For more than 30 years, the NEUAC Annual Conference has been the nation’s leading annual meeting of utility assistance professionals in the nonprofit, government, tribal, and utility sectors. Attendees access training and education opportunities as well as share solutions, discuss common challenges, and celebrate our successes in helping low-income consumers meet their home energy and water needs.
During this session, Maria Castillo and Joe Daniel from Rocky Mountain Institute will share historical utility-level energy burden data trends from their research and as published on the RMI Utility Transition Hub (https://utilitytransitionhub.rmi.org/customers-community/). The data, which is accessible through a free interactive dashboard, shows how customer energy burden has changed over time and varies across different utility service territories. It also breaks down the underlying sources of energy burden, revealing the contribution fossil fuel reliance has on driving increased energy burden. The data confirms what advocates have been saying for years, that the energy burden of the lowest income households is over eight times larger than the burden of non-low-income customers and reinforces the need for targeting programs to LMI customers as they are most severely impacted by high energy bills.
Dr. Elvis Moleka and Sara Owre from Groundswell will continue this narrative and offer potential utility solutions through a live demo of the free, web-based LIFT Toolkit. Groundswell will showcase resources, financing approaches, case studies, best practices, and other key insights that utilities and solar developers alike can leverage to increase access and inclusion in community solar projects. The LIFT for Solar Access Everywhere project highlights optimal community solar program designs and financing structures for low- and moderate-income (LMI) residential households in each common regulatory and utility service environment. After nearly three years of research, the LIFT project team delivers this milestone Toolkit to promote equitable community solar access and development at the national level.
The 2023 NEUAC Annual Conference meets June 13-15, 2023 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. Learn more at https://neuac.wpengine.com/event/2023-annual-conference/.
Speakers
- Dr. Elvis Moleka(Speaker)Groundswell, Vice President, Labs and Data Science
- Maria Castillo(Speaker)RMI, Senior Associate
- Sara Owre(Speaker)Groundswell, Program Manager of Operations
- Joe Daniel(Speaker)RMI, Manager
- Kevin McGrath(Moderator)VEIC