Heat or Eat: Uncovering the Energy Poverty Gap in Income-Based Energy Burden Metrics

Income-based energy burden metrics identify households in energy poverty as those which spend 10% or more of their after-tax income on dwelling energy bills, risking the inability to maintain thermal comfort. However, traditional income-based energy poverty metrics fail to capture behavioral adaptation patterns of reducing energy consumption to limit financial expenditure on energy services, especially for low-income households. The inflection temperature, defined in this scope as the outdoor temperature at which households start using heating systems, is one form of energy-limiting behavior primarily adopted to reduce financial stress from energy services. As such, energy-limiting behavior introduces a gap in the energy poverty metric, which can be quantified based on the difference in the inflection
temperatures between low and high-income groups. Motivated by this, this research aims to estimate the heating equity gap, assessing the overlap between both measures as well as uncovering the complementary aspect of energy insecurity based on income. By capturing the gap in the existing income-based energy poverty metric, the multidimensional nature of energy poverty can be captured and classified according to severity, allowing for targeted interventions prioritizing high-risk households.

Faculty Supervisor:

Petr Musilek

Student:

Partner:

Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program: