Energy poverty: the fight for an EU right to energy this winter

The European Green Party (EGP) held its 34-party meeting from 1 to 4 December.^e Council. At the Council, we finally adopted a strong position on energy poverty, thanks in part to the adoption of amendments by our international secretary, Srishagon, to urge the European Greens to immediate action to ensure energy entitlement this winter.

What is energy poverty?
For many, energy is essential for cooking, hot water, lighting and heating. Access to energy is thus directly related to the well-being of society. Energy poverty is the “situation where households do not have access to essential energy services”,[1] either because they cannot keep houses sufficiently warm or cool, or because they cannot pay their energy bills.[2]

The figures
Access to energy is an essential right, but up to 1 in 4 EU households (125 million) cannot afford to adequately heat, cool or light their homes.[3]

In the Netherlands, although this is better than the EU average, is almost 1 in 5 Dutch households (18.8%, at least 1.3 million) are unable to pay their energy bills, are unable to heat their homes adequately, or pay too much or too little for energy.[4] Another 900,000 (13%) of Dutch households live in circumstances that make it difficult to gauge paying energy costs,[5] and studies indicate that these households also struggle to pay energy costs.[6]

A just transition MUST include combating energy poverty
The energy transition must be a equitable transition are - a transition that always puts the poor, vulnerable and most affected communities at the forefront. This transition is thus impossible without eradicating energy poverty. Energy in Europe has been controlled by monopolies and oligopolies for the benefit of the few companies that dominate the markets. Skyrocketing energy prices and low incomes are exacerbated by COVID-19 crisis-induced unemployment, poverty and increasing demand for energy. With this, we can expect millions of people risk eviction or energy disconnection, with households falling into energy poverty set to rise by millions more.

What did we do?
The “toolbox” released by the European Commission in October 2021 is insufficient to protect the energy poor this winter. And the resolution submitted to the ECP Council did little to take the direct action we now need.

Thanks to the support of GroenLinks Europe, DWARS managed to pass a number of important amendments that would take exactly that necessary direct action. In the preambulatory clauses, we ensured that the EGP explicitly recognises the risk of eviction, energy disconnection or reduced access to energy that the energy poor are facing and will face this winter; we also made it clear that the EGP disapproves of the “toolbox”.

We also successfully pushed through two key amendments so that the European Greens actually take the action we need now to eradicate energy poverty.

First, to encourage the EU to allocate funding to local, regional or national authorities to provide emergency income support to cover the energy costs of energy-poor citizens, which would also mitigate the effects of price volatility for current and future energy-poor citizens.

Second, a EU-wide ban on energy disconnections and house evictions for energy customers in financial distress, as well as a deferral plan by member states for households struggling to pay their energy bills, to prevent a further increase in energy poverty.

DWARS will not stop here. Now that the EU is engaged in the Conference on the Future of Europe[7] and the Green Track,[8] Srishagon will continue to work with GroenLinks Europe and urge Green MEPs to prioritise energy poverty in the just transition to implement the European Green Deal.

Footnotes
i. Photo: Stéphanie Lacombe, from the exhibition ‘EXPOSED’.

[1] European Commission 2020, “Commission recommendation (EU) 2020/1563 on energy poverty”, 14 October.

[2] Feenstra, M., et al. 2021. “Humanising the Energy Transition: Towards a National Policy on Energy Poverty in the Netherlands”. Front. Sustain. Cities, Volume 3, Article 645624, p. 4.

[3] At least 6.6% (33.8m) of EU households could not pay their energy bills and at least 7.3% (37.4m) could not heat their homes adequately. 16.2% (82.3m) spend abnormally more on energy as part of their income, while 14.6% (74.2m) spend too little. Bouzarovski, S. et al. 2020. “Towards an inclusive energy transition in the European Union: Confronting energy poverty amidst a global crisis”. EU Energy Poverty Observatory, p. 42.

[4] EU Energy Poverty Observatory 2021. “Member State Reports on Energy Poverty 2019”. EU Energy Poverty Observatory, p. 79.

[5] Feenstra et al. 2021, p. 5.

[6] Cauvain, J., & Bouzarovski, S. 2016. “Energy vulnerability in multiple occupancy housing: a problem that policy forgot”. People Place Policy, 10, 88-106.

[7] The initiative to involve European citizens in the plans of the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission on the future of Europe. Go to https://futureu.europa.eu/ for more information.

[8] EU campaign to strengthen youth voice in EU biodiversity plan Go to https://ec.europa.eu/environment/thegreentrack for more information.