Today it is cold. I am typing this letter at my desk with my jacket on. Our office is an old bungalow, and we keep blankets on hand for days when the old building just can’t get warm. About half of owner-occupied homes in Texas were built before 1980, and are less insulated. Rental housing, where most people with low incomes live, is even more likely to be leaky. So, I imagine there are a lot of people who are cold today.
We depend on energy in almost every facet of our lives: to power our communication devices, connect us to work and schooling, and keep our homes cool or warm. We are struck with how central energy is to modern life when we are faced with its scarcity.
Our Community Voices in Energy Survey provides a deeper understanding of low- and moderate-income people’s energy challenges:
- 50% of respondents report that they struggle to pay their electricity bill most months with 57% cutting back on essentials to pay energy bills
- 25% report turning off their heaters/thermostats during winter periods to reduce costs, and that number increases to 60% for very low-income respondents
- 12% report having their electricity shut off in the previous year
Struggles to afford energy are widespread. TEPRI’s latest research finds that electricity prices have risen 30% since 2020, and we are projecting them to rise another 30% over the next five years. Energy bills are becoming a painful strain on our neighbors’ monthly budgets.
Last year marked TEPRI’s 10th Anniversary, a year filled with important progress toward building more energy security. We have built a deep understanding of the challenges people with low-incomes face, and our on the ground projects and research are making meaningful strides toward improving energy security for our most vulnerable neighbors.
Today it is cold outside. And there is still much work to be done.
Margo Weisz
Since 2015, TEPRI has tackled one of Texas’ most urgent but overlooked challenges: energy burden. They understand that no family should have to choose between keeping the lights on and paying for groceries.
Through partnerships with utilities, innovators, and community organizations, TEPRI turns research into pilots, tools, and models that can be scaled across the state to make the clean energy transition more fair and more effective. From expanding community solar access to advancing weatherization equity, TEPRI’s impact is felt statewide.
Residential electricity prices in the ERCOT competitive retail market have increased by 30% since 2020, and TEPRI projects they will increase by another 29% by 2030.
These are just a few examples of how TEPRI is supporting and strengthening the communities we served in 2025, reflecting our ongoing commitment to making a practical, positive impact where it matters most.
Take a look at a few of our highlighted projects.
ERCOT Electricity Affordability Outlook: Forecasting Residential Electricity Prices and Burdens (2025-2030)
TEPRI’s newest research paper highlights how the rise in residential electricity prices in the ERCOT Competitive Retail Market will impact the well being of the 4.1 million low-and-moderate income (LMI) households who struggle to pay their electricity bills. The paper details how electricity rates have increased steadily since 2021, provides visibility into long-term affordability trends, explains the drivers of price increases, and highlights emerging solutions that support greater energy security for Texas.
Expanded E4-TX Geo-Eligibility Tool
The new and improved Easier Energy Efficiency Eligibility for Texas, or E4-TX, tool launched in May 2025 and is currently servicing AEP Texas, CenterPoint, Oncor, and TNMP, providing utility contractors the ability to assess the geographic eligibility of a potential program participant’s address against two HUD data sets. This mobile-friendly, web-based platform is designed for use by contractors in the field, enabling them to quickly determine participant eligibility for low-income utility programs without requesting sensitive financial information or documentation.
Community Voices in Energy Survey 2.0
Building upon our pilot research conducted in 2023, the Community Voices in Energy Survey 2.0 Statewide Report, 13 accompanying Regional Reports, and a new interactive data dashboard were released. These resources provide a comprehensive look into how households who contend with low-incomes across Texas experience and respond to energy-related challenges.
Webinars: Creative Financing, Community Voices Survey Relaunch, Affordability in ERCOT Projection Paper
TEPRI’s ongoing webinar series is designed to translate rigorous research and on-the-ground insights into timely, practical information that stakeholders can actually use. Over the past year, we hosted webinars focused on energy financing, findings from the Community Voices in Energy Survey (CVES), and our electricity affordability research, each aimed at grounding big policy and market conversations in the lived experiences of low-income. Attendees are intended to walk away with a clearer understanding of current challenges, concrete tools or frameworks they can apply in their own work, and a shared evidence base to support more equitable decision-making. We welcome opportunities to continue these conversations, discuss our work in more detail, and connect with partners interested in collaboration or applying these insights in practice.
Community Resilience Hubs in Arlington
With a $1 Million dollar grant from Google, TEPRI has partnered with affordable multifamily housing developer Foundation Communities to develop resilience hubs at two multifamily properties in Arlington, Texas. Solar and commercial-sized battery energy storage systems (BESS) will provide backup power for community facilities, allowing them to provide services to residents– such as heating or cooling and device charging– in the event of a weather-related outage. In addition to improving community resilience, the project aims to achieve energy cost savings for FC, improve grid reliability, and pilot the use of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) as a new financial pathway to lower adoption barriers for BESS systems for low- to moderate-income households. As of February 2026, both systems are installed, and staff training for hub “activation” is underway.
Access to Energy Efficiency Resources
Over the past year, TEPRI developed and deployed seasonally tailored energy efficiency outreach campaigns in English and Spanish throughout counties along the South Texas border and outside of Houston. Funded by PNC Bank and the CenterPoint Foundation, these campaigns were designed to connect households with utility-run and federally funded weatherization assistance programs. The ads focused on raising awareness of available resources while reinforcing practical, low- to no-cost actions residents can take to improve comfort, manage energy use, and reduce bills. Seasonal messaging pairs program referrals with timely home maintenance reminders, like scheduling an HVAC tune-up in the Spring, to help households proactively address energy challenges throughout the year. This approach emphasized accessibility and actionable information to help households navigate existing resources.
DreamBuild Solar Homes
TEPRI and the nonprofit affordable homebuilder come dream.come build (cdcb) are working to bring the benefits of solar energy to low-income families in South Texas. Through this pilot, we are simplifying and standardizing the addition of solar to cdcb’s energy-efficient modular DreamBuild homes to maximize household energy savings. We’ve added solar to the DreamBuild manufacturing facility, created bilingual educational materials, installed solar and are monitoring the 1st four pilot homes. In year two, we will complete pilot installations and perform customer experience and cost-benefit analyses to inform future programs, financing, and utility recommendations, with the goal of near-term expansion in South Texas.
As the energy sector evolves through a period of rapid innovation and mounting affordability challenges, the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute is focused on positioning itself to meaningfully enhance energy security for Texans.
TEPRI seeks to scale its reach by strategically amplifying the impact of our partners, developing models that can be replicated at scale, and building capacity while deepening our understanding of how to address the energy challenges faced by Texans with low incomes.
TEPRI is accelerating the move towards an energy system that is affordable, reliable, sustainable, and supports healthy, thriving communities. We work in partnership with stakeholders from the energy sector and community-based organizations to conduct research, create tools for practitioners, and demonstrate new models that can scale for widespread impact.
