Eliminating energy poverty in Europe: The role of Market Design

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On 11 September 2018, the Commission, the Council and the Parliament meet in Strasbourg for the second round of trilogue negotiations of the redesign of the electricity market. On the agenda are the electricity directive and regulation, which are part of the “Clean Energy for All Europeans” package of measures, that the Commission proposed on 30 November 2016.

The electricity directive includes measures to tackle the urgent issue of energy poverty, due to which 1 in 10 Europeans cannot keep warm in winter and 1 in 5 cannot keep cool in summer. EPSU supports these measures, but stresses that much more needs to be done in order to end energy poverty, like the implementation of a right to energy for all citizens in EU legislation.

EPSU has been fighting energy poverty as part of the Right to Energy Coalition, which brings together unions, and social, environmental and health organisations. The Coalition calls on the legislators to include the strongest possible measures to eradicate energy poverty in the electricity directive. These measures are: ban disconnections, establish a EU-wide energy poverty definition and criteria to measure it as well as require member states to develop national action plans to eradicate energy poverty.

The Right to Energy Coalition expands on the required measures in its latest briefing