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Consumer
Aggregation and Sophisticated Purchasing: Electric Restructuring Lessons from the Health Care Industry |
|
This report explores the role of group
purchasing in the health care industry and makes recommendations on how to import the lessons of the health care industry
into a competitive electric industry. |
|
| |
Consumer
Information and Workable Competition in Telecommunication Markets (1993) |
|
This article discusses how “consumer side characteristics”
have as great, if not greater, impacts on the existence (or non-existence) of workable competition as do industry-side
factors. |
|
| |
Fingerprints
for Check Cashing: Where Lies the Real Fraud? |
|
This article considers the low-income consumer impacts
of bank fingerprinting of non-account-holders. |
|
| |
Group
Buying of Fuel Oil and Propane in New York State: A Feasibility Study (2002) |
|
This report examines the operational and financial
feasibility of establishing a fuel oil buying cooperative in Up-State New York. |
|
| |
"Just
Like Them" - The "Benefit" to the Small and Disadvantaged User Arising From Competition |
|
Proponents of competition generally argue that competition
will have a positive impact on consumers "on average" or "in the aggregate." Some specific segments of the market, however,
will not be better off. The impacts that competition in the telecommunications industry have on low-income consumers,
in particular, are less likely to be positive, and more likely to be negative. |
|
| |
Law
and Economics in Determining Appropriate Interest Rates in Consumer Cramdowns |
|
This article discusses ways in which the all important
aspect of a "cramdown" bankruptcy proceeding --the determination of the interest rate for the deferred payments-- can
and should be calculated. |
|
| |
Local
Tax Exemptions and the Community Service Responsibilities of Non-Profit Health Care Providers |
|
This proposal explores the relationship between state
and local tax exemptions and the community service obligations of non-profit health care providers. |
|
| |
Philadelphia
State Court Litigation: Wrongful Death Expert Report |
|
This expert report in a Pennsylvania state court
proceeding evaluates the actions of a local utility leading up to the disconnection of service which caused a fire and
ultimate death of a child in Philadelphia. |
|
| |
Setting
Income Eligibility for Federal Lifeline and Link-up Services at 150% of the Federal Poverty Level: FCC Comments |
|
This report documents how Households living with
incomes between 135% and 150% of the Federal Poverty Level lack sufficient resources to obtain affordable telephone
service without Lifeline telephone assistance. |
|
| |
Setting
Income Eligibility for Fuel Assistance and Energy Efficiency Programs In a Competitive Electric Industry: The Marginal
Impacts of Increasing Household Income |
|
This paper explains how to calculate an average household
budget using publicly available information. It further explains the decreasing cash impact of increasing wages for
welfare recipients. |
|
| |
Statement
of Roger Colton in Mackey vs. Spring Lakes Mobile Home Estates |
|
This expert report in an Illinois state court proceeding
considers whether certain fees imposed on mobile home owners at the time of sale represented unlawful "transfer fees"
in violation of Illinois state law. |
|
| |
Lessons
for the Health Care Industry From America's Experience With Public Utilities |
|
This article discusses the historic regulatory and
policy basis for imposing a "duty to serve" on public utilities. It draws comparisons between public utility companies
and the present-day health care system and discusses the application of a regulatory regime on that health care system.
April 1998 |
|
| |
The
Interaction of Price and Service Changes in a Mergers and Acquisitions Environment |
|
This article posits that in order to determine whether
a horizontal hospital merger generates benefits for consumers, policymakers must consider not only potential price reductions,
but the potential for service reductions as well. Only a balancing of price and service can yield a determination of
whether mergers benefit consumers. |
|
| |
The
Tying of Mobile Home Sales and Mobile Home Lot Rentals: Defining Markets and Assessing Product Separability |
|
This expert report in a Vermont federal court proceeding
considers whether mobile homes represent a unique market and the extent to which certain mobile home park owners have
market power within that market. |
|
| |
Universal
Residential Telephone Service: Needs and Strategies |
|
This paper discusses the extent of "universal service"
in the telecommunications industry today and presents recommendations. |
|
| |
A
Water Affordability Program for the Detroit Water and Sewer Department |
|
In response to dramatic increases in the unaffordability
of water/sewer bills in the City of Detroit, not only customers have been disconnected, and gone without service, but
even households that pay their bills incur substantial hardships because of the unaffordability of their bills. This
report presents a water affordability program for the City of Detroit. |
|
| |
When
the Phone Company Is Not the Phone Company: Credit Reporting in the Post-Divestiture Era (1990) |
|
This article explores the use of credit reporting
in the telecommunications industry and discusses the legal obligations that telecommunication providers must undertake. |
|
| |
Denial of Local Telephone Service for Nonpayment of Toll Bills: A review and Assessment of Regulatory Litigation |
|
When long-distance and local service were largely delivered by the same telecommunications vendor,
serious question existed whether it was permissible for "the" telephone company to disconnect local service for failure to pay a toll bill.
This report considers the various outcomes of regulatory litigation of that issue. January 1989. |
|
| |
Identifying Consumer Characteristics Which are Important to Determining the Existence of Workable Competition in the Interexchange Telecommunications Industry |
|
"Workable competition" depends not merely on characteristics of the industry,
but also on consumer characteristics as well. This report documents the consumer characteristics needed for workable competition to exist in the telecommunications industry. December 1989. |
|
| |
The Interexchange Telecommunications Industry: Should Regulation Depend on the Absence of Competition. |
|
"Competition" and "regulation" are not polar opposites.
This report considers the circumstances under which regulation is required to protect the public interest even in a competitive industry such as telecommunications. December 1989. |
|
| |
The Impact on Low-Income People of the Increased Cost for Basic Telephone Service: A Study of Low-income Massachusetts Resident's Telephone Usage Patterns and Their Perceptions of Telephone Service Quality |
|
In response to a 1992 rate increase request by New England Telephone Company,
this paper studies the impact of higher rates on telephone service usage and service quality by low-income users of basic local service.
The paper considers then-available alternatives to plain old telephone service in those instances where service was priced out of the range of low-income consumers. January 1993. |
|
| |
Privacy Protections for Consumer Information Held by Minnesota Rate-Regulated Utilities |
|
State regulators should take particular actions to protect the privacy of personal information,
including placing restrictions on the collection and use of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) by energy utilities. January 2013. |
|
| |
Actions to Protect the Privacy of Minnesota Gas and Electric Customers |
|
In response to a notice of inquiry by the Minnesota PUC,
this paper presents and documents the specific action steps that a state utility commission might take to protect the privacy of personal information of utility customers,
along with the precedential steps taken by federal agencies in adopting such steps. August 2013 |
|
| |
White Paper: Utility Communications with Residential Customers and Vulnerable Residential Customers In Response to Severe Weather-Related Outages |
|
Presentation of recommendations on how energy utilities should improve communications
with residential and vulnerable residential customers during storm-related outages.
Based on a review of more than 50 state storm assessments by regulators and regulatory staff from more than 35 states. November 2013.
Back to Top |
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| |
Changing
Paradigms for Delivering Energy Efficiency to the Low-Income Consumer by Competitive Utilities: The Need for a Shelter-Based
Approach |
|
This paper analyzes the extent to which low-income
energy efficiency can be transformed into an ongoing partnership with affordable housing programs and introduces the
scope and magnitude of a variety of housing programs which could serve as ideal starting places for a shelter-based
energy efficiency partnership. |
|
| |
Energy
Efficiency and the Low-Income Consumer: Planning, Designing and Financing |
|
This book presents a comprehensive low-income energy
efficiency program proposal for low-income consumers. It discusses partners, decision rules, program design, and program
impacts, amongst other things. |
|
| |
Energy
Efficiency as a Credit Enhancement: Public Utilities and the Affordability of First-Time Homeownership |
|
This report examines how utility-sponsored energy
efficiency programs might provide important partnerships for institutions developing and implementing "affordable housing"
programs. The quantitative analysis then concentrates on first-time homeownership programs. A Base Case Scenario plus
80 alternative scenarios have been examined for each of the nine Census Divisions. |
|
| |
Funding
Minority and Low-Income Energy Efficiency in a Competitive Electric Utility Industry |
|
This white paper explains how utility-funded low-income
energy efficiency programs could be structured in a competitive utility environment. It explores how programs can be
piggybacked with other efficiency and affordable housing programs along with how efficiency programs can be targeted
to generate non-energy benefits in addition to the traditional "avoided cost" benefits generated by efficiency investments.
July 1995. |
|
| |
Reviewing
Utility-Funded Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs: A Suggested Framework for Analysis |
|
This paper presents a step-by-step guide through
which community-based organizations can review the adequacy and appropriateness of a utility-funded low-income program.
It considers how to determine whether funding levels are appropriate, how to assess whether appropriate partnerships
underlie the program proposal, how to determine whether all avoided costs have been captured, and other critical questions.
February 1995. NOTE: This is a large file (7.0 mB). |
|
| |
Least-Cost
Integrated Resource Planning in Arkansas: The Role of Low-Income Energy Efficiency |
|
Whether or not in a restrictive demand-side
management atmosphere, some energy efficiency investments can be supported at existing or increased levels. This report
explains how, and why, utility investments in low-income energy efficiency can be justified on a variety of regulatory
and economic grounds. January 1995. |
|
| |
Energy
Efficiency as an Affordable Housing Tool in Colorado (2003) |
|
This report explains how the delivery
of energy efficiency through first time homebuyer programs can increase the affordability of home purchasing by up to
25%. |
|
| |
Private Investment in Low-Income Energy Efficiency: Replacing Reliance on Government and Utility Funds (1993)
|
|
Advocates of low-income energy efficiency improvements have been forced to look for new means of financing those measures as federal Weatherization dollars, and oil overcharge funds, continue to dry up. This paper proposes two models through which new sources of capital can exist for low-income energy efficiency strategies. Private capital can be raised for such programs, if the potential of conservation is appropriately marketed and appropriate legal processes for capturing and providing a return are created. October 1993. |
|
| |
The
Duty of a Public Utility to Mitigate "Damages" From Nonpayment Through the Offer of Conservation Programs |
|
This article presents a review of the
law that supports the conclusion that a utility has a legal obligation to deliver energy efficiency measures to low-income
customers known to be payment-troubled. The article examines the contract law which requires reasonable actions to mitigate
the damages that would arise from the expected breach of a contractual payment obligation. March 1993 |
|
| |
Financing
Low-Income Energy Efficiency in a Competitive Electric Industry |
|
This paper presents a series of options
on how to finance energy efficiency for low-income consumers. |
|
| |
Linked
Deposits: A Local Government Workbook on Financing Energy Efficiency in Low-Income Housing |
|
This workbook is for local government officials that
wish to pursue energy efficiency in low-income housing developments. The workbook is intended to present the necessary
tools to develop a specific linked deposit energy efficiency proposal to present to potential depositors. |
|
| |
"Linked
Deposits" as a Utility Investment in Energy Efficiency for Low-Income Housing |
|
This paper analyzes the use of "linked deposits"
as a means of financing energy efficiency in affordable housing programs. |
|
| |
Loan
Guarantees as a Utility Investment in Energy Efficiency for Low-Income Housing |
|
This paper considers the policy and financing parameters
of offering loan guarantees in support of low-income energy efficiency. |
|
| |
Low-Income
Energy Efficiency in Ontario: The Design of a Natural Gas DSM Program |
|
This report, prepared for the Low-Income Energy Network
(Toronto), presents a design and justification for a natural gas utility-funded low-income energy efficiency program
for Ontario gas utilities. |
|
| |
Reviewing
Utility-Funded Low-Income Energy Efficiency Programs: A Suggested Framework for Analysis |
|
This guide provides a step-by-step approach to evaluating
a public utility's low-income Demand Side Management (DSM) programs. One of the most important aspects of getting to
the right answers regarding a utility's low-income DSM programs is to ask the right questions. This paper is intended
to set forth the "right questions." |
|
| |
Securitizing
Utility Avoided Costs: Creating an Energy Efficiency "Product" for Private Investment in WAP |
|
This paper proposes a new type of security instrument
through which to use private investment to finance energy efficiency improvements through state Weatherization Assistance
Programs (WAP). The instrument is a revenue bond supported by a utility's contract to devote the WAP-generated avoided
costs to bond repayment. Back to Top |
|
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| |
Assessing Rooftop Solar PV Glare in Dense Urban Residential Neighborhoods |
|
A substantial growth in solar photovoltaic (PV)
energy production has given rise to concerns among some of the impact of glint and glare on surrounding properties, particularly in residential neighborhoods.
This discussion finds that rooftop solar PV panels are unlikely to generate substantial glare.
It further concludes that glare is unlikely to be a problem to immediate abutters in an urban neighborhood. November 2014 |
|
| |
Section 8 Utility Allowances and Changes in Home Energy Prices in Pennsylvania |
|
This report examines the extent to which Pennsylvania's Local Housing Authorities
update their Section 8 utility allowances to reflect increasing energy prices. The report finds a systematic failure to update utility allowances
and a failure of the HUD SEMAP process to enforce utility allowance requirements. January 2011 |
|
| |
The
Contribution of Utility Bills to the Unaffordability of Low-Income Rental Housing in Pennsylvania |
|
The role of home utility bills in causing the unaffordability of overall shelter costs
to low-income households has not frequently been analyzed. This report considers the extent to which, if at all, home utility bills are a factor
contributing to low-income households experiencing overall shelter costs beyond those levels generally deemed to be affordable. Focussing on rental units in Pennsylvania, t
he report concludes that home utility bills substantially contribute to the unaffordability of low-income rental units. June 2009 |
|
| |
Energy
Efficient Utility Allowances as a Usage Reduction Tool in Pennsylvania |
|
This report discusses how, as Pennsylvania policymakers formulate and implement
the state's Act 129 energy efficiency plans, they should pay particular attention to opportunities for pursuing energy efficiency in housing that cuts across
traditional notions of what constitutes an "efficiency" program. In particular, Pennsylvania should pursue ways through which to promulgate
energy efficient utility allowances for the state’s Section 8 housing units. June 2009 |
|
| |
Energy
Efficiency as a Homebuyer Affordability Tool in Pennsylvania |
|
This report considers how energy efficiency investments directed toward lower income households can serve
an important affordable housing function in Pennsylvania. Using local data, the report discusses how efficiency investments can increase the number of low-income households
that qualify for first time home ownership opportunities; increase the value of the home that a low-income first time home owner can afford to buy;
increase the safety of the financial institution's investments in first time homebuyers through increased home value, decreased default rates, and protections against price volatility;
and provide substantial financial subsidies to first time homebuyers. June 2009 |
|
| |
Comments
of Belmont House Trust, Inc. on Proposed DOE Furnace Efficiency Standards: U.S. Department of Energy Docket No. EE-RM/STD-01-350 |
|
These comments urge that increased energy efficiency
standards for natural gas residential furnaces will benefit not only low-income tenants, but the agencies and organizations
that produce housing for those tenants. The comments examine how annual increases in Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are not
keeping up with increasing energy prices and how, accordingly, less money is available to pay housing costs as an increasing
proportion of household resources is diverted to energy bills. It argues that DOE has the authority to adopt different
furnace efficiency standards for northern and southern states. January 2007 |
|
| |
Controlling
Tuberculosis in Fulton County (Georgia) Homeless Shelters: A Needs Assessment |
|
After years of a declining incidence of tuberculosis
in the United States, the prevalence of the disease appeared to be on the rise again. Homeless persons are particularly
at risk to the transmission of TB. Specific investigations into TB clusters in Fulton County have further documented
a connection between the spread of TB and homelessness. Because of these concerns, the Georgia Department of Human Resources,
Division of Public Health, commissioned this needs assessment of Fulton County homeless shelters. March 2004 |
|
| |
The
Control of Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis: Final Report
on Site Visits to Nine Homeless Shelters |
|
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) proposed a health standard to control the occupational exposure to tuberculosis.This study was commissioned by
OSHA to consider the control of occupational exposure to TB specifically in homeless shelters. August 1998 |
|
| |
Affordable
Housing and Educational Excellence in Belmont |
|
This paper presents an overview of why supporting
affordable housing in a middle class Boston suburb would further excellence in education for the town's school district. |
|
| |
Age-Sensitive
Community Planning |
|
This article presents a model through which to determine
whether a local community's planning will assist or impede aging in place. |
|
| |
Analysis
of Dade County Public Housing Utility Allowances |
|
This presents a data-based critique of the natural
gas, electricity and water/sewer utility allowances established for Dade County (FL) public housing units. |
|
| |
Challenging
Entrance and Transfer Fees in Mobile Home Park Lot Rentals |
|
This article considers the law and economics of transfer
fees imposed by mobile home park owners on mobile home owners who sell their home in place. |
|
| |
Electric
Industry Restructuring and the Regulation of Electric Service Providers: The Role of the Fair Housing Act |
|
This article explores the principles which support
application of the Fair Housing Act to the offer of public utility service. |
|
| |
Fair
and Affordable Housing for the Poor: Accounting for Occupancy Distribution and Housing Quality |
|
This article presents an analysis of how to inventory
the affordable housing needs in a local jurisdiction and the factors to be aware of. |
|
| |
Fair
Housing and Affordable Housing in Belmont, Massachusetts: Data on Availability, Distribution and Quality |
|
This paper presents an overview of the varied affordable
housing needs of low and moderate income households in a middle class Boston (MA) suburb. |
|
| |
Fair
Housing Plan: Analysis of Impediments and Strategies to Address Them |
|
This is the Analysis of Impediments study for the
town of Beaverton (OR) and Washington County (OR). |
|
| |
Utility
Service for Tenants of Delinquent Landlords |
|
This article presents the legal remedies available
to tenants who pay for utilities as a part of their rent, but whose landlord, in turn, fails to pay the utility bill
such that the premises are subject to the disconnection of service for nonpayment. August 1986 |
|
| |
Right
to Pretermination Notice in Cases of Landlords' Nonpayment of Utilities |
|
This article presents the legal basis for providing
pretermination notice to tenants when the landlord, who is the customer of record, fails to pay the utility bill to
the point of facing the termination of service for nonpayment. July 1995 |
|
| |
Landlord
Failure to Resolve Shared Meter Problems Breaches Tenant's Right to Quiet Enjoyment |
|
This article explains the rights and remedies a tenant
has against a landlord, under tenant/landlord law, when a landlord fails to resolve problems with cross-metering between
units, or between the common areas of multi-unit premises. August 1995 |
|
| |
Utility
Allowances for the Austin (TX) Housing Authority |
|
This expert witness statement in federal litigation
presents a comprehensive review of the development of HUD utility allowances for tenants of public and assisted housing
in Austin, Texas. March 1999 |
|
| |
Public
Housing Utility Allowances for the Gallia (OH) Metropolitan Housing Authority |
|
This expert witness statement in federal litigation
presents a comprehensive review of the development of HUD utility allowances for tenants of public and assisted housing
for a small local housing authority in southeastern Ohio. November 2000 |
|
| |
Homestead
Creation for Native Hawaiians |
|
This paper presents an analysis in support of damages
attributable to the mismanagement of the Native Hawaiian Homelands Trust |
|
| |
Inclusionary
zoning for Belmont: The Public Need and Private Exaction |
|
|
|
| |
Mobile
Home Rent Control: Protecting Local Regulation |
|
This paper considers the findings and analysis that
a local government should make in support of the local regulation of mobile home rent levels. |
|
| |
Rental
Housing Affordability in Burlington, Vermont: A Report to the Burlington City Council |
|
This analysis of Burlington, Vermont's rental housing:
(1) considers the affordability of rental housing in Burlington in an effort to determine whether improving the energy
efficiency of such housing would yield substantial economic benefits to Burlington renters; and (2) assesses the availability
of rental housing in Burlington to determine whether renters who now face unaffordable rental costs have realistically
available affordable housing choices. |
|
| |
Seattle's
Low-Income Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance: A Review of Professor Heyne's Economic Analysis |
|
This paper presents an FSC analysis presented in
federal court in support of Seattle's tenant relocation assistance ordinance. |
|
| |
Serving
the Affordable Housing Needs of Belmont's Older Residents |
|
This paper presents an overview of the
varied affordable housing needs of the older population of a middle class Boston suburb. |
|
| |
Shawmut
Bank and Community Reinvestment in Boston: Community Credit Needs and Affordable Housing |
|
This paper presents an analysis of Shawmut National
Bank's CRA compliance in the Boston (MA) metropolitan region. |
|
| |
The
Problem of Mass Evictions in Mobile Home Parks Subject to Conversion |
|
This paper summarizes an empirical study of the impact
of the closure of a mobile home park in Forest Grove (OR). |
|
| |
Utility
Rate Classifications and Group Homes as "Residential" Customers |
|
This paper presents an analysis of whether group
homes should be considered "residential" customers for purposes of utility rate classifications. |
|
| |
Fair Housing in the Suburbs: The Role of a Merged Fleet Boston in The Diversification of the Suburbs: Report to the Federal Reserve Board Concerning the Merger of BankBoston Corp and Fleet Financial Group |
|
Noting that one question for regulators considering the proposed Fleet merger
is how the merged bank would meet the credit needs of the community, this paper examines the credits needs of the suburban,
rather than simply the inner-urban, community and proposes conditions to be placed on the Fleet BankBoston merger. July 1999. |
|
| |
Customer and Housing Unit Characteristics in the Fitchburg Gas and Electric Service Territory |
|
This report presents a comparative analysis of the characteristics of low-income households and housing units
both within the FGE service territory and between the FGE territory and the State of Massachusetts as a whole.
It discusses the income and housing attributes of specific "hard to reach" populations. April 2012. |
|
| |
Massachusetts Analysis of Impediment to Fair Housing: Fiscal Zoning and the "Childproofing" of a Community |
|
This report details the impropriety of seeking to "childproof" a community
through local zoning decision and policies. The report considers the propriety of "fiscal zoning" decisions
‐decisions based on minimizing costs of adding school children to a community—from both a fair housing and zoning perspective. December 2013.
Back to Top |
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An
Alternative to Regulation in the Control of Occupational Exposure to Tuberculosis in Homeless Shelters (2002) |
|
Based on research performed for the U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), this article explains how and why efforts to control the occupational exposure
to TB in homeless shelters is best accomplished through public health, rather than through regulatory, mechanisms. |
|
| |
An
Analysis of Davenport City Finances for Iowa State Policemen's Association Collection Bargaining Unit Local No. 2 |
|
This paper presents an analysis of the ability of
a local government to fund salary and wage requests by the local police officer's union. |
|
| |
An
Analysis of the Finances of the State of Iowa prepared for Iowa United Professionals |
|
This paper presents an analysis of the ability of
a state government to fund salary and wage requests by the state public employee union. |
|
| |
Controlling
The Occupational Transmission of Tuberculosis in Homeless Shelters: Applying Occupational Safety Standards to "Volunteers" |
|
This paper considers the application of state workplace
safety standards to volunteers. |
|
| |
Frances
Lauer Youth Services: Cerro Gordo County (Iowa): An Analysis of the County Decision to Privatize the Agency |
|
This paper presents an analysis of the costs of public
vs. private provision of youth shelter services and a road map for the transition from county agency to non-profit provider. |
|
| |
Home-Based
Enterprise in Oregon: Improving Local Regulation of an Important Economic Asset |
|
This paper considers local regulation of home-based
businesses and proposes a model home occupation ordinance and related reforms. |
|
| |
Little
Davis-Bacon: An Economic Critique of Attacks on State Prevailing Wage Legislation |
|
This paper presents the economics of
prevailing wage legislation and reviews the arguments, economics and data of groups both challenging and supporting
the legislation. |
|
| |
The
Economic Impacts of a Prevailing Wage Law for Iowa State Construction Projects |
|
This paper presents a data-based analysis of the
impacts of Iowa's prevailing wage laws on Iowa highway construction projects. Back to Top |
|
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|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in New York: The Affordability Gap (2008-2010) |
|
This report presents a three-year study of home energy affordability in New York,
documenting the Home Energy Affordability Gap by income, by geographic region, and by demographic characteristics. June 2011. |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability Gap: 2010 (Connecticut Legislative Districts) |
|
This report presents an assessment of the
Connecticut Home Energy Affordability Gap for 2010 by legislative district. January 2011. |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in Manitoba: A Low-Income Affordability Program for Manitoba Hydro |
|
This report explores the extent of low-income energy unaffordability in Manitoba,
proposes a rate affordability program, and presents a business case for that program. November 2010. |
|
| |
Interim Report on Xcel Energy's Pilot Energy Assistance Program (PEAP): 2010 Interim Evaluation |
|
This report presents the first year evaluation of Xcel Energy's Colorado low-income percentage of income program.
It considers arrearage and bill payment impacts. September 2010. |
|
| |
Home
Energy Affordabilty in Connecticut: 2009 by State and Federal Legislative Districs |
|
This report reviews the Home Energy Affordability Gap in Connecticut in 2009.
The capacity of low-income Connecticut households to pay
their home energy bills deteriorated in 2009, while federal funds designed to help pay those bills fell further behind in
their ability to stem the tide of home energy unaffordability. January 2010. |
|
| |
An
Outcome Evaluation of Indiana’s Low–Income Rate Affordability Programs: 2008 – 2009 |
|
This evaluation examines the operation of low-income rates offered by three Indiana utilities in 2008 and 2009.
The evaluation focuses on the collections impacts of the two program designs from the perspective of the utility.
The evaluation considers the amount of revenue collected through the Indiana programs, the level of effort employed to generate that revenue,
and the effectiveness and efficiency of the effort directed toward that collection. August 2009. |
|
| |
Home
Energy Consumption Expenditures by Income (Pennsylvania) |
|
One question that frequently presents itself today is the extent to which low-income households
have higher or lower energy consumption than do higher income households. Using state-specific data for natural gas used for space heating;
electricity used for space heating; and electricity used for non-space heating, this report concludes that, in Pennsylvania, a direct relationship exists
between income and home energy consumption. As income increases, home energy usage and expenditures increase as well. May 2009. |
|
| |
Home
Energy Affordability In Indiana: Current Needs and Future Potentials |
|
This report presents an analysis of the home energy
affordability needs in Indiana and the resources available to meet those needs. It discusses home energy bills and household
demographics. It presents a comprehensive inventory of the various private, state and federal programs that provide
financial assistance to help households address unaffordable home energy bills. June 2008. |
|
| |
Home
Energy Affordability in Maryland: Necessary Regulatory and Legislative Actions |
|
This report presents a compendium of rate affordability,
energy efficiency, and consumer protection initiatives designed to mitigate the impact that dramatic electric and natural
gas price increases have had on low-income Maryland residents. The report was prepared for the Maryland Office of Peoples
Counsel in response to a legislative directive. October 2006. |
|
| |
Indiana
Billing and Collections Reporting: Natural Gas and Electric Utilities |
|
The second annual billing and collections report
for the Coalition to Keep Indiana Warm presents data for the period July 2005 through June 2006. The data is used to
recommend actions on budget billing, deferred payment plans, shutoff notices, among other actions, to help control payment
troubles, both low-income and otherwise. November 2006. |
|
| |
The
Impact of Missouri Gas Energy’s Experimental Low-Income Rate (ELIR) on Utility Bill Payments by Low-Income Customers:
A Preliminary Assessment |
|
This study looks at whether low-income Missouri Gas Energy (MGE) customers receiving energy assistance benefits
through the Company’s Experimental Low-Income Rate (ELIR) improve their payment patterns relative to low-income customers that do not receive such benefits.
