.

Set clear goals and timelines for converting the electric grid away from fossil fuels across the country. Ultimately, the electric grid will probably remain the major source of electricity for charging electric vehicles. Hence, it is essential that the grid move as quickly as possible to generate electricity from non-fossil sources. This also benefits decarbonization efforts in other sectors that use electricity. But for electric vehicles truly to be fossil fuel-free, the electricity they use must not be generated from fossil fuels.

Keep the door open to using other fossil fuel-free fuels for personal vehicles. The most likely alternative fuel is hydrogen-based fuel cells, which both Toyota and Hyundai are seriously exploring. But biofuels may have a role as well, for example, in a country like Brazil, which already has substituted a substantial biofuels/fossil fuels mix into fuels for its personal vehicles.

Transportation will be one of the hardest sectors to move off fossil fuels, if for no other reason than this sector is almost exclusively dependent on these fuels. If we are to be successful in decarbonizing the transportation sector, it is important to recognize how challenging this will be and not leap to simplistic solutions. Electric vehicles have an important role to play, especially in the future, but they are far from the predominant solution today.

July 27, 2022

How can U.S. climate action equalize the wealth gap between white and black American families?

Income disparity (Getty Images/Hyejin Kang)

By Robert Ddamulira, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION

“The racial wealth gap in the United States is shocking, the average wealth of a white American family is $170,000, nearly 10 times that of the average wealth African-American family,” observes Kedra Newsom Reeves, consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Climate change impacts are posed to tilt that imbalance even further. More than 1 in 2 black families live in areas that are worst hit by the observed and expected impacts climate change in America. Oftentimes, black families also have little access to risk mitigation mechanisms such as insurance for property or personal health to mitigate against climate risks. Consequently, climate disasters are likely to further erode the limited black family wealth even further.

According to official U.S. Census records, the Black American population currently stands at over 15% of the total population but is growing rapidly. It has increased by over 80% since 2010. Over 55% of this population however lives in the America’s Southern states – these are the same regions that have also been worst hit by billion-dollar climate disasters as illustrated below;

Overall, the historical coincidence of high concentrations of black American families within the areas that are hit hardest by climate change disasters presents enormous challenges. However, hidden within those same climate challenges could be important opportunities for the U.S to equalize the elusive wealth gap between its white and black families. But where could these opportunities for equality be at the state and federal levels?

Opportunities to Equalize Wealth through Climate Action:

Abundant opportunities exist at the state and federal levels to equalize wealth, particularly through supporting better education and career outcomes for black families; this is a fail-safe solution. A report by Genesis (2014) estimated that 50% of the jobs we will need in the next 10 years do not exist today; whatever those jobs will be, America will be stronger and more resilient if those jobs incorporate the best and latest climate scientific knowledge and innovation. Therefore, education on climate solutions and career support on the same can be a powerful means of developing an African American workforce that is best suited for a future where climate change will be a decisive factor in successful employment and job outcomes. Support in education and career opportunities at federal and state levels can take many forms. Still, it could include, among others, proactive internships, scholarships/fellowships, and career pathways that seek to equalize the training of a well-qualified black workforce, which will be effective in deploying the innovative climate solutions that Americans need today and in the foreseeable future. Several climate resilience sectors could be helpful in this regard, including, among others, renewable energy services, energy efficiency, circular economy reforestation programs, and other nature-based solutions at home and abroad. These new jobs will also require the creative application of artificial intelligence and social and emotional intelligence.

Federal and state affirmative action policies can go a long way toward expanding opportunities for young black Americans to choose and stay in well-paying careers that at the same time address climate change. Black families and the black community at large have a role to play, too. Black parents must take a more proactive role in encouraging their children and young members to select careers directly linked to the climate solutions sector. At the very least black families should encourage their young members to incorporate a climate lens to whatever career they choose.

