The social dilemma of load shedding in Community Grids with vulnerable populations

In situations of emergency failures and power supply shortages, utility companies face the critical decision of load-shedding (disconnecting customers involuntarily). Determining the principles by which load-shedding can best align with both economic imperatives and social norms presents a complex challenge. Existing load-shedding protocols, largely governed by economic considerations, risk undermining principles of energy justice by disproportionately affecting individuals dependent on durable medical equipment (DME). Here, we investigate the equity implications of load-shedding in cities. Taking northern New York City as an example, we identified the systemic disadvantages faced by residential DME users during energy outages. Through modeling and public surveys of 856 U.S. residents, we show that incorporating DME-related settlement costs of loss into load-shedding optimization can better safeguard medically vulnerable households and align outage management with public preferences for prioritizing vulnerable populations. Our findings also reveal that current compensation structures inadequately capture the social harm of outages, supporting policy reforms that embed social justice into grid resilience strategies and more systematically protect at-risk populations.