The crisis caused by the COVID19 pandemic and the dynamics of the energy market following the liberalization process in 2021 highlighted the need for energy policies through which households’ access to accessible energy services is stable and continuous, functional both in normal situations and in exceptional circumstances. According to estimates from 2017, a quarter of Romanians are affected by energy poverty. It is a certainty that, in the current context, this phenomenon is accentuated, as well as the state of vulnerability associated with it at levels that are difficult to quantify. The new vulnerable consumer law, which brings useful additions to the already existing framework, but continues to leave uncovered dimensions deeply connected with the causes and symptoms of energy poverty. We believe, therefore, that it is the right time for an in-depth re-discussion of energy poverty in Romania.
The current report follows the previous report published by the Center for the Study of Democracy in 2017 and capitalizes on the expertise gained in the context of the consolidation of professional-academic networks at the European level, such as the Cost Engager Action (Engager, 2020) or the numerous projects ample that combines scientific research with the development of public policies, such as Horizon projects.
The basic premise of this report is that energy poverty has significant relevance in terms of quality of life. Another premise, emerged as an evolution compared to the past years, explores the idea that ensuring energy needs is increasingly becoming a matter associated with citizenship, placed in the area of rights, complementary to the market perspective, where the focus falls on the ‘consumer’.
The report has the following objectives:
1. To provide an update of the data and main indicators for a more complete picture of the energy poverty in Romania.
2. To present the new developments in the European context regarding the understanding of energy poverty, their transposition into strategic documents and legislation and the obligations of the member states deriving from it.
3. To reflect the way in which Romania transposes these provisions at the level.
4. To identify the most important themes associated with energetic poverty and how they affect the reality in our country, especially in a pandemic and post-pandemic context.
During the report we draw attention to the need to dissociate between ‘energy poverty’ and ‘energy vulnerability’ because the use of the two as synonyms generates confusion and contributes to the perpetuation of the lack of understanding of the phenomenon, with a direct negative impact on the quality of policies public.
Energy poverty – a momentary state describing the inability of a household to ensure its minimum energy needs in a way that ensures its members the ability to function as full members of society
Energy vulnerability – a set of conditions that create the risk of a household entering, even temporarily, into the state of energy poverty
Using several alternative indicators to measure energy poverty and the data we have at our disposal, we estimated the current level of vulnerability associated with energy at 32%, but according to other indicators its level is 45%. At the same time, we draw attention to the fact that the focus on identifying the ‘best’ indicator or on forcing a value as clear as possible to illustrate the size of the phenomenon can be counterproductive. The focus must fall on the development of a public policy framework with the continued participation of all state institutions and private entities active in the energy market.
The recommendations of this report are based on those of 2017, most of which are still topical, even following the amendments to the 2021 vulnerable consumer legislation. They also rely on European Union legislative regulations and developments over the past five years, On the experiences of other European countries, but also on strategic documents that even the Romanian state developed and assumed.
Short-term recommendations:
– correcting discrepancies between the amounts of heating aids according to the types of fuel.
– Providing heating aid for electricity as a supplement to aid for heating aid for other fuels, to cover situations where electricity intervenes as a supplement to cover heating needs.
– the fastest possible identification of alternative fuels to wood for the rural environment, depending on the specifics of each locality.
Medium-term recommendations:
– the development of a National Action Plan to combat energy poverty and the formation of a working group with continuous activity, both under the coordination of ANRE, with the participation of all state institutions and private entities active on the energy market.
– Establishing by law some indicators for data collection, at local and central level, to be done continuously, by involving all actors who generate or hold relevant data from the point of view of the causes and symptoms of energy poverty.
– the establishment of ‘One Stop Shops’ – specific departments in each town hall, which provide advice to citizens and which investigate and identify issues related to energy poverty in the community, as well as administering the administrative processes associated with the implementation of the measures taken to combating energy poverty.
Long-term recommendations:
– Implementing the right to energy, by identifying the state-assumptioned ways to cover the minimum energy needs at the level of each household, regardless of income, fuel or building condition, and transforming the energy market into a tool to guarantee this right (e.g. market actors to cover their economic and profit-oriented interests by covering the need for comfort, after the right to energy is covered for all households).