It is evident that how the U.S. responds to the climate challenge could strongly affect how the world addresses climate change globally. The same climate solutions sector that has over time concentrated wealth within its white citizens and deprived black families of similar opportunities can serve as a lever to correct historical and structural inequality. Through education coupled with proactive action among black families at the individual and community level – the U.S. can transform climate change into an engine of opportunity and advance social equity.

Robert Ddamulira, Ph.D., is the CEO & Founder of GreenPesa LLC.

July 5, 2022

Environmental Justice and Renewable Energy

By Thomas S. Benson

According to a March 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center, a majority of Americans favor the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050, with 69% calling for the U.S. to prioritize the development of alternative energy, such as wind and solar, and 31% calling for the U.S. to phase out the use of fossil fuels completely. But what is environmental justice, and what relationship does it have, if any, to renewable energy?

Defining Environmental Justice

To the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), environmental justice is the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.” On Earth Day 2022, President Biden announced that environmental justice is about “addressing the disproportionate health, environmental, and economics impacts that have been borne primarily by communities of color – places too often left behind.” The disproportionate impact of environmental harms and ills felt by minorities and people of color forms the driving force and crux of the environmental justice movement that continues to shape federal, state, and local policy in the U.S. today.

A Transition in Reocognizing Environmental Justice

Regulatory agencies, such as the EPA, have not always recognized the disproportionate impact. Notably, a former assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response of the EPA stated in 1987 that the “EPA deals with issues of technology, not sociology.” [1] Systemic racism in environmental policy has meant that, historically, the formulation of such policy has been premised on notions that “environmental protection is colorblind,” and that the EPA is a “science agency,” not an agency that deals with social issues. Additionally, the eventual recognition of environmental justice has led to what some scholars have referred to as “procedural justice” that solely consists of “more community involvement” and “box-checking exercises” but with “no changes in outcomes.” [1]

However, a transition is taking place to move beyond these box-checking exercises to collect quantitative and qualitative environmental justice data and display them in a transparent, digestible manner. For example, environmental justice mapping tools CalEnviroScreen and EJSCREEN combine numerous indicator data sets and assist in generating insights about environmental risk and impact that are “critical for decision-making purposes” and shed light on “systemic inequities” and “unfair treatment”—the disproportionate impact on low-income communities and people of color, among others. [1] In turn, there has been a call for climate solutions that address social and economic inequities and distribute the benefits, and one such solution is renewable energy.

Environmental Racism

Deploying renewable energy in these historically burdened and under-served communities comes against a backdrop of being subject to environmental racism through redlining and the intentional siting of harmful incinerators, landfills, chemical plants, refineries, and fossil fuel extraction beside these communities. Combined with a lack of resources to hire lawyers to challenge the granting of permits or violation of standards, these communities were left with little to no choice. This situation reflects a concept now known as environmental blackmail, where poor people are forced to choose between unemployment and a job that may threaten their “own health, their families’ health and the health of their community.” [2] One example of this depleted level of citizen power includes Cancer Alley in Louisiana, where nearly “every household has someone that has died from cancer.”

Equitable Deployment

But is renewable energy the solution? Yes, with strings attached. Renewable energy must be deployed equitably, and this means not harming the same communities and minorities that have been disproportionately subject to environmental harm emanating from siting facilities that are detrimental to human health and communities. Without acquiring consent or participation from communities affected by the adverse effects of renewable energy, these communities will remain in a cycle of abuse that capitalizes on their poor health and cheap labor. [3]

For example, as wind turbines grow in size, alongside their corresponding effects, it must be asked what impact these will have on the communities that are integrated into—forcefully or consensually. In practice, this means not only assessing effects on the aesthetic pleasure of the landscape or potential damage to a local ecosystem, such as loss to avian creatures, but also wind turbine syndrome, which has been known to cause “nausea, vertigo, tinnitus, sleep disturbance, and headaches.” [3] As previously mentioned, engaging local communities in a meaningful manner can generate positive community and environmental change. In turn, environmental hazards can be minimized and distributed fairly in proportion to benefits, and protective environmental regulations can be established and enforced with the same vigor for all communities.

