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The government approved on Tuesday its plan to tackle energy poverty and to help the poorest households adequately heat their homes amid cold snaps and rising energy bills.
Marine Cornelis examines rising energy poverty in Europe – and what consumers can do about it.
How can households be sustainably protected against rising energy prices and lifted out of energy poverty? Energy poverty already has dramatic social and health consequences for 50 to 125 million Europeans.
Due to the gas and electricity price crisis and soaring inflation, many more people might feel the cold and must make terrible trade-offs, such as having to choose between buying schoolbooks and clothes or feeding their kids.
COLUMN. The measure comes against a background of skyrocketing inflation that has rekindled the debate on inequality in the United Kingdom, as journalist Jean-Michel Bezat explains.
Authorities in Barcelona have announced the start of a pilot test that will see the provision of free solar energy to low-income families in the city with the goal of lightening their energy bills. The electricity will be produced and provided by photovoltaic pergolas installed in public spaces around the city. The proposed aim of the project is to see whether this is a viable path to creating self-sufficient energy communities in the Catalonian capital. Likewise, it is a way to maximize the efficient use of public space surfaces in a way that brings benefits to the communities living in their vicinity.
The briefing lays out why energy poverty cannot be solved by ‘letting the market play its game’. Energy poverty is already affecting over 50 million Europeans, a number that is growing frighteningly quickly. To guarantee the right to affordable clean energy, structural inequalities must be addressed. These inequalities span across economic, social, employment, energy, climate, taxation, welfare, housing, gender and health policies.
Energy prices have skyrocketed in the past months, increasing the concern that millions of Europeans will have to choose between paying their bills and putting food on the table this winter.
Audrey Berry est ingénieure-économiste, actuellement analyste auprès du Haut Conseil pour le Climat. Spécialiste de la précarité énergétique, elle plaide pour une approche multidimensionnelle de ce phénomène complexe aux conséquences multiples, qui constitue un enjeu crucial pour assurer une transition climatique « juste ».
Le Conseil de Paris a adopté vendredi un plan de lutte contre la précarité énergétique, qui touche 77.000 personnes dans la capitale.
MILAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Italy is looking to monitor fuel poverty as part of broader plans to reform the energy market and temper price increases for consumers, a government decree showed.
Under the plan, presented to parliament for a non-binding opinion, a national observatory for fuel poverty would be set up at the Energy Transition ministry within 90 days of the decree coming into effect.
Energy poverty is emerging as a national agenda in the Netherlands. Local authority leadership and action on this agenda, and European Union reporting requirements around the energy transition have aligned to create an opportunity to establish a national agenda on this issue. Early action on energy poverty by local authorities stemmed from their recognition of the value of addressing environmental, health, social welfare and poverty goals through measures to address the problem. In contrast, the experiences of vulnerable energy consumers have limited recognition in national policy. Meanwhile EU requirements for climate reporting include a specification for measuring and monitoring energy poverty. This growing momentum has resulted in an emerging interest in energy poverty as a means to achieve a just transition at a national level, as reflected in the Dutch National Climate and Energy Plan.
Les tarifs du gaz sur les marchés internationaux ont quadruplé depuis avril, un choc pour les ménages et les entreprises. Cette nouvelle situation, qui touche l’ensemble des sources d’énergie, risque de s’installer dans la durée.
A growing energy justice literature underlines that complex energy injustices in energy transition disproportionally affect vulnerable and energy-poor households. Literature and policies discuss renewable energy communities’ (RECs) potential to enable citizen participation in energy transition and shape a just transition. Low-income and energy-poor households could benefit from granting access to affordable energy tariffs and energy efficiency measures when participating in RECs. Recent EU legislation highlights RECs’ social role in energy poverty alleviation and stipulates the participation of all social groups in RECs, especially those groups that are underrepresented under RECs’ members. In this light, the energy justice framework is increasingly applied to analyse RECs’ social contributions in different countries. Still, empirical evidence of RECs’ capacity to include underrepresented and vulnerable groups and mitigate energy poverty as a particular form of energy justice remains scarce. Drawing on data collected among 71 European RECs, our exploratory research investigates how RECs engage in this social role by improving participatory procedures to enable vulnerable groups’ participation and by distributing affordable energy and energy efficiency to vulnerable households. Using the energy justice framework, we explore how RECs resonate with the three energy justice tenets (distributive, recognitional and procedural) by addressing underrepresented groups and energy poverty.
