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Paper short abstract:

The historical relationship between energy law and "the low-income household" shows energy insecurity has been marginalized within U.S. energy law regimes by the theoretical and practical framing of low-income energy policy as an extension poverty law.

Paper long abstract:

Concern over energy burden may be new in some policy circles, but energy insecurity in low-income households, even where energy access is near universal, is not a new issue or policy quandary. Indeed, the longest-standing federal mechanism for preserving energy access in the U.S., the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), recently marked its 40-year anniversary, a celebrated milestone.

Yet home energy insecurity persists, with implications for health, wellbeing, education, economic stability, and safety. A few years ago, the Trump White House proposed budgets eliminating LIHEAP - a reminder of the precarity of any program dependent on annual appropriations in a polarized political environment. LIHEAP is a lifeline and must be protected. At the same time, the persistence of energy insecurity demands broader structural accountability for energy justice within energy law.

Considering the historical relationship between energy law and “the low-income household” shows energy insecurity has been sidelined within energy law regimes by the theoretical and practical framing of low-income energy policy as poverty law. However understandable administratively, this alignment has isolated energy insecurity as a consideration in energy law reform.

This history presents compelling reasons to reconceive of low-income energy policy as energy law, reinforcing the critical assistance provided by anti-poverty programs. This conceptual reorientation matters in the energy sector’s current transitional moment for two key reasons. First, it opens a path to ensure substantive reforms underway better incorporate concern for low-income households within energy law regimes. Second, it reinforces accountability for alleviating energy insecurity within energy law institutions.