One other solution, created from the bottom-up, is the establishment of community energy choice organizations, otherwise referred to as community choice aggregations or community choice energy. These organizations seek to remove the middle-man—the investor-owned utilities—and run community-scale renewable energy projects that decentralize power and reinvest profits from renewable energy generation into local communities. [3] Examples of re-investment include the development of further renewable energy projects, electrification of local bus networks, energy efficiency programs, scholarships for students, and the implementation of electric vehicle charging stations.

Conclusion: A Just Renewable Energy Transition

Overall, renewable energy—as fantastic as it might appear—is not a solution in and of itself. Environmental justice remains very relevant in deploying renewable energy, and local communities must be meaningfully engaged before decisions are made. Where communities do not or cannot create bottom-up organizations like community energy choice organizations, they ought to be brought into decision-making processes that can benefit businesses, government, and citizens alike. And there is evidently bipartisan support for renewable energy, with a majority of Democrats and Republicans supporting the expansion of solar panel farms (84%) and wind turbine farms (77%), according to a Pew Research Center survey in 2021.

The deployment of renewable energy does not need to be an all-or-nothing approach. Instead, by ensuring sufficient stakeholder and community engagement, the U.S. can enhance its prospects of a just and sustainable transition to a low-carbon economy—to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and meeting public demand for renewable energy. This transition to a low-carbon economy will also ideally fulfill the EPA’s goals of environmental justice, which means that everyone enjoys the “same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards” and has “equal access to the decision-making process to have a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work.” The means to achieve this shared vision for the future is already here and is underway, but it must be done equitably to ensure the benefits and hazards of renewable energy are shared.

[1] Lee, C. 2021. “Confronting Disproportionate Impacts and Systemic Racism in Environmental Policy.” Environmental Law Institute: pages 2-4, 10.

[2] Bell, K. 2014. “The Causes of Environmental Injustice.” In Achieving Environmental Justice: A Cross-National Analysis. University of Bristol: Policy Press, chapter 3, page 34.

[3] Ottinger, G. 2013. “The Winds of Change: Environmental Justice in Energy Transitions.” Science as Culture 22(2): 222-229.

June 14, 2022

Electricity Disconnections: Pursuing the Goal of 100% access to electricity in the United States

By Dr. Kathleen Saul

World Bank data assure us that 100% of people in the United States have access to electricity.[1] Yet, as the Center for Biological Diversity reports, families in this country have had their electricity turned off more than 3.6 million times since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] And that figure only includes those served by public utilities in the 33 states and Washington, D.C., for which data are available. In the state of Washington, a moratorium on utility disconnections prevented public utilities from leaving customers in the dark. Still, those customers remained on edge each time the moratorium expiration date approached. Would they continue to have lighting and heating, or power for the internet service that had become vital for schooling and working during the pandemic? The governor had to act to extend the moratorium.

In 2022, the Washington Building Code Council adopted a new code that requires builders to install energy efficient electric heat pumps and hot water heaters in new commercial and large multifamily buildings; gas hookups will not be allowed (https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/law/wsr/2022/02/22-02-076.htm). Governor Inslee has also signed legislation targeting 2030 as the year when all vehicles sold, purchased or registered in Washington state will have to be electric vehicles (Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5974, Chapter 182, Laws of 2022, 67^th Legislature, 2022 Regular Session). While these measures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, they will also add to the electricity burden for customers already struggling to pay their bills and at risk of disconnection. What can we do to ensure all residents of Washington have access to electricity today and in the future?

Who is most at risk of losing electricity access?

