Racial and Economic Disparities in Electric Reliability and Service Quality in Xcel Energy’s Minnesota Service Area

Abstract

This paper asks whether disparities exist in access to shared infrastructure systems, focusing on the electric system, an essential service delivered by heavily regulated public utilities. We examine disparities in access to electricity service in the service area of Xcel Energy across three dimensions: utility disconnection, service reliability, and grid availability to host distributed energy resources. We quantify disparities across Census block groups by leveraging unique, high-resolution datasets of service quality and grid conditions that have only recently been made publicly available. We find significant and pervasive evidence of the disparities among different demographic groups across utility disconnection and service reliability. Across a battery of regression models, we find that living in poorer neighborhoods with a greater concentration of people of color is associated with a statistically and practically significant difference in the likelihood of disconnection from service due to non-payment and the experience of extended power outages. We also find evidence that hosting capacity for distributed generation is higher in disadvantaged communities and communities with high populations of people of color. These findings underscore the opportunity for policy initiatives to rectify deep-seated inequalities through affirmative investments and safety net programs that ensure all communities, regardless of their racial or economic composition, have equitable access to universal basic utility service and reliable, clean energy.