Assuming such improvement does in fact occur, the study then examines whether the cost of obtaining such improvement is reasonable given the results. October 2003. |
|
| |
Low-Income Home Energy Affordability in Maryland |
|
This report assesses the extent of poverty in Maryland
and the impacts that home energy prices have on overall home energy affordability.
The report documents differences in home energy affordability by public assistance recipients and the "working poor." November 2002. |
|
| |
Structuring
a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for Iowa |
|
This report calculates the level of a "wires
charge," for the state of Iowa, needed to deliver rate affordability assistance and weatherization services. It
determines not only the aggregate dollars necessary, but the cost per customer class based on whether the wires charge
is structured on a volumetric basis or a fixed meters charge. June 1996. NOTE: This is a large file (10.5 mB). |
|
| |
Addressing
Low-Income Inability-to-Pay Utility Bills During the Winter Months on Tribal Lands Served by Electric Co-ops: A Model
Tribal Winter Utility Shutoff Regulation |
|
This material presents a recommended regulation to
implement winter utility shutoff restrictions for a local Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) serving Tribal customers.
The assumption behind the Regulation is that, without the Tribal regulation, the REC will be unregulated by any State
Public Utility Commission rule regarding winter restrictions. |
|
| |
Financing
a National Universal Service Fund for Residential Home Energy |
|
This report examines the financial impacts on electric
utilities and their customers from imposing a charge on electric consumption to finance an all -fuels home energy affordability
Universal Service Fund. It considers the design and funding of such a program that might replace LIHEAP's heating/cooling
benefits with assistance directed toward the total home energy bill. March 1996. |
|
| |
An
Assessment of Low-Income Energy Needs in Washington State |
|
After steady increases in electric prices throughout
the 1970s, and substantial natural gas and fuel oil price increases in the early 1990s, this report provides a comprehensive
assessment of energy needs in Washington state. It calculates energy bills, catalogues public and private energy assistance,
and documents energy efficiency needs for the state. |
|
| |
Affordable
Payment Programs: Can They Be Justified? |
|
This Affordable Comfort paper presents the various
grounds on which a low-income rate affordability can be justified. It examines early state utility commission decisions
approving low-income affordability programs and the rationale used by those commissions in reaching their decisions.
March 1995 |
|
| |
The
ABC's of Arrearage Forgiveness |
|
This report explains the structure of utility arrearage
forgiveness programs and explores the rationale for adopting such programs. It is intended to present a simple primer
on how and why to adopt an arrearage forgiveness program and what objectives such a program can be expected to achieve.
October 1991 |
|
| |
Protections
for the Low-Income Customer of Unregulated Utilities: Federal Fuel Assistance as More Than Cash Grants |
|
This article explores how the annual LIHEAP state
plan can be used to create consumer protections for low-income customers of utilities and bulk fuel vendors. It explains
the vendor payment process and examines the protections that can be inserted, by contract, into the agreement through
which a state agrees to make direct vendor payments of LIHEAP benefits. June 1992 |
|
| |
Client
Consumption Patterns Within an Income-Based Energy Assistance Program |
|
This article analyzes available empirical data examining
whether percentage-of-income-based low-income rate affordability program results in program participants increasing
consumption due to the lack of price signals. The article concludes that such increases do not occur and explores the
economic reasons why that result arises. December 1990 |
|
| |
The
Use of Utility Data Processing Records as a Data Mining Source on Low-Income Consumers: Converting Information to Knowledge |
|
This paper explains how basic customer data can be
accessed from traditional utility information systems to inform whether and how to offer different types of bill payment
assistance to low-income customers. It explores the different "messages" that can be derived by looking at arrearage
levels and aging reports, by examining collection activity reports, and by looking at "important dates" such as meter-on
dates and final bill dates. April 1999 |
|
| |
Comments
of Consolidated Low-Income Representatives in the Matter of FERC's Inquiry Concerning the Commission's Merger Policy
Under the Federal Power Act |
|
These comments before the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) consider the impacts of electric and natural gas mergers on low-income consumers. |
|
| |
Discrimination
as a Sword for the Poor: Use of an “Effects Test” in Public Utility Litigation (1990) |
|
This article reviews the law and economics of using
an “effects test” analysis in establishing discriminatory behavior and explores how the effects test can
be used in utility litigation. |
|
| |
Evaluating
the New Hampshire Electric Assistance Program: Proposed Utility Evaluation Criteria |
|
This paper for the New Hampshire Governor's Office
of Energy and Community Services recommends evaluation criteria for New Hampshire's Electric Assurance Program. |
|
| |
Evaluating
the New Hampshire Electric Assistance Program: Proposed Social Evaluation Criteria |
|
This paper for the New Hampshire Governor's
Office of Energy and Community Services recommends social evaluation criteria for New Hampshire's Electric Assurance
Program. |
|
| |
Experimental
Low-Income Program (ELIP): Empire District Electric Company, Final Program Evaluation |
|
This report examines whether the Experimental Low-Income
Program (ELIP) operated by Empire District Electric Company (EDE) for two years was able to generate affordable home
electric bills to ELIP participants, thus allowing those participants to make full and timely payments on their monthly
bills. |
|
| |
Funding
Fuel Assistance: State and Local Strategies to Help Pay Low-Income Home Energy Bills |
|
This book presents a comprehensive program for developing
state and local sources of revenue to be distributed as fuel assistance by local service providers. The report recognizes
the hardships created by reductions in federal funding for fuel assistance. It contains more than two dozen proposals
for developing substantial, repeatable, sources of dollars. These funding proposals cover a range of institutions and
seek to spread the responsibility for providing dollars throughout a broad base of the community, including individuals,
non-profits, businesses, educational institutions, churches and energy service providers. |
|
| |
Georgia
REACH Project Energize: Final Program Evaluation |
|
This report is the final evaluation of the Georgia REACH program. It presents an impact and process evaluation.
It utilizes the Home Energy Insecurity Scale and a “risk assessment matrix” to measure household impacts.
It calculates energy usage reduction, as well as the program’s impacts on customer payments. |
|
| |
Identifying
Savings Arising From Low-Income Programs |
|
This paper categorizes the financial savings that
might arise to a utility from low-income programs ranging from rate discounts to energy efficiency investments to fuel
funds. |
|
| |
Impact
Evaluation of NIPSCO Winter Warmth Program |
|
This study examines the performance of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) Winter Warmth
program relative to the objectives established for the program at its inception. Winter Warmth is a low-income energy
assistance program directed toward assisting income-eligible households avoid the disconnection of service, achieve
the reconnection of service, and avoid unaffordable winter heating bills. |
|
| |
Indiana
Billing and Collection Reporting: Natual Gas and Electric Utilities (2005) |
|
This report presents data from the first year of
billing and collections reporting by Indiana's six largest utilities. Data on bills, arrears, disconnections,
reconnections, payment plans, and related issues is presented for residential and for low-income residential customers.. |
|
| |
In
Harm’s Way: Home Heating, Fire Hazards, and Low-Income Households (2001) |
|
This paper documents the extent to which low-income
status and the unaffordability of home energy has been found to contribute to fire deaths throughout the country. |
|
| |
Local
Layoffs as National Emergencies: Using the National Emergency Grant Program to Respond to the Unmet Home Energy Needs
of Displaced Workers (2002) |
|
This paper documents the extent to which job displacement
primarily occurs within the low-wage worker population and explores how fuel funds and public utilities can use a federal
grant program to assist those displaced workers. |
|
| |
Low-Income
Programs and Their Impact on Reducing Utility Working Capital Allowances |
|
This paper explains how to calculate the working
capital savings to a utility from low-income programs, including rate discounts, energy efficiency investments and fuel
funds. |
|
| |
Measuring
LIHEAP’s Outcomes: Responding to Home Energy Unaffordability (1999) |
|
This paper introduces the concept of the “paid
but unaffordable bill” and empirically examines how low-income utility customers respond to the unaffordability
of home energy. |
|
| |
Measuring
the Outcomes of Home Energy Assistance Programs through a Home Energy Insecurity Scale (2003) |
|
This report proposes a family-level scale, modeled
on ROMA scales, for use in measuring the outcomes of low-income energy assistance programs, whether they are rate discounts,
weatherization, cash assistance, or crisis assistance. |
|
| |
Methods
of Measuring Energy Needs of the Poor |
|
Despite the universally agreed upon proposition that
the poor are "in need" when it comes to the affordability of their home energy bills, there is no generally accepted
definition of what that "need" is. This paper examines the different models of "need" that have been advanced in the
low-income energy arena, either implicitly or explicitly; quantifies the number of low-income households "in need" given
the different definitions; and tests the significance of using one definition over another.
