The Energy Rights Project

The Energy Rights Project is a social science study that investigates 1) how people understand energy systems, 2) how people access and use energy in their homes, 3) how organizations shape understanding of energy systems and everyday access to energy, and 4) how policy shapes relationships between energy users, energy providers, and energy assistance organizations. 

The Energy Rights Project is a spin-off from Climate Ready Philly, a public education initiative based in Philadelphia. Some of the earliest findings from Climate Ready Philly indicated that people were struggling to keep their energy bills affordable and that they were interested in learning more about the politics and practices that could increase household efficiency. After receiving a National Science Foundation grant in early 2019, Alison Kenner -- in partnership with collaborators at the Energy Coordinating Agency -- began studying energy assistance in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, and Philadelphia specifically. (Some pilot ethnographic work was conducted in 2018 with a grant from Drexel University.) While our primary focus is on energy service organizations that use federal programs to ensure low-income households can afford utilities,since the COVID-19 pandemic, our work has become more comparative as we analyze how different U.S. states and regulatory bodies address energy needs during the pandemic. You can learn more about our work at http://energyrights.info/.

The Energy Rights Project logo was designed by Kora Fortun in 2020.