Southerners enjoy cheaper power rates and milder climates than most of the country, but they still spend a bigger share of their income for electricity, according to a study released Thursday.
Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit conservation group, said higher poverty rates and less energy-efficient homes in the South combine to boost what the typical family spends on electricity and natural gas to 3 percent of household income. Nationwide, only 2.7 percent of family income is spent on such power expenses, even though electricity is priced nearly 20 percent higher throughout the United States as a whole than it is in the Southeast.
“With the cold weather in January, paying power bills is a real struggle for many Tennesseans this winter,” said Ann League, Tennessee Campaign Coordinator for Appalachian Voices. “Too many homes are still poorly insulated, and using inefficient appliances continues to create a costly burden for many poor people.”
For low-income families, electric bills can be as high as 20 percent of household income, League said.
The study found that Southeast families served by public power utilities such as rural co-ops spent on average 8 percent more on electricity than those served by investor-owned utilities in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available.