First, we need to understand which Washington residents are most at risk of losing access to electricity. In spring 2021, the Washington Utility and Transportation Commission (UTC) began to require investor-owned utilities to file quarterly reports detailing the number of customers with past-due accounts and the dollar amount of those arrearages.[3] Matching those data with the U.S. Census American Community Survey Data gives us a peek into some of the characteristics of those unable to pay their electric bills. The analysis described here focuses on 25 zip codes with the highest total dollar amount of residential arrearages in 2021 and 2022 for the largest public electric utility serving Washington: Puget Sound Energy (PSE). PSE, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Puget Holdings LLC, serves approximately 1.2 million electric customers in the Puget Sound region of the state. Those 25 zip codes accounted for 38% of the dollar arrearages reported by PSE in March 2022.

Among the variables reported by PSE: The number of customers “who absent the disconnection moratorium would have been disconnected.” Forty-four percent of the residential customers who would have been disconnected had a moratorium not been in place resided in the top 25 of the 142 zip codes PSE serves. That suggests that residential disconnections tend to concentrate in a few places and are not evenly distributed throughout the service territory. What else can we glean about households in those zip codes?

First, when compared to Washington State in general, members of households whose electricity would have been disconnected are more likely to identify as people of color:

**Figure 1: Demographics of Washington State vs. PSE Customers at Risk of Disconnection**

Next, for a subsample of 13 zip codes for which detailed census data are available, the median income ranges from just over $57,000 per year to $104,000 annually, as shown in Figure 2 below. Although many of the households do not fall below the federal poverty line ($27,750 for a family of four), most do fall well below the median household income level for the Seattle, WA, area. Quite a few of those zip codes have median household incomes above the median value for Tacoma, Washington. Looking solely at household income does not tell the entire story.

**Figure 2: Median Income of PSE Customers at Risk of Disconnection vs. Seattle and Tacoma, WA Median Incomes**

Census data reveal that some families have indeed fallen into poverty (Figure 3). The most striking information revealed in Figure 3 is the high poverty rate for households with a female head and no spouse present. Twenty to 45% of single female-headed households, and especially those with children under the age of 18, in these zip codes had fallen into poverty. Their electricity would have been turned off had there been no moratorium. The children would not have had access to online classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

**Figure 3: Poverty Rate for Households for Which Poverty Rate Has Been Determined for 13 Zip Codes in PSE Service Territory**

These data align with reports in the press about the financial straits of single parents. Some caregivers skip meals to be able to feed their growing children, switch to vegetarian diets as the cost of meat rises, take on extra jobs to make ends meet, and forego trips to the doctor or dentist.[4] As budgets continue to get strained, will they be able to pay their electric bills?

Those most likely to fall behind in paying electric bills

What do these data tell us? While the sample size is admittedly small, the data come from only one part of Washington, and much more research needs to be conducted, this analysis reveals that people of color and families headed by single females tend to fall behind in paying their electric bills and thus may have their electricity disconnected. These groups are at risk now and could be at greater risk as the push away from fossil fuels and toward a society powered by green electricity continues.

Recommendations:

First, as Stephen Tully (2006) argued, under international human rights law, access to electricity is a basic human right.[5] As such, no household should have its electricity disconnected because of an inability to pay. We need to reexamine the business model that provides investor-owned utilities with a guaranteed rate of return. PSE has filed paperwork with the UTC requesting an overall rate of return of 7.39% in 2023, 7.44% in 2024, and 7.49% in 2025.[6] The company has continued to pay dividends to shareholders and provide merit increases to executives at a time when thousands and thousands of customers may not be able to keep their lights on.

Enrollment barriers to electric bill assistance

In the meantime, we need to ensure that electric utilities increase their outreach to customers at risk of disconnection, helping them enroll in bill assistance programs. In March 2022, over 6,500 PSE residential customers had begun receiving bill assistance. However, that same month, more than 11,500 residential customers would have had their service disconnected had a moratorium not been in place.

One of the hurdles to receiving electric bill assistance is figuring out how to apply. Almost all programs require internet access, and most internet sites are in English—a problem for those whose first language is not English. Over 15% of households at risk of disconnection in the PSE service territory self-identified as Asian, and another 15% as Hispanic/Latino. PSE needs to do more outreach in Spanish and various Asian languages.

