We all depend on energy in our everyday lives. We need it to have sufficient levels of heating, cooling and lighting in our homes to ensure a decent standard of living and help guarantee our health.
Energy poverty occurs when a household must reduce its energy consumption to a degree that negatively impacts the inhabitants' health and wellbeing.
It is mainly driven by 3 underlying root causes: a high proportion of household expenditure spent on energy, low income, and low energy performance of buildings and appliances.
Due to its private nature, as it mainly affects households, and its complexity, energy poverty remains a major challenge to be further addressed in the EU. The COVID-19 crisis, followed by the surge in energy prices and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have worsened an already difficult situation for many EU citizens.
Europeans unable to keep their homes adequately warm
Energy poverty during summer
Since its introduction 2009, the concept of energy poverty has become key in the EU’s efforts to promote a just and fair energy transition.
Climate change and regular heat waves are making summer energy poverty (the inability to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures during summer) an urgent and growing issue in Europe. Heat brings significant public health, economic, and social challenges, particularly for vulnerable groups.
Early findings suggest that those already affected by energy poverty during winter may struggle in summer too. While the solutions to the inability to keep cool in summer may share similarities with the inability to keep warm in winter, they also require interventions in other sectors, such as urban and spatial planning and the greening of spaces.
The message is clear: energy poverty must be tackled by addressing its root causes through structural and targeted measures, and in particular through energy efficiency.
EU measures to tackle energy poverty
The concept of energy poverty was first introduced in EU law by the Directive on common rules for the internal electricity market (2009/72/EC).
In 2016, the Commission launched the Energy Poverty Observatory (EPOV) initiative and one year later, the European Pillar of Social Rights includes energy as an essential service which everyone is entitled to. Additionally, the Pillar includes the right to appropriate help and protection against forced evictions. This work is now continued in the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub project.
The Clean energy for all Europeans package (adopted in 2019) introduced explicit obligations to identify, monitor and address energy poverty through the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Since then, several EU countries have integrated targeted measures and are developing their own definitions, measurement and monitoring methods and solutions to energy poverty.
In 2020, the Commission published its first Recommendation on energy poverty (EU/2020/1563), issued as part of the Renovation Wave Strategy. It provided guidance on adequate indicators to measure energy poverty, promoted the sharing of best practices between EU countries and highlighted EU funding programmes that prioritise measures targeting vulnerable groups. Building on this Recommendation, the ‘Fit for 55’ package proposed in July 2021, included specific measures to identify key drivers of energy-poverty risks for consumers, taking into account structural solutions to vulnerabilities and underlying inequalities.
To clarify what measures were possible to tackle the spike in energy prices that started in 2021, the Commission published Tackling rising energy prices: a toolbox for action and support (EU/2021/660). It lists a range of short and medium-term initiatives that can be taken at national level to support and help the most vulnerable consumers.
In April 2022, the Commission Energy Poverty and Vulnerable Consumers Coordination Group was established (Decision EU/2022/589). It aims to provide EU countries with a space to exchange best practices and increase coordination of policy measures to support vulnerable and energy-poor households.
The Social Climate Fund, established in May 2023, aims to provide funding to EU countries to support vulnerable households, those affected by energy poverty, and vulnerable micro-enterprises by supporting investments for increased energy efficiency. To access this funding from 2026 onwards, EU countries must submit their Social Climate Plans by June 2025. This fund aims to compensate the most vulnerable for the impact of the Emissions Trading System 2, which will enter into force in 2027.
The revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EU/2023/1791) puts a stronger focus on alleviating energy poverty and empowering consumers through a series of wide-reaching measures.
In 2023, the Commission also published a Recommendation on energy poverty (C/2023/4080), together with a guidance document and renewed, on the same day, the Joint Declaration on enhanced consumer protection for the winter.
The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU/2024/1275) entered into force in May 2024 and includes specific provisions related to energy poor, vulnerable households and people living in social housing. It foresees, among other measures, that EU countries include specific plans for the reduction of the number of people affected by energy poverty in their National Building Renovation Plans. In addition, related policies and measures, including information-related actions, will have to target the alleviation of energy poverty.
