Poor and
lower middle households use less gasoline because they go fewer
places and because their cars get better gasoline mileage. They get
better mileage because the older cars these groups own tend to
weigh less than newer models, and are without such gasoline
consuming extras as air conditioning and power steering.
Over
four-fifths of all household heads, regardless of income, commute
to work by car. The poor are only slightly more inclined than other
heads of households to use public transit or to walk. For the
majority of all household heads, public transit is not available
either at home or at work, or both.
Almost half
of all poor households and over 15 percent of all
lower-middle-income households have no car. To get to distant
locations within the city, they use mass transit, a taxi, or don't
go. The result is that low income households use public transit
more than others. However, public transit is often not available,
and about one-fourth of all poor households report missing
activities because of inadequate transportation.
The
Cost of Energy
Energy
prices have risen rapidly in recent years. Between May 1969 and May
1974, the individual prices for electricity, natural gas, fuel oil,
and gasoline increased more than for any other major items in the
Consumer Price Index, except food.
While all
people except the very rich feel the impact of these rising prices
in their family budgets, the poor suffer most. By 1973, poor
households were spending almost 15 percent of their incomes for
electricity, natural gas, and gasoline. Lower middle households
spent about 7 percent; and the well off, 4 percent.
Ironically,
the poor also paid more per unit of energy for electricity and
natural gas. In 1972-73, they paid 13 percent more per unit for
electricity than did the well off, and 8 percent more for natural
gas. The poor pay higher unit costs precisely because they use less
energy—electricity and natural gas prices are structured that
way. Looking back over the past twenty years, the evidence
indicates that price differentials between low and high users of
electricity and natural gas have even increased slightly.
The rate
structure of the utilities encourage energy consumption. Electric
generating plants are a major source of sulfur dioxide—one of
the most dangerous of the air pollutants.
Utility
regulatory commissions now permit utilities to include advertising
as a production cost. This means that the cost of advertising is
paid by the consumer and is not taken out of profits.
Industrial
and commercial users of electricity and natural gas pay less than
half as much per unit of energy than residential
customers.