Energy poverty in the EU:A review of the evidence

DG Regio workshop on ‘Cohesion policy investing in energy efficiency in buildings’, Brussels, 29/11/11

Stefan BouzarovskiSchool of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

University of Birmingham

Starting points

• Energy poverty: Characterized by the inability to secure a socially- and materially-necessitated level of energy services in the home (based on Buzar 2007)

• Largely an invisible problem in the EU despite its potentially significant extent

• Limited amount of scientific research

• Opportunity for win-win solutions by integrating energy efficiency and affordability issues

Energy poverty policies in the EU (1)

• Directives 2009/72/EC and 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, ‘concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity and natural gas supply’

• Recognized the existence of a ‘growing’ energy poverty problem in Europe, requiring member states ‘who are affected and which have not yet done so’ to ensure the necessary energy supply for vulnerable customers, ‘aiming at decreasing the number of people’ suffering from this situation

• National governments were asked to formulate ‘appropriate measures’ to address energy poverty, including the development of national energy action plans

Energy poverty policies in the EU (2)

• European Economic and Social Committee, July 2010– Formulating an EU-level definition of energy poverty that can then be

adapted by each Member State – Setting up an European Energy Poverty Monitoring Centre

• EC report in November 2010

• Energy Council meeting in December 2010

The problem

• Establishing energy poverty in the EU has been methodologically problematic for a range of theoretical and practical reasons

• Three main methods have been used to date:• Expenditure-based (national budget surveys)• Subjective self-reporting (EU-SILC)• Direct measurement (individual case studies)

Existing research

• Not a single study has looked at the EU as a whole• Four transnational studies:

– Healy (2004): EU-15, subjective and objective housing indicators based on ECHP– Buzar (2007): EU-10 and case studies, mainly expenditure and subjective indicators

based on own research– WHO (2007): independent data on housing, energy and thermal comfort in 10 countries – EPEE (2009): range of indicators based on EU-SILC in Belgium, Spain, France, Italy and

the United Kingdom

• Country-based work (Bouzarovski 2010; Freund and Wallich 1996; Kovačević 2004)• Policy-led research (EBRD 2003; Lampietti and Meyer 2002; Velody et al. 2003;

Fankhauser and Tepic 2005)

Energy-poverty relevant indicators in the EU’s Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey

(2003-2009 population percentage averages, stacked up)

2003-2009 means

2010

- 52.08 m people cannot keep their home adequately warm

- 161.42 m are facing disproportionate housing expenditure

- 87.46 m are living in poor quality dwellings

- 41.74 m face arrears on their utility bills

Landscapes of vulnerability

• EU-10: inefficient housing, removal of price subsidies, expansion of poverty• Mediterranean countries: inefficient housing, lack of heating systems, income

inequalities• ‘Atlantic rim’: inefficient housing, income inequalities• Vulnerable groups:

– Urban and rural pensioners

– Single parents, families with children, immigrants, rental households (mainly urban)

– Farming households (esp. Southern and Eastern Europe)

– Households living in multi-family apartment buildings in Eastern and Northern European countries

Energy burdens and average/relative poverty, Poland

Energy expenditure point change per income decile, 2002-2009, Bulgaria

Percentage of energy efficiency measures in the EU-15 housing stock (Healy 2004)

Energy burdens among different groups, Poland (CSO 2010)

Instead of a conclusion

• Energy poverty is a growing problem in Europe• There are significant opportunities to address the issue via

demand-side energy efficiency policies at the regional scale• Needed: a regional level-indicator of energy poverty, possibly

tied to EU assistance for residential energy efficiency• This would require an EU-wide ‘Hills’ review to help calibrate

such an indicator