|
|
| |
Models
of Low-Income Utility Rates |
|
This paper categorizes and summarizes the eleven
different models of low-income rate discounts used by public utilities around the country. |
|
| |
Mountain
States Legal Foundation v. Colorado Public Utilities Commission: Leading Light or Flickering Flame? |
|
This memo considers whether the Colorado state supreme
court decision in Mountain States Legal Foundation per se prohibits low-income utility rate discounts. |
|
| |
On
the Brink of Disaster: A State-by-State Analysis of Low-Income Natural Gas Winter Heating Bills |
|
This report presents an examination of actual winter
natural gas energy bills for nearly 200 natural gas utilities around the country. The report presents state-by-state
data on bills as a percentage of income and of the number of low-income households in various public benefit programs
by state. The report further presents utility-by-utility data, using actual winter bills from each utility, of winter
home energy burdens for populations such as public assistance recipients and households with incomes less than $15,000. |
|
| |
Payment
Problems, Income Status, Weather and Prices: Costs and Savings of a Capped Bill Program (2002) |
|
This report quantifies the impacts that increased
prices and cold temperatures have on low-income payment problems, assesses the statistical relationship between prices,
temperature and payment problems, and presents a financial analysis of the utility impacts of controlling bills through
a capped bill program. |
|
| |
Paid
but Unaffordable: The Consequences of Energy Poverty in Missouri |
|
This report provides a detailed look at energy poverty
in Missouri. The discussion: (1) documents the extent of energy poverty in Missouri; (2) describes the consequences
of that energy poverty; and (3) measures the insecurity imposed on a low-income household that faces energy poverty. |
|
| |
Reducing
Energy Distress: “Seeing RED” Project Evaluation (2002) |
|
This program evaluation quantifies the impacts that
a family-development energy assistance program has on a wide range of utility payment patterns. |
|
| |
Residential
Essential Services Rate Pilot Project: Colorado Energy Assistance Foundation and Public Service Company of Colorado
Program Policies |
|
This document presents the program policies (as of
July 1998) for the Residential Essential Services Rate (RESRate) pilot project in Denver (CO). |
|
| |
The
Other Part of the Year: Low-Income Households and Their Need for Cooling: A State-by-State Analysis of Low-Income Summer
Electric Bills |
|
This book presents an examination of actual summer
electric bills for nearly 200 electric utilities from around the country. Relying upon the most recent literature, the
report discusses the adverse health effects of hot weather and presents city-by-city data on the "threshold temperatures"
over which hot weather becomes deadly. The report presents state-by-state, and utility-by-utility, data on summer electric
bills as a percentage of income for various low-income populations. In addition, on a utility-by-utility basis, the
report presents data on the increase in electric bills from 1987 to 1992 (as compared to the increases in public assistance
levels), and on the difference between summer and winter electric costs. |
|
| |
The
Road Oft Taken: Unaffordable Home Energy Bills, Forced Mobility and Childhood Education in Missouri |
|
This study explores the interconnection between two
seemingly unrelated problems: unaffordable home energy bills and poor educational attainment. Looking specifically at
a group of low-income households in Missouri, the study evaluates to what extent, if at all, unaffordable home energy
bills contribute to frequent household mobility and, therefore, by extension, to the educational problems facing students
in those households. |
|
| |
The
Economic Impacts of Home Energy Assistance in Colorado (2003) |
|
This report identifies, categorizes and quantifies
the impacts that low-income energy assistance has on total economic activity, on increased earnings, and on supporting
new jobs in Colorado. |
|
| |
Understanding
Why Customers Don't Pay: The Need for Flexible Collection Practices |
|
This paper explains why the first step of analysis
in seeking to respond to problems involving utility customer nonpayment is to determine precisely why households might
not pay their bills. By understanding the full range of reasons why households may not pay, utilities and their regulators
can adopt a flexible approach to bill collection, involving a full range of techniques addressing specific problems.
This flexibility will help maximize the receipt of revenue while minimizing collection expenses.
|
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| |
When
Weather Kills: Heat Response Plans and the Low-Income Need for Cooling (2002) |
|
The paper documents the extent to which hot weather
presents health and safety issues to low-income households and introduces the local government "heat response
plan" as an appropriate non-regulatory response. |
|
| |
Home
Energy Assistance Review and Reform in Colorado |
|
This report takes a comprehensive look at the
delivery of energy assistance in Colorado. It documents the need for energy assistance, inventories existing public
and private sources of assistance, examines Colorado's targeting of energy assistance, and reports on why households
do not participate in assistance. December 1995 |
|
| |
Energy Use and the Poor: The Association of Consumption with Income |
|
This report finds a direct relationship between energy usage and income.
As income increases for residential customer, so, too, does consumption increase. July 1990. |
|
| |
Poverty and Energy in North Carolina: Combining Public and Private Resources to Solve a Public and Private Problem |
|
After documenting the extent and consequences of "energy poverty" in North Carolina,
this report presents a series of remedial measures that could and should be implemented by state regulators and other government officials. May 1991. |
|
| |
Utility-Financed Low-Income Energy Conservation: Winning for Everyone |
|
This report documents the basis for concluding that implementation of special ratepayer-funded
usage reduction programs can be justified by public utilities on traditional regulatory grounds. July 1991. |
|
| |
Wrong Way Street: Reversing the Subsidy Flowing From Low-Income Customers in a Competitive Electric Industry |
|
This report provides a comprehensive overview of the low-income characteristics
that result in poor people imposing lower costs on a utility, even though their rates include a transfer of the payment of cost-causation
from the non-poor population to low-income customers. November 1996. |
|
| |
Non-Energy Benefits from Low-Income Fuel Assistance |
|
This early report was one of the first analyses that hypothesized the existence of "non-energy benefits" (NEBS)
(such as improved health care outcomes, reduced forced mobility, reduced homelessness0 associated with low-income fuel assistance.
Since this report, these NEBs have been empirically verified and quantified time and again as arising from low-income fuel assistance and usage reduction programs. November 1997. |
|
| |
Essential Services Affordability Program (ESAP): Whiteacre Utility |
|
This early report seeks to generalize the lessons learned
from programs in existence at the time to develop an affordability program design generally applicable to public utilities.
The paper include proposed outcome measurements along with a funding discussion. October 1998 |
|
| |
Structuring Low-income Affordability Programs Funded through System Benefits Charges: A Case Study from New Hampshire |
|
Prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
this report documents each step of the creating and funding of a ratepayer-funded low-income assistance program.
Each step includes a review of possible alternative decisions. May 2001. |
|
| |
A Ratepayer-Funded Home Energy Affordability Program for Low-Income Households: A Universal Service Program for Ontario’s Energy Utilities |
|
This study considers the home energy affordability needs for low-income Ontario (CAN) households
and proposes a ratepayer-funded program to meet those needs. Includes a recommended funding mechanism. April 2006. |
|
| |
Low-Income Energy Efficiency in Ontario: The Design of a Natural Gas DSM Program |
|
This report presented to the Ontario Energy Board provides the basic structure for design and funding decisions
for low-income weatherization programs by Ontario’s natural gas utilities. June 2006. |
|
| |
An Outcome Evaluation of Indiana’s Low-Income Rate Affordability Programs |
|
This report provides an impact evaluation of low-income rate affordability programs
offered by three Indiana utilities. The programs are measured against nine pre-selected outcome metrics. July 2007. |
|
| |
Best Practices: Low-Income Rate Affordability Programs: Articulating and Applying Rating Criteria |
|
The analysis presented in this paper examines selected low-income affordability programs currently in operation around the United States
as determined by the author to be best-in-class. Eight United States programs have been reviewed in addition to the low-income initiatives of Electricitê de France (EDF) in France.
The paper identifies five characteristics of best-in-class programs along with 13 "lessons learned" from such programs. November 2007. |
|
| |
Inverted Block Rates and Universal Lifeline Rates: Their Use and Usability for Delivering Low-Income Electric Rate Relief |
|
This report examines universal Lifeline utility rates as one means of delivering rate affordability assistance
to the low-income customers of Hydro Quebec. The report examines whether rate design is an industry tool that is often used to provide rate relief to low-income households. February 2008. |
|
| |
Public Health Outcomes Associated with Energy Poverty: An Analysis of 2007 Iowa Behavioral Risk Fact Surveillance System (BRFSS) Data |
|
Examines the public health outcomes associated with "energy poverty"
based on state BRFSS data gathered by the Iowa Department of Public Health. Considers long- and short-term public health outcomes. June 2008 |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in Idaho: Low-Income Energy Affordability Needs and Resources |
|
This report presents a comprehensive review of the energy affordability needs of low-income Idaho customers,
along with an identification of local, state and federal resources available and potentially available to help meet those needs. November 2011. |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in Connecticut: The Affordability Gap |
|
A documentation of home energy unaffordability in Connecticut in 2011, by income and geographic regions (continuing series).
