Alleviating Energy Poverty in Europe: Front-runners and Laggards

Despite the recognition of affordability as one of the pillars of the sustainable energy transition, according to recent reports from the European Commission, approximately 34 million Europeans were considered as energy poor. In the current spiralling prices of gas and electricity coupled with the impact of COVID-19 on economic activity, unemployment, and households’ disposable income, this social policy issue is likely to gain more prominence in the near future. In this new paper, we propose a new approach to the analysis of energy poverty. Our results show that countries with higher economic development and more egalitarian economies have a lower incidence of energy poverty, while higher energy prices exacerbate the problem. Moreover, social protection aids to households and individuals (in the form of benefits to those affected by issues such as disability, sickness/healthcare or social exclusion) have had a significant effect on reducing energy poverty.