In addition, under the current regulations, customers wanting to prevent disconnections must:

notify the utility of the inability to pay the bill, including a security deposit;
provide self-certification of household income for the prior 12 months to a grantee of the Department of Commerce, who must then determine that the customer’s household income does not exceed the maximum allowed…;
apply for home heating assistance from applicable government and private sector organizations and certify that any assistance received will be applied to the current bill and future utility bills;
apply for low-income weatherization assistance…if such assistance is available for the dwelling;
agree to enroll in and maintain a payment plan; and
agree to pay the money owed even if they move.

The second bullet point underscores the focus on household income. However, as seen in Figure 2 above, household income level may not be a good indicator of an inability to pay bills. We need to take a more holistic approach to understand the situation of electric customers. What prevents them from paying their electric bills? A human rights perspective reminds us that “…consumers should not be deprived of the minimum essential level [of electricity] necessary to lead a life in human dignity…” (Tully, 2006, p. 33). Thus, how can we, as a society, ensure that all consumers maintain access to the electricity they need to survive and thrive in the modern world?

Breaking the cycle of poverty in vulnerable households

The data from this analysis highlight the vulnerability of households headed by females, especially those with children. We must establish programs to locate, establish trust with, and help those struggling families. If children under 18 lose access to the electricity needed for schooling and job searches, they will continue to lose ground scholastically and economically.[7] To break the cycle of poverty, they need electricity. To participate in an electrified future, they need electricity.

Outreach is one step. Codifying restrictions on disconnections is another. For the past several sessions, energy justice advocates in Washington state have supported legislation that would, among other things, establish a year-round energy service shutoff moratorium for low-income households or households with people with disabilities. Unfortunately, even with that narrow target population, the bill languished in committee. Utility representatives expressed concern about the impact on their revenues. One hundred percent access to electricity in the United States? Not yet, but that remains the goal we continue to pursue.

[1] The World Bank. (2022). “Access to electricity (%) – United States.” Retrieved 6 May 2022 from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS?locations=US

[2] Jean Su and Christopher Kuveke. (2022). “Powerless in the Pandemic 2.0: Electric Utilities Are Still Choosing Profits Over People.” Center for Biological Diversity, BailoutWatch, and Tiger Moth LLC.

[3] Arrearages are the amounts of past due bills

[4] Alicia Wallace. (10 May 2022). “Skipping meals. Racking up debt. How inflation is squeezing single parents.” CNN Business. Retrieved 10 May 2022 from https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/10/economy/single-parent-inflation-economy/index.html

[5] Stephen Tully. (April 2006) “The Human Right to Access Electricity.” The Electricity Journal Vol. 19, Issue 3, pp. 30 – 39.

[6] Puget Energy, Inc. (31 December 2021). Form 10-K Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Retrieved 26 May 2022 from https://www.pugetenergy.com/pages/filings.html

[7] Rachel Hirsch and Jake Varn. (7 April 2021) “Broadband Access For Success In Postsecondary Education.” National Governors Association. Retrieved 26 May 2022 from https://www.nga.org/news/commentary/broadband-access-for-success-in-postsecondary-education/

It’s Time for Transformational Climate Policy

Harmful effects of climate change are happening faster than expected. We need policies and initiatives that do more to keep up with the pace of change.

Simply Switching to Electric Vehicles Today is Not Enough to Address Climate Change

How can U.S. climate action equalize the wealth gap between white and black American families?

INTRODUCTION

Environmental Justice and Renewable Energy

Electricity Disconnections: Pursuing the Goal of 100% access to electricity in the United States

Connect

Search FREE

Harmful effects of climate change are happening faster than expected. We need policies and initiatives that do more to keep up with the pace of change.

INTRODUCTION

Connect

Social

Search FREE