DOTHAN, Ala. (WDNews) – New research is challenging the way governments and agencies talk about people struggling to pay their power bills, urging a shift away from terms like “energy poor” and “fuel poor.”
Published on June 18 by the Energy Demand Research Centre (EDRC), the international study argues that such language unintentionally blames individuals and reinforces stigma, instead of recognizing larger systemic issues like failing infrastructure, policy gaps and socio-economic inequality.
A separate study based in the U.S. reveals that about one in three households in the U.S. have reported expediting energy poverty. If wealth and income inequality continues to grow, this number could only get bigger.
Five years ago, in 2020, Alabama was one of the states with the highest levels of people struggling to keep the power on. This data is consistent with what was gathered in 2015.
“Language shapes how we understand societal challenges,” lead author of the international study, Professor Stefan Bouzarovski of the University of Manchester, said. “By continuing to use victim-blaming and stigmatizing terms, we risk reinforcing the very inequalities we aim to solve.”
