Summary: The Electric Bill That Goes Down

Last August, Raymond and Shirley Boone’s electric bill hit $340. Shirley takes blood pressure medication with a $34 monthly copay. In August, she took half doses for two weeks to make the numbers work. She did not tell her doctor.

Raymond and Shirley are 74 and 72. They live in a 1,400-square-foot house in Greenville, South Carolina that they have owned for thirty-eight years. The insulation is original. The HVAC system is fifteen years old. Their combined Social Security is $3,100 a month. The energy transition has been marketed to homeowners with capital and long time horizons. For Raymond and Shirley, the most impactful interventions are the least glamorous ones, and nobody has told them about any of them.

The Weatherization Assistance Program is federally funded and serves low-income households, including seniors, with insulation, air sealing, and heating system upgrades at no cost. Raymond and Shirley almost certainly qualify. Community solar programs allow them to subscribe to a share of a local solar installation and receive credits on their electric bill without installing anything on their roof. The savings are modest, 10 to 20 percent, but meaningful on a $280 average bill. A smart thermostat, often available free through their utility, reduces heating and cooling costs 10 to 15 percent.

What they should not buy matters as much. The solar lease with a 20-year contract and an escalator clause. The battery system that costs $15,000 and will not pay for itself in their remaining time in the house. The IRA tax credits they probably cannot use because their tax liability is low, versus the income-qualified rebates they probably can.

If Raymond and Shirley get the weatherization, the community solar subscription, and the smart thermostat, their $340 August bill drops to approximately $200. Shirley does not halve her medication. The interventions exist now. Nobody told them.

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