New poll shows Pennsylvanians are concerned about energy affordability

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A recent Commonwealth Foundation poll shows Pennsylvania residents are concerned about high energy costs and reliability.

The poll, conducted in September, used a sample of 800 state residents to create a representative sample. The poll asked questions about an array of national and state policy issues. Of particular note are the answers to the energy questions.

Energy is an important and often controversial issue. But this survey revealed broad agreement over the importance of energy affordability and reliability among respondents.

When asked "How concerned are you about your ability to afford your family's energy needs, including energy to power and heat your home and fuel your vehicles?" respondents expressed serious concern with 71 percent very or somewhat concerned by energy costs, and only 27 percent not too concerned or not at all concerned.

When the question was projected countrywide, concern was even greater. Respondents were asked, "How concerned are you about the future availability of affordable energy in the United States?" This was met with a response of somewhat or very concerned from 78 percent, with 18 percent expressing that they were not too concerned or not at all concerned.

When presented with the choice between ensuring affordable energy and combating climate change, 68% of respondents favored ensuring affordability over working on climate change.

Additionally, respondents were asked, "How much money would you personally be willing to spend out of pocket each year to help combat climate change?" They were asked to write a specific dollar amount. Thirty percent of respondents were willing to spend zero dollars per year (the most common response), and an additional 17 percent were unwilling to spend more than $24 per year. Only 15 percent of respondents were willing to spend more than $500 per year.

Respondents were asked to pick the two most pressing energy issues today from the following list:

• Rising energy costs
• Ensuring energy grid reliability and modernization to prevent blackouts
• The economic impact of government regulations
• Too many restrictions and regulations on energy exploration and production
• Environmental harms from energy exploration and production
• The loss of energy sector jobs
• Not enough regulations on energy production

The most common responses were rising energy costs and ensuring grid reliability with 56 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, only 5 percent of respondents were concerned that there are not enough regulations on energy production.

Overall, the poll results show Pennsylvanians are greatly concerned about the cost and reliability of their energy-and an unwillingness to subsume those priorities to other concerns. This is especially interesting in an energy-producing state like Pennsylvania where energy questions have big economic effects-including on jobs and the business environment.

The poll results are yet further evidence that Americans consider the reliability and affordability of energy to be a top priority. This is perfectly understandable since energy is what powers modern life.

A version of this article first appeared onIndependentWomen's Forum.