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EAP Policy Manual FFY24 Chapter 7 Assurance 16 Page 3 Energy Self-Sufficiency (ESS) Energy Self-Sufficiency includes activities that help reduce household energy need and enable energy security by affecting one or more of the following areas:1 • Enabling and encouraging a household’s optimal, or most desirable, energy usage (e.g., more efficient, reduced usage). • Increasing the affordability of energy. • Enabling household access to services and opportunities that increase or improve income and/or assets. • Encouraging increased household housing/energy provider options. Energy Self-Sufficiency Impact Cause-Effect Diagram This diagram shows how the four Energy Self-Sufficiency strategies noted above impact a household’s energy security. Energy Security Enable and encourage Household optimal energy usage Increase household Energy affordability Enable households to increase Or improve income and/or assets Encourage increased household Housing/energy provider options

There are two Energy Self-Sufficiency (ESS) activity categories, Responsive ESS and Proactive ESS. Both aim to reduce household energy need, but differ in their approach to working with households.

1 These four energy need reduction strategies, or approaches, were identified by the EAP Policy Advisory Committee and representative Service Provider EAP Coordinators as part of a previous program year planning process.