For years, Nevada has put affordable energy on the back burner. Now, ratepayers are getting burned. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy recently put out research on energy bills. In Las Vegas, it found that a quarter of low-income households spend 12.6 percent or more of their families’ income on home energy. The median for low-income households is a more manageable 5.5 percent. According to the group, if energy costs more than 10 percent of household income, the energy burden is deemed severe.