Associate Professor Gabe Chan and postdoctoral researcher Bhavin Pradhan published a paper, "Racial and Economic Disparities in Electric Reliability and Service Quality in Xcel Energy’s Minnesota Service Area," which asks whether disparities exist in access to shared infrastructure systems, focusing on the electric system, an essential service delivered by heavily regulated public utilities. 

They examined disparities in access to electricity service in the service area of Xcel Energy across three dimensions: utility disconnection, service reliability, and grid availability to host distributed energy resources. They conclude that “customers in communities of color are three times more likely than others to have their electricity cut off, highlighting a hidden nationwide problem.”