1. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 1 1 Meg Power, PhD National Low-Income Energy Consortium St Louis MO. June 8, 2004

2. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 2 All U.S. Households Reporting Any of 9 Hardships in 1998

3. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 3 All US Households with Selected 1998 Hardships, by Hardship

4. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 4 9.1 Million Energy Hardship Households by 1998 Poverty Level

5. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 5 # of Hardships of 9.1 Million Households That Missed 1998 Energy Payments

6. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 6 One More

7. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 7 Two More

8. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 8 Four More

9. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 9 Lowest Income = Highest Number of Hardships

10. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 10 Consumers with Energy Hardships Are: Working

11. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 11 Consumers with Energy Hardships Are: Under 65

12. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 12 Consumers with Energy Hardships Are Typically Parents Not Married Not Participants in Government Programs

13. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 13 Consumers with Energy Hardships Are: On Their Own!

14. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 14 Summary: Strategies/Policies Based on Realities - Consumers who aren’t paying probably have: –Multiple unpaid bills and hardships –Rented Homes with one or more defects –Families and children –Work, for many irregular, part-time, and low-wage –Uncertain health care and nutrition –The expectation that they will take care of their obligations without anyone’s help.

15. Economic Opportunity Studies, Inc. www.opportunitystudies.org 15 endnote These statistics are measures of household well-being from the 1998 and 2001 cohorts of Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) respondents. http://www.sipp.census.gov/sipp/. The data are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 1996 Panel Wave 8 Topical Module; the details of information provided by those who said they were unable to afford their full energy costs were analyzed by EOS and are found at http://www.opportunitystudies.org/weatherization/national.php. See also the SIPP working paper: Kurt Bauman “Direct Measures of Poverty as Indicators of Economic Need: Evidence from the Survey of Income and Program Participation,” U.S. Bureau of the Census Population Division Technical Working Paper No. 30, November 1998.