Barriers to Electrification

You can't install a heat pump in a house with a bad roof — and 40% of deferred homes are never repaired

Nationally, 19% of low-income households seeking weatherization services are deferred due to pre-existing conditions. The leading causes are structural: roof damage, floor damage, and unsafe electrical panels. The average cost to make a deferred home weatherization-ready is $13,870 — and most low-income households can't pay it.

Causes of weatherization deferrals (national)
The deferral funnel
100%
WAP-eligible households seek services (~79,800 audits/year)
19%
Initially deferred for repairable conditions
60%
Of deferred homes — repaired and eventually served by WAP
40%
Of deferred homes — never made weatherization-ready (~6,686/yr)
$13,870
Mean cost of weatherization readiness repairs per home (95% CI: $13,649–$14,091). Range: $2,000–$25,000 depending on repair type and region. Most low-income households cannot fund this.
$91–94M
Annual national funding gap for weatherization readiness. This is the cost to repair all 6,686 homes deferred from WAP each year that are never made weatherization-ready.
~60%
Of PA housing stock built before 1970. Pennsylvania has some of the oldest homes in the nation — the structural barriers to weatherization and electrification are deeply embedded in the housing stock.
Pennsylvania context
Pennsylvania's COVID-19 Whole-Home Repairs Program allocated $125 million in ARPA funds to address the home repair backlog. By 2024, all funds were obligated and long waiting lists were reported. Additional attempts to add $50 million in state funding have been unsuccessful. The program addressed overall home repair needs — not specifically weatherization readiness — but did increase the number of weatherization-ready homes. About $5 million went to workforce development for building trades.
"Pennsylvania has some of the oldest housing stock in the United States — about 60% of homes were built before 1970. The state's COVID-19 Whole-Home Repairs Program was funded with $125 million as an initial step to address a critical backlog of home repairs. Due to high demand, by 2024 all funds were obligated. Additional attempts to add $50 million in state funding have thus far been unsuccessful and long waiting lists have been reported."
— ACEEE, "Estimating the Impacts of Weatherization Readiness Programs" (June 2025), Pennsylvania case study. PA Housing Finance Agency (2020) identified rising uninhabitable vacant units statewide.
Sources: Deferral rates and causes — ACEEE b2504, "Estimating the Impacts of Weatherization Readiness Programs" (June 2025), national WAP survey of 66 grantees/subgrantees across 28 states. 19% deferral rate — ACEEE Table 1, weighted median. 40% eventually deferred — ACEEE survey analysis. $13,870 mean cost — ACEEE survey, 95% CI $13,649–$14,091. $91-94M gap — ACEEE calculation. 60% pre-1970 housing — PA Housing Finance Agency 2020 Comprehensive Housing Study. $125M Whole-Home Repairs — PA DCED program, ARPA-funded. Waiting lists — Spotlight PA, March 2025.