Spotlight on Low-Income Consumers: Revisiting Their Needs and Wants

A digital copy of SECC’s “Spotlight on Low-Income Consumers: Revisiting Their Needs and Wants” report, which unveils key characteristics of low-income residential energy customers and provides recommended steps for customer engagement and program design. Utilizing data from five consumer surveys, the meta-analysis reveals the attitudes and behaviors of residential energy customers with incomes less than $50,000 per year, which roughly corresponds with the bottom half of U.S. household incomes. These consumers pay a disproportionately high amount of their income for the energy needed to light, heat and cool their homes – often three times more (relative to their incomes) than the general population. The “Spotlight on Low-Income Consumers” report will help industry stakeholders develop a deeper understanding of lower-income consumers and improve program design and customer outreach for these hard-to-engage customers.