Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Clearinghouse acf home privacy policy
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LIHEAP Home Energy Notebook for FY 1998

 

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Community Services
Division of Energy Assistance
October 2000

 

This notebook has been prepared for the Office of Community Services' Division of Energy Assistance by Response Analysis under subcontract to the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). NCAT operates the LIHEAP Clearinghouse under a training and technical assistance contract (ACF Contract No. 105-94-8200) awarded by the Division of Energy Assistance. The LIHEAP Clearinghouse collects, develops, organizes, and disseminates information relevant to the LIHEAP program to state and tribal LIHEAP grantees and other interested parties. The executive summary is presented below.

A limited number of copies of the entire document are available from the LIHEAP Clearinghouse at the following address:

LIHEAP Clearinghouse
P.O. Box 3838
Butte, MT 59702
(406) 494-4572

E-mail: kayj@ncat.org
Web site: www.liheap.ncat.org

October 2000


Executive Summary

Introduction

Home energy data

  • Residential energy data
  • Home heating data
  • Home cooling data

Trends

  • Low income home energy trends
    • Home heating and cooling trends
    • Trends in mean residential consumption, expenditures, and energy burden
    • Analysis of energy trends
  • Trends in LIHEAP

Performance measurement

  • Performance measurement system design
    • LIHEAP targeting
    • Recipiency targeting performance indicators
    • Benefit targeting performance indicators
  • Performance measurement case studies
  • Performance measurement outlier study
    • Methodology
    • Summary of findings

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

 

Executive Summary To Table of Contents

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is authorized by Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (OBRA), Public Law 97-35, as amended. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administers at the federal level the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The Human Services Amendments of 1994 (Public Law 103-252) reauthorized LIHEAP through FY 1999. As part of the reauthorization, Congress amended the purpose of LIHEAP to clarify that LIHEAP is "to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest income, that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs." (Sec. 2602(a) as amended)

The LIHEAP Home Energy Notebook focuses on the home energy mission of LIHEAP by providing LIHEAP grantees with the latest national and regional data on home energy consumption, expenditures, and burden; low income home energy trends; and the development of a performance measurement system regarding the targeting of LIHEAP assistance. This summary highlights information presented in the Notebook.

Home energy data | To Table of Contents

The primary information source for the data on residential energy is the Department of Energy's 1997 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). RECS covers all residential housing units that are primary residences in the United States and contains data for consumption and expenditures for calendar year 1997. RECS space heating and cooling consumption and expenditures have been adjusted to reflect FY 1998 weather and fuel prices.

Residential energy data

In FY 1998, the average household had energy expenditures of $1,280 and had a mean individual energy burden of 6.3 percent of income.  Low income households had energy expenditures of $1,082, about 15 percent lower than for all households.¹   The energy burden for low income households was 12.5 percent, almost twice the energy burden of all households. LIHEAP recipient households had energy expenditures of $1,063, about 17 percent lower than for all households. The energy burden for LIHEAP recipients was 15.2 percent, 9 percentage points higher than for all households and 3 percentage points higher than for low income households.

Energy prices did not change from FY 1997 to FY 1998. The weather in FY 1998 was slightly warmer than it was in FY 1997. The result was that energy expenditures declined slightly (about 2%), from $1,310 in FY 1997 to $1,280 in FY 1998.

LIHEAP assists households with only that portion of residential energy costs that goes for home energy, i.e., home heating and home cooling. As shown in Figure 1 on the next page, home heating and home cooling represents about 37 percent of residential energy expenditures for low income households. Refrigerators and freezers represent about 10 percent of residential energy expenditures. Water heating represents about 16 percent of residential energy expenditures. Other appliances account for about 37 percent of residential energy expenditures.

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¹ Unless otherwise indicated, "low income" refers to households with income at or below the federal maximum LIHEAP eligibility standard (i.e., the greater of 150 percent of the poverty level and 60 percent of state median income). The terms "low income" and LIHEAP eligible" are equivalent in this summary. "Non low income" refers to those households with incomes at or above the federal maximum LIHEAP eligibility standard.

Figure 1. Percent of U.S. residential energy expenditures by low income households, by end use, fiscal year 1998

figure 1

Home heating data

The three most common heating fuels in 1997 were natural gas (53%), electricity (29%), and fuel oil (9%). Over the last decade, the share of households using electricity as a main heating fuel has increased significantly, while the share using fuel oil has declined. There are only small differences in main heating fuel choice by income group.

The average household had home heating expenditures of $361 and had a mean individual home heating burden of 1.9 percent. Low income households had home heating expenditures of $312, about 14 percent lower than for all households. The mean individual home heating burden for low incomes households was 3.8 percent, twice as much as the home heating burden for all households. Home heating expenditures for LIHEAP households were $347, 11 percent higher than the average for low income households and 4 percent lower than the average for all households.

Mean individual home heating burden for LIHEAP households was 5.2 percent, more than 3 percentage points higher than the average for all households and 1.4 percentage points higher than the average for low income households. LIHEAP heating assistance recipients live in colder climates than the average low income household does. The difference in weather accounts for the higher home heating expenditures for LIHEAP households.

Home cooling data

About 84 percent of households cool their homes. Most of these households use electricity as the primary energy source for home cooling, though a very small percentage (less than 0.1 percent) use natural gas. Low income and LIHEAP recipient households are less likely to cool their homes than are non low income households; 76 percent of low income households and 80 percent of LIHEAP cooling recipient households cool their homes.

The average household had home cooling expenditures of $143 and had a mean individual home cooling burden of 0.6 percent. Low income households had home cooling expenditures of $112, about 22 percent lower than for all households. The mean individual home cooling burden for low incomes households was 1.3 percent, twice as much as the home cooling burden for all households. Home cooling expenditures for LIHEAP households were $122, 9 percent higher than the average for low income households and 15 percent lower than the average for all households.

The mean individual home cooling burden for LIHEAP households was 1.6 percent, 1 percentage point higher than the average for all households and 0.3 percentage points higher than the average for low income households. LIHEAP cooling assistance recipients live in warmer climates than the average low income household does. The difference in weather accounts for the higher home cooling expenditures for LIHEAP households.

Figure 2. Mean home heating and home cooling expenditures by all households, non low income households, low income households, and LIHEAP recipient households, fiscal year 1998

figure 2

Figure 3. Mean individual burden of heating and cooling expenditures for all households, non low income households, low income households, and LIHEAP recipient households, fiscal year 1998

 

figure 3

 

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