Includes a special discussion of the social and "business" consequences of inability to pay, along with an identification of non-utility resources to help address energy unaffordability. December 2011. |
|
| |
Public Service Company of Colorado’s (PSCo) Pilot Energy Assistance Program (PEAP) and Electric Assistance Program (EAP) 2011 Final Evaluation Report
|
|
This is the final evaluation of Public Service Company of Colorado’s (PSCO)
Pilot Energy Assistance Program (PEAP) (and its electric equivalent). The PEAP was used as the model for a statewide low-income program adopted by the Colorado PUC. February 2012 |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in New York: The Affordability Gap |
|
A documentation of home energy unaffordability in New York in 2011,
by income and by geographic regions (2nd in a three-part series). A special look at the characteristics of public and assisted housing. August 2012. |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in Connecticut: The Affordability Gap |
|
A documentation of home energy unaffordability in Connecticut in 2012,
by income and geographic regions (continuing series). Includes a special discussion of public and assisted housing tenants. December 2012. |
|
| |
Owning up to the Problem: Limiting the Use of an Assets Test for Determining Home Energy Assistance Eligibility |
|
After reviewing limitations on the use of assets tests for non-energy assistance programs,
this report concludes also that use of an assets test in eligibility determinations for LIHEAP and utility rate affordability programs is inappropriate. April 2013. |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in New York: The Affordability Gap |
|
A documentation of home energy unaffordability in New York in 2012,
by income and by geographic regions (3rd in a three-part series). A special look at the characteristics of renters and rental housing. October 2013. |
|
| |
Home Energy Affordability in Connecticut: The Affordability Gap |
|
A documentation of home energy unaffordability in Connecticut in 2013,
by income and geographic regions (continuing series). Includes a discussion of income trends over time, by various demographic characteristics. November 2013
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A
Case Study in Environmental and Poverty Conflict: "Cash for Clunkers" as a Clean Air Strategy |
|
This paper considers how sound environmental policy
--offering to buy old automobiles and replacing them with newer and cleaner cars-- can come into conflict with state
and federal poverty programs. The paper explains how to assess and avoid such conflicts. |
|
| |
Importance
of the Burden of Proof in Environmental Legislation |
|
This paper considers the implications of shifting
the burden of proof in environmental legislation in such a way that industry would have to make a substantial and convincing
case for the non-hazardous nature of its discharges before being allowed to release any potentially hazardous substance
to the environment. |
|
| |
Restitutionary
Tools in Natural Resources Litigation: Confronting the Coasian Corporation |
|
This paper provides a detailed analysis of the structure
of the class action as a tool to use in approaching certain sorts of natural resource related problems. It elaborates
a litigation design which is based on an unjust enrichment model rather than on a tort damages model. |
|
| |
Proposal for the Use of Pervious Pavement for Repaving the Belmont High School Parking Lot |
|
The use of pervious pavement for the resurfacing of a High School parking lot is good environmental policy
and is a fiscally sound investment decision by a local government. January 2013.
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The
Integration of Federal LIHEAP Benefits with Ratepayer-Funded Percentage of Income Payment Programs (PIPPs): Legal and
Policy Questions Involving the Distribution of Benefits |
|
This report considers whether federal law requires that fuel assistance distributed through
the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in states with a ratepayer-funded Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) be used exclusively to pay a customer’s
percentage of income copayment. The paper reviews the three "models" through which LIHEAP benefits are integrated with PIPPs around the nation. October 2009. |
|
| |
The
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as "Energy Assistance" in Pennsylvania |
|
This report considers local empirical data on one group of households that is often "missed" by existing fuel assistance programs:
the working poor. Often with incomes too high to qualify for public assistance programs, these households nonetheless also have too little income to be able to afford their winter home heating bills.
The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) helps to meet the needs of these households. June 2009. |
|
| |
The
Law and Economics of Determining Hot Water Energy Use in Calculating Utility Allowances for Public and Assisted Housing |
|
This report considers the various factors that go
into establishing hot water energy consumption for utility allowances. It explains how to calculate hot water energy
use given different mixes of hot and cold water, how to evaluate stand-by energy losses at different temperatures, and
how to assess the health and safety issues associated with hot water. February 2007. |
|
| |
The
Economic Development Impacts of Home Energy Assistance: The Entergy States |
|
The delivery of low-income home energy assistance in the states served by Entergy operating companies
provides a wide range of economic benefits to those states. Frequently thought of exclusively as a way to prevent unpaid utility bills, and to preserve service against termination for nonpayment,
in fact, low-income energy assistance can also be viewed as a strategy to promote economic development and employment (particularly in low-income communities).
This report quantifies the economic impacts that low-income energy assistance provides to the Entergy states. October 2003. |
|
| |
Accounting
for Utility Allowances for Heating Costs in Setting LIHEAP Benefits in Washington State |
|
This memo prepared for Evergreen Legal Services considers
the reasonableness of Washington State's treatment of heating-related utility allowances for public and assisted housing
in setting fuel assistance benefits for tenants of such housing. |
|
| |
Affidavit
of Peter Fisher Challenging Exclusion of Depreciation as an Expense in the Generation of Self-Employment Income for
Food Stamp Eligibility Determinations |
|
This affidavit was presented in federal court in
support of a challenge to the Department of Agriculture's exclusion of depreciation as an expense in the determination
of income for purposes of setting food stamp eligibility. |
|
| |
Affordable
Housing and Section 8 Utility Allowances: (Part 1: Adequacy of Annual Allowances; Part 2: Adequacy of Monthly Allowances) |
|
This two part paper considers ways through which
the adequacy of utility allowances for Section 8 (and by extension public housing) units may be assessed and recommends
remedies. |
|
| |
Allocating
Undesignated Utility Allowances to Heat in Washington State Subsidized Housing Units |
|
This memo prepared for Evergreen Legal Services considers
how to determine the appropriate level of a utility allowance that is available for heating in public or assisted housing,
when the state sets federal fuel assistance benefits. |
|
| |
An
Economic Analysis of the HHS Rule Eliminating AFDC Benefits to Families with Motor Vehicle Assets over $1,500 |
|
This paper considers the rationality of a regulation
limiting low-income households to an automobile worth no more than $1,500 for establishing welfare eligibility. |
|
| |
Comments
of the National Fuel Funds Network (NFFN) Regarding IRS Proposed EITC Precertification Procedures (2003) |
|
This set of comments documents the barriers that
low wage workers will experience in seeking to access the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in light of precertification
requirements proposed by the IRS. |
|
| |
Credit
Where Credit is Due: Public Utilities and the Earned Income Tax Credit for Working Poor Utility Customers (2002) |
|
This paper discusses the advantages of utility company
participation in promoting the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. |
|
| |
Determining
Household Energy Consumption in Washington State in the Absence of 12 Months of Usage Data |
|
This memo prepared for Evergreen Legal Services considers
how best to estimate low-income heating bills when a full year of data is not available at the service address for which
assistance is sought. |
|
| |
Establishing
Telecommunications Lifeline Eligibility: The Use of Public Benefits Programs and its Impact on Lawful Immigrants (2000) |
|
This paper explores the implications
for lawful immigrants in using public benefits programs as the exclusive means through which low-income households may
qualify for the telephone Lifeline program, when immigrants are subject to “public charge” ramifications. |
|
| |
Integrating
Government-Funded and Ratepayer-Funded Low-Income Energy Assistance Programs (2001) |
|
This workbook presents a detailed examination
of whether, and how, a ratepayer-funded low-income energy assistance program can be integrated with existing government-funded
programs such as LIHEAP. |
|
| |
Nonparticipation
in Public Benefit Programs: Lessons for Energy Assistance |
|
This paper reviews state and national
studies on why eligible households do and do not participate in a variety of public benefit programs. The purpose is
to respond to why households do not participate in fuel assistance and to offer guidance on what actions poverty advocates,
regulators and public benefits program administrators might take to remedy that failure. |
|
| |
Outreach
Strategies for Iowa’s LIHEAP Program: Innovation in Improved Targeting (2000) |
|
Using analysis from a wide set of public assistance
programs, this report presents a detailed set of recommendations for using specific targeted strategies to reach narrowly
defined subpopulations of low-income households. |
|
| |
Problems
with the Current Procedure for Determining the Standard of Need in Tennessee's AFDC Program |
|
This paper critiques a state's determination of the
"standard of need" underlying the level of its welfare payments. |
|
| |
Targeting
Impacts of Proposed Washington State LIHEAP Distribution Formula |
|
This memo prepared for Evergreen Legal Services considers
whether the means for distributing federal fuel assistance in Washington State appropriately targets assistance to households
with the highest energy bills and lowest incomes in relation to income. |
|
| |
The
Implications of Minimum and Maximum Benefits in Washington State's LIHEAP Program |
|
This memo prepared for Evergreen Legal Services considers
the distributional implications of the decision to cap federal fuel assistance benefits and to establish a floor for
fuel assistance benefits. |
|
| |
The
Role of Utility Costs in Setting Fair Market Rents for Section 8 Housing |
|
This paper presents an analysis submitted to HUD
regarding how and why the level of utility costs should be explicitly considered in setting Section 8 Fair Market Rents
each year. |
|
| |
A Fuel Assistance Tracking Mechanism: Measuring the Impact of Changes in Weather and Prices on the Bill Payment Coverage Capacity of LIHEAP |
|
This paper considers a mechanism to track the compounded impact
of fuel prices and weather on the adequacy of LIHEAP in any given year. It proposes and models over a multi-year period a Fuel Assistance Tracking Mechanism (FATM)
to assess the impact of changes in heating and cooling prices, in combination with changes in weather, on the "bill payment coverage capacity" of federal LIHEAP dollars. 2d Edition December 2014. |
|
| |
The Recapture of Interest on LIHEAP Payments to Unregulated Fuel Vendors: An Evaluation of the 1987 Maine Program |
|
When LIHEAP benefits exceed the amount due on an account,
the prepaid LIHEAP dollars provide an economic benefit to the vendor holding them until used.
This report documents the extent to which LIHEAP could be leveraged by recapturing the interest that would be due on those prepaid benefits. April 1988. |
|
| |
The Percentage of Income Payment Plan in Jefferson County, Kentucky: One Alternative to Distributing LIHEAP Benefits |
|
This report presents a structural and cost analysis of implementing a process
of distributing LIHEAP benefits that would reduce home heating bills in Jefferson County (Louisville) Kentucky to an affordable percentage of income. January 1991. |
|
| |
Percentage of Income Payment Plans as an Alternative Distribution of LIHEAP Benefits: Good Business, Good Government, Good Social Policy |
|
Prepared at the request of Mass Electric Company,
this report discusses the benefits of distributing LIHEAP to support a percentage of income payment plan (PIPP) in Massachusetts. March 1991.
