Many Americans spend over 15% of their income on energy bills

Heating bills can get expensive, especially in poorly insulated homes with inefficient heating systems, drafty windows and doors, and little insulation.

And the burden is often greatest for people who are the most financially vulnerable.

Roxana Ayala of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy says many Americans are spending far more than that. “A high energy burden is when a household is spending more than 6% of their income on energy bills,” she says.

In recent research, her group found that about a quarter of low-income households in the U.S. spend more than 15% of their income on energy.

“So as an example . . . they might forego the cost of food or the cost of medicine in order to pay for their energy bills,” Ayala says.

Ayala says efficiency improvements can help bring those energy costs down: “Homes that are well insulated and have efficient heating and cooling equipment and efficient appliances have ripple effects, including lower energy bills and increased home comfort.”

But low-income households often cannot afford the up-front cost.

So she says when policymakers are developing energy efficiency programs, they should prioritize helping those people least able to pay the cost of staying warm.

This article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

—Sarah Kennedy, ChavoBart Digital Media