[17.08.21] Guest article-Perspective on National Strategy against Energy Poverty 2019-2024 in the policy debate

By Roberto Barrella, Comillas Pontifical University, Chair of Energy and Poverty Institute for Research in Technology (IIT) 

In October 2018, the Spanish Government issued a Royal Decree [1] relating to urgent measures for energy transition and consumer protection. Among other actions, this decree established the need to develop a National Strategy against Energy Poverty (NSEP). In April 2019, after an open public consultation conducted over a three-month period, the Spanish Government approved the NSEP 2019-2024 [2], [3]. This document has been drafted by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and incorporate many of the contributions sent to the public consultation. The main proposals of this strategy can be summarized in six points: 

  • It gives an official definition of energy poverty and vulnerable consumers. 
  • It estimates the number of energy poor in Spain based on the indicators proposed by the EU Energy Poverty Observatory (EPOV), thus setting reduction targets for 2025. 
  • It proposes to carry out a deep analysis of energy expenditures of Spanish households (both actual and required energy expenditure[1] [4], [5]). 
  • It analyses the shortcomings of the current social tariffs and proposes a unique aid for all energy uses[2] to be designed and implemented in the future. 
  • It proposes short-, medium- and long-term structural measures, such as energy retrofits of vulnerable households’ dwellings. 
  • It proposes measures to raise people awareness on energy poverty and improve households’ information in respect of energy use and support programs available to consumers, e.g. the implementation of an official web page on energy poverty. 

Read the full article here: https://www.eppedia.eu/article/national-strategy-against-energy-poverty-2019-2024-spain