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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How Well Does Belmont’s Town Meeting Reflect the Community at Large? |
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This study considers the extent to which the "representative Town Meeting" of Belmont,
Massachusetts reflects the demographic make-up of the underlying community.
Belmont is a small inner-ring suburb of Boston, operating under a representative Town Meeting form of government. December 2009 |
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Beyond
Social Welfare: Promoting the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as an Economic Development Strategy |
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This presents a state-by-state analysis of the economic
multiplier effects of bringing additional monies into the state through increased use of the federal Earned Income Tax
Credit. |
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Economic
Development Rates: Targeting, Justifying, Enforcing |
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This paper proposes a new way to structure an "economic
development rate" by public utilities. |
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Fiscal
Stability and Risk Management Over Time: Planning for Reasonable Fund Balances and Reserves |
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This report recommends an appropriate level of reserves
and suggests a policy for the maintenance of those funds for the Residential Environmental Management Department, of
a regional council of governments in and around Portland (OR). |
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Funding
Social Services Through Voluntary Contribution Programs: A Proposal for SNET Participation in Funding INFOLINE's Information
and Referral Services in Connecticut |
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This report explores the structure and administration
of a voluntary check-off system by a local phone company as a means to fund a statewide information and referral organization. |
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Raising
Local Government Revenue through Utility Franchise Fees: If the Fee Fits, Foot It (1989) |
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This article explores the use of utility franchise
fees by municipal governments, and explains how such fees can be structured to avoid the charge that they represent
new taxes. |
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Rate
Regulation in the Solid Waste Disposal Industry: A Review of Standards and Performance |
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This paper explores how the solid waste industry
is organized and regulated, how rates are set, and whether rates are likely to be fair and reasonable to ratepayers
given the challenges involved. Back to Top |
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An
Outcomes Planning Approach to Serving TPU Low-Income Customers |
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This report presents a series of 42 recommendations on how a municipal public utility can better serve its low-income customers.
For each recommendations, it presents a problem statement, a measurable outcome, and the local empirical basis for the recommendation.
June 2009. |
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The
Impact of Indiana’s Low-Income Utility Affordability Programs on Nonpayment Disconnections |
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Three Indiana utilities operate low-income rate affordability programs.
This analysis finds that those programs contribute to a decrease in both the number and "intensity" of nonpayment disconnections.
September 2007. |
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Impact
of New Mexico's Winter Moratorium on PNM Winter Arrears |
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This analysis for Community Action New Mexico looks
at arrears data for Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) both before and after implementation of the new winter
shutoff moratorium in the 2005/2006 winter heating season. It finds that the new moratorium had no impact on PNM arrears.
January 2007. |
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Addressing
Residential Collections Problems Through the Offer of New Services in a Competitive Electric Utility Industry |
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This paper posits that utilities need not simply
provide a stick to use in an after-the-fact fashion against customers who do not pay their bills. Instead, a creative
(and competitive) utility could develop a system of incentives for customers to enter into payment mechanisms that would
ensure prompt payment of their bills. The new payment mechanism would represent a new type of service. |
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A
Fragile Income: Deferred Payment Plans and the Ability to Pay of Working Poor Utility Customers (2002) |
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This paper documents the volatility of income for
low wage workers, as opposed to the absolute level of income, and considers the implications of such income volatility
on utility payment plan policies. |
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Co-Op
Membership and Utility Shutoffs: Service Protections That Arise as an Incident of REC “Membership” (1992/1993) |
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This article explains how a utility shutoff represents
the termination of membership in a rural electric cooperative (REC) and explores the various protections that protect
a person’s “membership” status in an association. |
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Credit
and Collection Strategies in a Competitive Utility Industry |
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This paper considers why appropriate credit and collection
strategies in a competitive utility industry must be sensitive to the reasons for nonpayment as well as the types of
additional expenses caused by the nonpayment which the collection strategy is seeking to remedy. |
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Customer
Deposit Demands by U.S. West: Reasonable Rationales and the Proper Assessment of Risk |
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This report for the staff of the Washington Utilities
and Transportation Commission briefly outlines the function of a deposit; considers whether the de facto reliance upon
commercially available consumer credit reports is a legitimate way to determine utility creditworthiness; considers
whether the demand for a deposit when a customer's only demonstration of "risk" is a late payment is rational; and considers
whether the demand for a deposit from a customer when a roommate has an unpaid bill from a different address is reasonable
or lawful. |
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Determining
the Cost-Effectiveness of Utility Late Payment Charges |
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This paper examines the elements which go into a
determination of whether a late payment charge is economically justified. |
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Heightening
the Burden of Proof in Utility Shutoff Cases Involving Allegations of Fraud (1990) |
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This article discusses the various standards of proof
in litigation and explains why allegations of fraud must be met by “clear and convincing” evidence. |
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Limiting
the “Family Necessaries Doctrine” as a Means of Imposing Third Party Liability for Utility Bills (2001) |
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This article explores the limitations that a utility
faces when seeking to impose third party liability for a prior utility debt when the debt was incurred by a spouse.
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Prepayment
Meters and the Low-Income Consumer |
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This report considers the policy and cost-justifications
for using prepayment meters in circumstances where a consumer has a demonstrated inability-to-pay. |
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Protecting
Against the Harms of the Mistaken Utility Undercharge (1991) |
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This article explores the historical use of the “filed
rate doctrine” in cases involving mistaken utility undercharges and explains the limitations on that doctrine.
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Public
Utility Credit and Collection Activities Establishing Standards and Applying them to Low-Income Utility Programs |
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This paper develops and presents evaluation mechanisms
that permit policymakers, public or private, to consider the relative merits of various responses to residential payment
troubles. It examines objective processes by which to measure both the effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness of utility
credit and collection activities generally. The purpose of the research presented in this report is to examine what
might be an appropriate methodology that may be used to ascertain and establish the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness
of utility credit and collection techniques. The report does not apply that methodology to any particular technique
to determine the desirability of different credit and collection practices undertaken by various utilities. |
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Telecommunications
Credit and Collections and Controlling SNET Uncollectibles |
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This report for the Connecticut Office of Consumer
Counsel considers the legal and economic ramifications of a proposal by a local exchange carrier: (a) to redefine "service
termination" to exclude toll restrictions; (b) to introduce new restrictions on toll usage that shows abuse or risk
of abuse; and (c) to terminate without notice in cases of suspected fraud or material misrepresentation in obtaining
service. |
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The
Discriminatory Impacts of Conditioning Iowa’s Winter Utility Shutoff Protections on the Receipt of LIHEAP (2003) |
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This report quantifies the extent to which conditioning
the protections of Iowa’s winter utility shutoff moratorium on the receipt of LIHEAP has the effect of discriminating
against Hispanic utility customers. |
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The
Legality of Conditioning Utility Service on Payment of a New Roommate’s Old Debt (2001) |
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This article explores the limitations that a utility
faces when seeking to impose third party liability for a prior utility debt when a roommate incurred the debt. |
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Use
of Utility Data Processing Records as a Data Mining Source on Low-Income Consumers: Converting Information to Knowledge |
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This paper explains the wealth of information maintained
in existing utility systems that can be tapped through the simple analyses described herein to make educated determinations
of: (1) who low-income consumers might be; and (2) what types of payment problems those consumers are experiencing. |
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Using
State Utility Commission Regulations to Control the “Unregulated” Utility (1993) |
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This article explains how “unregulated”
utility companies, such as rural electric cooperatives (RECs) and municipal water departments, can be held to industry
standards of behavior articulated in state utility commission regulations even if state commissions do not directly
regulate those companies. |
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Winter
Weather Payments: The Impact of Iowa’s Winter Utility Shutoff Moratorium on Utility Bill Payments by Low-Income
Customers (2002) |
|
This program evaluation uses four years of data
to quantify the extent to which low-income utility customers protected by the Iowa winter utility shutoff moratorium
change their payment patterns when not subject to the loss of service for nonpayment. |
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Determining the Cost-Effectiveness of Utility Credit and Collection Techniques |
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One of the early seminal works examining traditionally-accepted credit and collection practices,
this report challenges the cost-effectiveness of disconnections for nonpayment, cash security deposits, late payment charges, and deferred payment agreements.
Recommendations for change are included. July 1990. |
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Controlling Uncollectible Accounts in Pennsylvania: A Blueprint for Action |
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After documenting the extent and consequences of unpaid utility bills
by low-income customers in Pennsylvania, this report explores the rate affordability options that would reduce those unpaid bills
and provide benefits to low-income participants, non-participants, and the utility companies themselves.
A rate affordability program can be viewed as an improved collection scheme. December 1990. |
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Credit and Collection Fees and Low-Income Households: Ensuring Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness |
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Prepared for the Missouri Public Counsel,
this report considers whether imposing a late charge on unpaid bills by low-income households will improve or further degrade overall payment patterns. July 1994. |
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Determining the Cost-Effectiveness of Imposing Customer Deposits for Utility Service |
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This study considers the functions of a utility cash security deposit,
the costs of imposing and maintaining such a deposit, and the savings generated by collection of a deposit.