Ce rapport présente les principaux enjeux auxquels est confronté le secteur aujourd’hui et propose différents leviers de décarbonation. Il dresse également un portrait du secteur après transformation : les logements sont sains, ils ne consomment plus d’énergie fossile, et la précarité énergétique a considérablement reculé.
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In this episode, we discuss with Next Energy Consumer CEO Marine Cornelis how to put citizens and our most vulnerable consumers at the heart of the energy transition
While governments focus on how to protect consumers from escalating energy prices, Belgium shows an important way forward. Since 2002, eligible households have been shielded from price fluctuations in the energy market. People don’t have to struggle. Carl Packman discusses the approach taken by Belgium in an article on The Guardian website. There is…
Energy poverty requires holistic efforts at all levels of governance, from the European to the local level. This Energy Poverty Advisory Hub report conducts a thorough scientific literature review of studies that delve into energy poverty assessment and the identification and targeting of the energy-poor population at subnational spatial scales (smaller than national). This report aims to investigate, identify and analyse the variety of data sources, datasets, and methods used in the literature for assessing energy poverty at greater spatial resolution for specific contexts, territories, and populations. Ultimately, the goal is to collect helpful information and knowledge, and channel it in the direction of local governments and organisations to inform their local practice and initiatives. Frequently, local initiatives are supported by local datasets informally collected by local governments and providing a valuable contribution. By tapping into studies in academia, we complement and strengthen both the data resources available to local governments and the toolbox of methods to evaluate this issue and identify the different profiles of vulnerable people.
Fuel poverty had slipped down the political agenda for many years. With one in six households now having to face the choice of eating or heating it is now back with a vengeance. Andrew Warren, chairman of the British Energy Efficiency Federation, a long-time follower of policies and programmes related to fuel poverty, discusses latest…
The two lawmakers in charge of drafting the European Parliament’s position on the EU's new social climate fund have gone a step further than the European Commission's initial proposal by drafting a definition of both energy and transport poverty.
Around 31 million Europeans were living in energy poverty in 2019, a figure that is set to rise this year because of the coronavirus crisis and soaring energy prices, affecting the most vulnerable in society. In this special report, EURACTIV looks at the drivers of energy poverty and the measures envisaged at the EU and national levels to prevent it from spreading further.
The Government of North Macedonia has declared a state of energy crisis to secure electricity supplies to consumers in the country. It will last 30 days.
The government’s decision enables measures and activities to be taken, including financial intervention to purchase additional quantities of electricity. It determines the rights and obligations of state-owned power producer Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM) and transmission system operator MEPSO.
The government’s intention is to enable the transfer of budget funds to these companies.
ENEA recently participated through the contribution of experts from the National Energy Efficiency Agency, in the drafting of the “WHITE PAPER: Open Dialogue on Energy Poverty”, a text prepared by the Alliance Against Energy Poverty, with the participation of other important stakeholders at national level such as associations, citizen representatives, research bodies, specialists and professionals
The Commission adopted today a Communication on Energy Prices, to tackle the exceptional rise in global energy prices, which is projected to last through the winter, and help Europe's people and businesses. The Communication includes a “toolbox” that the EU and its Member States can use to address the immediate impact of current prices increases, and further strengthen resilience against future shocks. Short-term national measures include emergency income support to households, state aid for companies, and targeted tax reductions. The Commission will also support investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency; examine possible measures on energy storage and purchasing of gas reserves; and assess the current electricity market design.
The Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH) – an initiative of the European Commission - has launched its new website with the aim of becoming the centre of energy poverty expertise in Europe for local authorities and all stakeholders interested in taking action to combat energy poverty. The EPAH website provides a clear explanation of what the Energy poverty advisory hub is and what its aims to achieve in the coming years. In addition, and more importantly, it offers easy access for local governments and their supporting organisations to see what is happening around the EU
“Must-read” factors in policy design to tackle energy poverty through PED creation
Our research reveals that energy poverty is not considered in a uniform way across the EU. In order to ensure that energy poverty and PED creation are approached synergistically we have identified a number of must-read factors that can play a significant role either at the stage of policy design or policy implementation. Considering each of these factors will assist policymakers in establishing PEDs that are fully inclusive and have a long-term positive effect on energy poverty mitigation.
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Across Europe, 50 million households struggle with energy poverty stemming from low incomes, high energy bills, poor energy efficiency, as well as inadequate housing. The EU’s Renovation Wave, a ‘flagship’ of the European Green Deal, provides a unique opportunity to tackle Europe’s inadequate housing while contributing to EU climate targets, writes Anna Kompatscher.
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