Escaping Energy Poverty: A Comparative Analysis of 17 European Countries

Lilia Karpinska,Sławomir Śmiech

doi:10.3390/en14185761

Abstract

A comparative analysis of energy poverty transitions and persistence can provide valuable suggestions for long-term policy actions. This study examines the dynamics of energy poverty in 17 European countries based on the longitudinal household data from the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions, waves 2015–2018. The study pursues two goals. First, we explore households’ chances of transitioning in and out of energy poverty in each country following the discrete-time Markov process. On average, the probability to stay in energy poverty is 51.5%, and there is a lot of heterogeneity across countries. Households in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Lithuania are quite close to the energy poverty trap. Second, we identify factors that help energy-poor households leave energy poverty. Demographic, technical, and socio-economic factors are the drivers in escaping energy poverty, which suggests common EU policy.

Highlights

Comparative Analysis of 17 EuropeanFacing the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, in 2019 the EU adopted a set of legislative acts entitled the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package
The persistence of energy poverty can be assessed by the respective retention rate, i.e., the rate of returning to the same condition in the observed period
This study focuses on the persistence of energy poverty in 17 European countries by considering the transition probability paths of households in each country

Summary

Introduction

Facing the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, in 2019 the EU adopted a set of legislative acts entitled the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package. A series of policy actions on counteracting energy poverty were adopted in EU countries [1] following the. The Governance Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2018/1999) and the Electricity Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/944) oblige member states to measure, monitor, and report on the assistance to energy-poor households, and to outline policy actions supporting the energy poor in the national energy and climate plans, especially in countries with a significant number of the energy poor. The recent analysis of the structural energy poverty vulnerability [2] identifies those regions and countries on the EU map in which the problem is acute

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Conclusion