Low- to moderate-income residents in the Greater Houston area struggle to pay their energy bills more than residents in other parts of Texas — and the government’s safety net to help them is fraying, a nonprofit research groupfound in a new analysis.
Statewide, 72% of the thousands of low- to moderate-income residents who responded to the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute survey said they reduced general household spending to pay their electricity bill each month.
But in the Gulf Coast region, which includes the Greater Houston area, the margin was higher: Nearly 80% of low- to moderate-income residents who responded to the survey reported cutting back on “basic household needs” to afford electricity…