Underserved communities left behind

With winter chills likely to intensify and spike energy bills, equitable access to clean energy upgrades is more urgent than ever, especially for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, who are deprioritized under the Trump administration and remain underserved.

About 10% of Asian Americans live below the U.S. federal poverty line, and research shows a higher prevalence of poverty among Pacific Islanders. In short, AAPI communities with a good number of low- and moderate-income households could hugely benefit from EmPower+. But they do not.

Though EmPower+ is a great choice to ease the burden of energy bills, AAPI communities face many challenges in benefiting from it.

A report by the Pratt Center for Community Development — a nonprofit that advocates for fair resource distribution among low-income Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in New York City — found that the program’s narrow eligibility rules and complicated application process have made it less accessible to Black, Brown and low-income households — the very groups that need these rebates to upgrade their homes.

Although available in 16 languages, comprehending technical terms in the form could be a challenge for non-native speakers. Research by the Urban Institute, a think-tank that conducts policy research, found that limited English content and a lack of cultural nuance make information harder for AAPI communities to understand.

“The slowest part of the application process is customers getting their documentation together,” says Ian Minerve, CEO of Green Power Associates, a contractor approved by the state energy department to carry out the upgradation.

“Some customers assume they won’t qualify, while others are unsure [about] which documents to submit or how to navigate state websites,” says Destenie Nock, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

The next step is approval from the NYSERDA. “The approval time is the real bottleneck because there are a lot of changes going on with the programs, so it could be particularly long,” Minerve says. Once approved, contractors work on the upgrades at their next available schedule.

One of the real barriers on the ground is reluctant landlords. Several of these energy upgrades require permission from landlords, but many are either unresponsive or unaware of the program’s benefits.

A combination of these factors has affected energy use, as Nock notes that low-income households used 20–30% less energy than high-income ones over the summer. That disparity that puts them at greater risk of heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses.

Ensuring equitable access to clean energy

New York State and the city are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 80% by 2050. Leaving behind low-income and underserved communities largely undermines those goals.

The Pratt Center suggests that the state energy department widen EmPower+ eligibility by using the Area Median Income — the midpoint of household incomes in a specific region — instead of the State Median Income, which reflects the entire state. It also recommends aligning the program with the Federal Inflation Reduction Act income definitions to include more underserved Black and Brown communities.

Such a change would help hundreds of thousands of low-income and disadvantaged families transition to clean energy and also alleviate the environmental justice challenges these communities face.

That said, EmPower+ has become a victim of policy changes under the Trump administration, which has prioritized rolling back federal support for clean energy and energy efficiency improvements in favor of more expensive and polluting fossil fuels.