Informing and advancing affordable energy for all
Bill Affordability
We explore how programs and policies impact energy bills, energy burden, and the affordability of renewable energy technologies.
Energy affordability is a longstanding concern for both state and federal policymakers. In recent years, these groups have become increasingly interested in the adoption of energy technologies, both in terms of their costs and benefits to specific utility customers and their impact on energy affordability more broadly. EMP’s research directly addresses these topics. A subset of our work focuses on approaches to energy efficiency financing, including overviews of financing models and assessments of bill repayment. Other research characterizes the impacts of renewable energy deployment on customer bills and energy burdens on customers and communities.
Selected Projects
- Customer outcomes in Pay-As-You Save programs
- Energy Efficiency Financing for Low- and Moderate-Income Households: Current State of the Market, Issues, and Opportunities
- Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers
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Recent Publications
Wiser, Ryan H, Galen L Barbose, Eric O'Shaughnessy, Sydney Forrester, Paul Donohoo-Vallett, Peter Cappers, Jeff Deason, Ryan Hledik, and Long Lam."Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers: Data Update−2026 Edition, July update."
(2026).
O'Shaughnessy, Eric, Ryan H Wiser, Peter Cappers, Jeffrey Deason, Natalie Mims Frick, and Ryan Hledik."Revisiting the relationship between demand growth and electricity prices."Joule
(2026) 102528. DOI
Hoen, Ben, James Diffendorfer, Joseph Rand, Louisa Kramer, Chris Garrity, and Hannah Hunt."US Wind Turbine Database Files."
(2026). DOI
Wiser, Ryan H, Galen L Barbose, Peter Cappers, Will Gorman, Sean Murphy, Lisa C Schwartz, Natalie Mims Frick, Guillermo Pereira, Arthur Mallet Dias, Jessalyn Chuang, and Vinita Srinivasan."Electric Utility Distribution Costs: Scoping Study on Trends, Drivers, and Possible Response Strategies."
(2026).
Wiser, Ryan H, Galen L Barbose, Will Gorman, Eric O'Shaughnessy, Sydney Forrester, Paul Donohoo-Vallett, Peter Cappers, Jeff Deason, Ryan Hledik, and Long Lam."Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers: Data Update−2026 Edition."
(2026).
Relf, Grace, Paul De Martini, Jasmine McAdams, Vinita Srinivasan, and Lisa C Schwartz."Effectively Considering the Distribution System in Integrated Resource Planning."
(2026).
Wiser, Ryan H, Eric O'Shaughnessy, Galen L Barbose, Peter Cappers, and Will Gorman."Factors Influencing Recent Trends in Retail Electricity Prices in the United States."The Electricity Journal
38.4 (2025). DOI
Schwartz, Lisa C, Myles T Collins, Tim Woolf, Courtney Lane, Nancy Ryan, and Eric Bell."Best Practices Guide for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Managed EV Charging."
(2025).
Hoen, Ben, Eric Brunner, and David Schwegman."Uplifting winds: The surprisingly positive community-wide impact of wind energy installations on property values."Energy Research & Social Science
127 (2025) 104331. DOI
Retail Electricity Price Trends and Drivers
Financing Energy Efficiency