The 2024 reform of the Electricity Market Design and the revised gas market legislation, strengthen consumer rights and protection. Among other measures, they ensure clearer information and enhanced rights especially for the most vulnerable and those affected by energy poverty in case of gas disconnection. Moreover, for both the electricity and gas markets, in case of a natural gas price crisis, EU countries should ensure that these categories of consumers have access to affordable energy and essential social services, including through interventions on price settings to shield them from excessively high prices.
The Energy Poverty Advisory Hub
The Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH) is the leading EU initiative aiming to eradicate energy poverty. It was launched by the Commission in 2021, at the request of the European Parliament, and builds on the ‘EU Energy Poverty Observatory’ project (2016-2020).
The EPAH offers a space for collaboration and exchange between local and regional authorities to tackle energy poverty, while accelerating the just energy transition.
It provides online guidance and knowledge products for diagnosing, measuring and planning actions to tackle energy poverty at local level from a national and EU perspective including
- publications
- an interactive database that allows stakeholders to discover local and international projects and measures addressing energy poverty
- courses to increase knowledge on energy poverty and mitigation actions
- calls for technical assistance to directly assist local governments in taking action on energy poverty
Together with the Covenant of Mayors, the EPAH also developed a reporting mechanism that cities can use to track the progress in eradicating energy poverty.
EU projects to fight energy poverty
Across Europe, various projects are developing innovative solutions to combat energy poverty.
- ENPOR, which aims to make energy poverty in the private rental sector more visible and measurable
- ComAct, aimed at improving the accessibility of energy efficiency improvements for energy-poor communities in multi-family apartment buildings in central and eastern European countries
- STEP (Solutions to Tackle Energy Poverty), which empowered over 16 000 consumers in (or at risk of) energy poverty with energy efficiency advice and trained over 1 000 frontline workers in EU countries with the highest incidences of this problem
- PowerPoor project, which is helping implement small-scale energy efficiency interventions and the installation of renewable energy sources for energy poor citizens in eight countries across Europe
- SocialWatt, supporting EU utilities and energy suppliers to effectively identify energy poor households, as well as develop and monitor schemes that focus on increasing the energy efficiency of their homes
- EmpowerMed, exploring the gender perspective of energy poverty policies, with a specific focus on summertime energy poverty and health
The LIFE Clean Energy Transition Programme has a budget of nearly €1 billion for the period of 2021-2027 and covers projects that further explore measures to alleviate energy poverty. Project developers work closely with networks of local actors and energy-poor households to provide practical information and advice on energy efficiency solutions and building-related interventions in vulnerable districts.
- Renoverty: encourages energy and cost-efficient building upgrades in central, eastern and southern Europe
- Reverter: focuses on deep renovation roadmaps to decrease households’ vulnerability to energy poverty
- Energy Poverty Zero (EP-0): aims to scale up industrialised deep energy retrofits for buildings in vulnerable districts
- JUSTEM: assists regional authorities, in EU coal regions, to evaluate and properly target, among others, energy poverty in their territories, while engaging citizens in capacity building activities tailored to increase acceptance and build confidence in a coal-free economy
In addition to the work of the EPAH, the EU Building Stock Observatory, the Smart Cities Marketplace and the EU Covenant of Mayors can further assist EU countries in identifying energy poverty.
Related links
- Recommendation on energy poverty (C/2023/4080) | Staff working document (SWD(2023) 647)
- Energy Poverty Advisory Hub
- In focus: How can the EU help those touched by energy poverty? (16/02/2022)
- Communication - Tackling rising energy prices: a toolbox for action and support (COM/2021/660)
- Communication - 'Fit for 55': delivering the EU's 2030 Climate Target on the way to climate neutrality (COM/2021/550)
- Recommendation on energy poverty ((EU) 2020/1563) | Staff working document (SWD (2020) 960 final)
- Towards an inclusive energy transition in the European Union: Confronting energy poverty amidst a global crisis (EPOV - June 2020)
- Directive on common rules for the internal market for electricity (EU/2019/944)