It concludes that the collection of security deposits, overall, are generally not cost-effective and offers suggested alternatives. November 1994. |
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Attributes of Massachusetts Gas/electric Arrearage Management Programs (AMPS): 2011 Program Year |
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This report compares the program design attributes of Massachusetts utility "arrearage management programs" (AMPs)
and examines the effectiveness of such programs in helping low-income customers maintain service.
The report concludes that the Massachusetts AMP initiative does not work particularly well. March 2012. |
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Indiana Billing and Collection Reporting: Natural Gas and Electric Utilities |
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This report presents data from the third year of billing and collections reporting by Indiana’s six largest utilities (2006 ‐ 2007).
Data on bills, arrears, disconnections, reconnections, payment plans, and related issues is presented for residential and for low-income residential customers. May 2008.
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Competitive
Solicitation as an Integrated Resource Planning Model: Its Competitive Impacts on Small Businesses Serving Low-Income
Households |
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This report assesses the impacts that
a "competitive solicitation" model will have on small businesses, and by extension, on low-income households within
a utility Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) context. This evaluation is undertaken because the interests of low-income
households and small businesses are often interwoven. |
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Aggregating
Low Income Customers: Can Market-Based Solutions Fix Market-Based Problems? |
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Many policymakers believe that electric restructuring
will not be kind to small users, such as low-income residential customers. This report examines whether the process
of aggregation, in any of its various forms, can help a retail choice electric industry deliver quality service at reasonable
rates to low-income consumers. June 1998. NOTE: This is a large file (12.4 mB). |
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Integration
of LIHEAP with Energy Assistance Programs Created through Electric and/or Natural Gas Restructuring |
|
Many states that have adopted electric and/or natural
gas restructuring legislation (or regulatory decisions) have also adopted mechanisms to support low-income energy assistance
programs through rates. This report presents the results of a one-day symposium convened by the federal LIHEAP office
to consider how to maximize the opportunities for cooperation and minimize the potential for conflict between LIHEAP
and the new state low-income energy assistance programs. February 2000. |
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Designing
Consumer Education Programs in a Restructured Electric Industry |
|
Consumer education is almost universally considered
an essential component to any move toward a restructured utility industry (electric or gas). This paper outlines the
five basic steps involved with the design of an effective consumer education program. |
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Electric
Industry Restructuring and a National Energy Security Fund |
|
This paper proposes the creation of a National Energy
Security Fund (NESF) to help maintain universal electric service for residential customers. Several of the principle
components of the proposed NESF are modelled on other social safety net insurance programs such as worker's compensation,
unemployment compensation, and social security. |
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Electric
Industry Restructuring and the Regulation of Electric Service Providers: The Role of the Fair Housing Act |
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This article explores how, as attention turns away
from state regulation as the sole constraint on utility behavior in this increasingly competitive world, consumers may
well focus on federal statutes such as the Fair Housing Act as an alternative form of providing consumer protections.
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Electric
Restructuring and the Low-Income Consumer |
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This is FSC's seminal 15-part series on electric
restructuring and the low-income consumer. Written in clear non-technical language, it is intended to explain restructuring
to the lay persons, including consumers, state legislators, and the media. |
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Electric
Restructuring the Low-Income Consumer: Legislative Implications for Colorado |
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This report for the Colorado legislature documents
the impacts that electric restructuring will have on low-income consumers and proposes specific legislative language
setting forth appropriate responses. |
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Monitoring
the Impact of Electric Restructuring on Low-Income Consumers: The What, How and Why of Data Collection |
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Much research predicts that low-income customerswill
be adversely affected by electric restructuring. This paper proposes a set of indicators through which to measure the
impacts of electric restructuring on low-income consumers as restructuring unfolds. |
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Municipal
Aggregation for Retail Natural Gas and Electric Service: Potentials, Pitfalls and Policy Implications |
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This report examines the operation of municipal aggregation
in a retail choice electric environment. The report identifies certain issues that are raised by municipal aggregation
and presents two sets of "findings." The first set considers municipal aggregation from the perspective of the local
government. The second considers municipal aggregation from the perspective of the individual consumer. |
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Performance-Based
Evaluation of Maintaining Universal Service in a Competitive Utility Industry |
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This report explains how to engage in performance
measurement of universal service programs in a restructured electric industry. Using the federal Government Performance
and Results Act (GPRA) as a model, the report proposes a model for measuring the performance of universal service programs
and illustrates the model by exercising it using data for Pennsylvania electric and gas utilities. |
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Rewriting
The "Social Compact": A Competitive Electric Industry and its Core Customers |
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This article explains how, when historically the
social compact to which electric utilities have been held involves what is called the public utility's common law "duty
to serve," that compact can be rewritten to ensure that the interests of the industry's core customer classes are placed
on a level playing field with the interests of customers who are big enough, and powerful enough, to exercise both market
and political power. |
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Structuring
a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for Indiana |
|
This paper considers the outlines of a "wires charge"
within the State of Indiana. Prepared at the request of Indiana Citizens Action Campaign, the paper presents a detailed
outline, using Indiana-specific data, of a wires charge through which the State may generate revenues for low-income
home energy assistance. |
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Assessing
Impacts on Small-Business, Residential and Low-Income Customers |
|
This report for the National Research Consortium
on Electric Restructuring considers the impact of electric restructuring on low-income consumers and other small users.
October 1996 |
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Structuring
A Public Purpose "Distribution Fee" for Missouri |
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This paper considers the outlines of a public purpose
distribution fee for the State of Missouri. Prepared at the request of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources,
the paper presents a detailed outline, using Missouri-specific data, of a distribution fee through which the State may
generate revenues for low-income home energy assistance, energy efficiency and renewable resources. |
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System
Benefit Charges: Why All Customer Classes Should Pay |
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The
Low-Income Interest in Electric and Natural Gas Utility Mergers and Acquisitions |
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This paper presents a detailed discussion of how
electric mergers and acquisitions disproportionately adversely affect low-income consumers and proposes "rules" on how
to address those impacts. |
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The
Need for Regulation in a Competitive Electric Utility Industry |
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This article explains why whether or not an industry
should be regulated does not depend on whether the industry is "workably competitive." An industry may be workably competitive
but nonetheless still be necessarily subject to public control for the public good. The article concludes that while
competition is not irrelevant to the issue of regulation versus deregulation, neither is it determinative. |
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Understanding
"Redlining" in a Competitive Electric Utility Industry |
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This article explains the various forms which "redlining"
might take in a competitive electric industry, explains the different public policy responses to potential redlining,
and proposes specific anti-redlining language. |
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Wrong-Way
Street: Reversing the Subsidy Flowing from Low-Income Customers in a Competitive Electric Industry |
|
For years now, utilities and utility regulators have
opposed the grant of rate discounts to low-income consumers as a mechanism to make rates affordable. The argument has
been that utility rates are required by law to be "non-discriminatory" and that rates which are explicitly based on
"affordability" rather than "cost" considerations are unduly preferential and thus contrary to law. This article presents
a framework for concluding, and documenting, that fully-allocated cost-of-service studies that have historically been
performed for the residential customer class as a whole have systematically and substantially over-assigned costs to
low-income consumers. As a result, under existing rate structures, substantial rate subsidies have been flowing from
low-income consumers to consumers of more moderate means. |
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Economically Stranded Investment in a Competitive Electric Industry: A Primer for Cities, Consumers and Small Business Advocates |
|
This report defines "stranded investment" in a restructured electric industry
and assesses the implications of such stranded investments for different stakeholders. March 1995. |
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Structuring a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for Iowa |
|
This report considers the need for, structure of, and cost of imposing a wires charge
to support low-income rate affordability and weatherization programs in Iowa.
It considers the relative costs of a wires charge depending on which customer classes are called upon to pay it. June 1996. |
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Structuring a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for New Jersey |
|
This report considers the need for, structure of, and cost of imposing a wires charge
to support low-income rate affordability and weatherization programs in New Jersey.
It considers the relative costs of a wires charge depending on which customer classes are called upon to pay it. August 1996. |
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Structuring a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for Indiana |
|
This report considers the need for, structure of,
and cost of imposing a wires charge to support low-income rate affordability and weatherization programs in Indiana.
It considers the relative costs of a wires charge depending on which customer classes are called upon to pay it. April 1996. |
|
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Structuring a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for Ohio |
|
This report considers the need for, structure of,
and cost of imposing a wires charge to support low-income rate affordability and weatherization programs in Ohio.
It considers the relative costs of a wires charge depending on which customer classes are called upon to pay it. June 1996. |
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Structuring a Low-Income "Wires Charge" for Oklahoma |
|
This report considers the need for, structure of,
and cost of imposing a wires charge to support low-income rate affordability and weatherization programs in Oklahoma.
It considers the relative costs of a wires charge depending on which customer classes are called upon to pay it. June 1996. |
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The "Obligation to Serve" and a Competitive Electric Industry |
|
Drawing on principles established in the health care, health insurance, property insurance, and telecommunications industries,
this report for Oak Ridge National Laboratory considers the scope and basis for imposing an "obligation to serve" on competitive electric service provider. May 1997. |
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Natural Gas Prices by Customer Class Pre- and Post-Deregulation: A State-by-State Briefing Guide |
|
This report presents information on natural gas price movement
for both industrial and residential customers during the 22 year period 1975 through 1996.
The report finds that it inaccurate to conclude that natural gas price deregulation brought generally lower prices to customers throughout the nation. October 1998.
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