For South Dallas residents living on fixed incomes, an increase of a few hundred dollars a year in an elecrtic bill isn't pocket change. It can be the difference between paying for groceries and skipping meals.
A pilot project led by a University of Texas at Arlington researcher shows that a modest investment in weatherizing older homes can help close that gap. The project took about five years from initial planning to completion, said Erick C. Jones Jr., assistant professor in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing and Systems Engineering.
Dr. Jones, who also directs the Sustainable and Efficient Allocation of Resources (SEAR) Lab, led the city of Dallas–sponsored pilot, which weatherized eight South Dallas homes starting in 2024.
The upgrades—attic insulation, weatherstripping around doors and windows, and LED lighting—cost about $3,750 per home. Across seven homes, energy use fell by about 10% on average, saving a typical household an estimated $225 to $260 a year.
The eighth home, which saw the biggest gains, cut its electric usage by 13.4%, saving an estimated $780 a year—enough to pay back the cost of its upgrades in fewer than five years. Several residents also used more electricity than before, which Jones said reflected them running their air conditioning units after previously avoiding them to keep their energy bills down.
Jones said the savings are significant for residents living on fixed incomes such as Social Security, which averages around $1,400 a month. For those households, he said, even modest increases in utility bills can force difficult choices, such as the "heat or eat" dilemma of whether to turn on the air conditioning or heat or buy groceries that week.
Many older residents, Jones said, develop what researchers call energy-limiting behavior, avoiding using air conditioning, even during extreme heat, because of the cost. The pilot program aimed to remove that trade-off by sealing leaks around doors and windows that can drive up electric bills.
