Many low-income families in Chicago struggle to pay their utility bills and face barriers to successfully managing their utility use and costs. In Illinois, low-income families often spend about one sixth of their income on utility costs. These households also often lack access to affordable capital and discretionary income—53% of borrowers in the U.S. take out their first payday loan to cover regular expenses like utility bills. Despite the existence of programs to help low-income households, only a fraction of those eligible ultimately receive assistance. 

To address these challenges, the Energy & Environment Lab partnered with Elevate Energy and ComEd—winners of the 2015 Urban Labs Innovation Challenge—on a novel initiative to study patterns of bill payment and electricity consumption among 175,000 low-income households in northern Illinois. Our analysis characterized common household responses to large electricity bills and proposed a variety of strategies that utilities can use to reduce energy burden and reduce the adverse impact of bill volatility throughout the year. 

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