Aug 7, 2020 - Energy & Climate

With rise of remote work, pandemic shifts power bills from offices to homes

Ben Geman

Illustration of a CFL lightbulb on its side, with a 100 dollar bill overlay — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

While overall energy use declined when coronavirus-induced lockdowns took effect, residential power costs rose for many people, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters: It shows how staying at home means moving energy costs from offices to homes, "a shift that, with the accompanying expense, could make things worse for those already suffering financially as a consequence of the pandemic."

How it works: A Columbia University project, which has been monitoring hundreds of New York City apartments since 2018, found an average 23% rise in electricity use during business hours after stay-at-home orders took effect in March, per WSJ.

"The apartments, they said, roughly match the diversity of the city’s residential building stock, and the researchers anticipated that other areas of the country observing stay-at-home orders would have experienced similar changes in energy use."

Go deeper: Low-income households are struggling to pay energy bills during pandemic

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With rise of remote work, pandemic shifts power bills from offices to homes

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