Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Increasing electricity prices have raised concerns about energy affordability. State programs to decrease energy burden (share of income spent on energy) could help mitigate these concerns. Many states offer some combination of bill assistance and rebates for installed measures such as weatherization and rooftop solar to income-qualifying households. Here, we analyze how these approaches may complement each other to improve energy affordability. Results illustrate tradeoffs between program costs and energy burden reduction as well as between a program’s upfront capital costs versus ongoing costs. Generally, the three strategies complement one another to improve energy affordability at a lower net present cost than bill assistance alone. This holds true, to varying degrees, across regions. Weatherization can decrease the solar installation needed; and both together can decrease or eliminate ongoing reliance on bill assistance. Fully rebated weatherization and solar rebated at $0.62/Watt, when combined with bill assistance, yield the same modeled net present cost as bill assistance alone and reduce the share of low-income households with high energy burdens from 66% to 17%, compared to bill assistance alone (to 34%). Absent tax credits, weatherization still reduces energy burden and program cost of bill assistance, whereas solar may not compete due to cost.