Leaders in the city of Philadelphia, like many across the country, are striving to lower energy bills and cut carbon pollution. Ejecting fossil fuels from homes and installing electrified systems, such as heat pumps, are key to achieving those goals. But the city has a problem. It doesn’t have enough contractors who can install them at the pace required to decarbonize Philly’s more than 700,000 homes.

Two-thirds of North America is at risk of energy shortfalls this summer during periods of extreme demand, according to the North American Electric Reliability Council’s (NERC’s) 2023 summer assessment. While NERC identified no high-risk areas in this year’s assessment, it said the number of areas identified as being at elevated risk has increased.

Providing programs and funding that ease the energy burden for low- and moderate-income, or LMI communities, requires data to help direct the funds, but that data can be difficult to collect, said panelists at a recent summit on clean energy. Neighborhoods in major cities fluctuate in median income too often to rely on census data, said Damali Harding at the Regulatory Assistance Project.