https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/112907-053-A/arte-europe-weekly/
If you’re fanatic about turning lights off or you’re reluctant to turn up the heating because of high costs, you’re not alone. More than 40 million people across Europe are suffering from energy poverty. We look at the factors that lead to it, possible solutions, and what the EU is doing about it.
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We’re in one of the coldest months of the year but cranking up the heating is also going to crank up those bills in this week’s RTE Europe weekly we’re looking at energy poverty in Europe so what is energy poverty it’s when households simply can’t afford to use the energy that they need whether that means avoiding switching on lights not cooking or not turning on the heating it’s often Illustrated with a tri Le showing these three factors how much money you earn how energy efficient
Your home is and the cost of energy we went to tourin in Italy to meet someone struggling to pay their bills and discover some possible Solutions today Julio piran is enjoying the Sun and he’s glad that it’s allowing him to turn off his heating ever since energy costs Rose rapidly Julio has had to count every penny to be able to pay his Gas and Electric electricity bills like him in 2022 almost 5 million
Italians were unable to pay their monthly bills on at least one occasion the first thing I do is pay the bills so they don’t cut off the electricity or the gas and to keep the bills down I have to tighten my belt a little more that means I turn the lights on as
Little as possible I set the heating to minim in the dining room and the bathroom and in the bedroom I don’t even turn it on because it doesn’t serve any purpose anyway in Italy there are no public agencies to manage energy issues instead help comes from organizations like the
Catholic charity San Vincenzo de of which masimo Sana is a member as Julio’s home energy tutor he helps him find the best deals Julio also gets financial help from the private organization banko Del energia according to Mimo energy poverty is about much more than trouble paying the bills often because they’re afraid of
Not being able to pay their bills people won’t use any energy the fear of finding themselves with no electricity is more powerful than the fear of eating less or eating badly and even outranks the need to take care of themselves many people don’t worry about their health not
Because they don’t care but because they simply can’t afford to pay medical costs they have other higher priority expenses these social housing projects want to use new methods to reduce energy costs as much as possible in the town of Bano one social landlord has launched a pilot project this building has been
Well insulated and the roof equipped with solar collectors and heat pumps provide Heating in Winter and Cooling in the summer since the work was carried out renters energy costs have been reduced by about 50% 50% at this level means that a family is saving €800 to ,000 a
Year and ,000 for a family that’s struggling is really significant for the moment Julio can only dream of savings like that in the meantime he’s counting on the cheerin sunshine to see him through the winter around 99.3% of the EU population that’s around 42 million people suffers
From energy poverty on top of that the war in Ukraine has pushed up Energy prices and climate change is causing more weather extremes let’s open up our map and have a look in detail at the situation across the EU the colder it gets outside the more we appreciate the comfort of a warm and cozy home but for some people in Europe this isn’t guaranteed energy poverty is a harsh reality for many in Portugal and Lithuania more than 177% of households say they don’t have enough
Energy to heat their homes in Bulgaria that figure Rises to 22.5% statistics show that almost 2third of Europe’s final energy consumption is used for space heating the largest share of our energy consumption comes from natural gas and a quarter comes from electricity followed by 20% from Renewables and 12% from
Oil people who live in poorly insulated houses need more energy not just for heating in winter but also for keeping cool in the summer these are usually people who don’t have the resources to renovate their homes and they’re the ones who suffer the most from rising Energy prices
The rise in Energy prices is linked to the co9 pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine heat waves and droughts in recent years have also exacerbated the situation electricity prices in Germany have soared and currently stand at 38 cents per kilowatt hour in contrast Spain charges 20 cents less a significant
Difference gas price in the Netherlands have also skyrocketed countries like Spain avoided these high price Rises by introducing price caps early on women are particularly badly affected by Fuel poverty they are more vulnerable to the cold in general typically earn 133% less than men and often spend more
Time in the home as the primary career for children single mothers are particularly vulnerable with almost half at risk we’ve only started thinking about energy poverty relatively recently the concept didn’t appear in EU policy until 2009 and it wasn’t until 2016 that an observatory was created to monitor it
Fast forward a few years and it’s definitely climbed up the political agenda here’s how the EU is tackling it in fast Forward The concept of fuel poverty only came to the four in 2021 that’s when the E European commission launched its fit for 55 plan as part of the green deal its aim is that by 2030 55% of the eu’s energy should come from renewable sources the EU has also established a 65 billion
Euro social fund to help with financial hardship the changes might cause the solution we have proposed offers us the possibility to massively support people at risk of energy poverty we can uh bring back the money that comes into the ETS system to a certain extent to the people who would need it
Who cannot afford to make the transition however this transition came to an abrupt halt after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the era of cheap gas and oil from Russia was over and Europeans were faced with spiraling energy costs which in turn fueled inflation electricity has just got more expensive
We don’t use gas here we heat with oil with oil before we always had to manage our finances carefully but we always managed to make ends meet now it’s giving me sleepless nights the EU commission responded by setting up the coordination group on energy poverty and vulnerable consumers which then made some recommendations
Including a reorientation of energy markets the reform will aim to make the energy bills of the European consumers and companies more independent from the shortterm market prices to decouple Consumer prices from the short-term markets we proposed to expand the role of long-term instruments the climate social fund was set up in
2023 but won’t be operational until mid 2025 until then each EU member state will have to submit its own climate social plan to the Commission in order to claim money from the fund we spoke to Marine cornelis the founder of policy consultancy next energy consumer to ask her about the
Real life impact of energy poverty on households in Europe and she made a good point energy poverty isn’t seasonal it’s not just about wrapping up warm in winter but also having houses that are able to cope with heat waves in summer take a Listen Marine corelis bour what are the consequences for people experiencing fuel poverty the consequences can be felt at different levels one is deepening poverty because people won’t be able to pay off their energy debts so they’re going to be in debt to their energy supplier another example is health
Problems but it can also have an impact in terms of isolation social isolation perhaps depression or even lead to really terrible things happening such as homes Going Up in Flames All European countries are taking measures against this are there some that are more important than others the two main measures are
Improving the insulation of homes and helping households to become able to pay their bills of course it’s great to have tools but it’s also important for people to know how to use those tools we’re talking about energy utsman and there are also repres representatives from local organizations
That are there to help people know their rights and be able to access the various grants and other social benefits out there that are either linked to paying bills or preferably linked to improving accommodation also starting to gain a foothold are energy communities which are groups of citizens who come together
To produce energy locally I expect they’ll make their Mark in the next few years as leading figures in the fight against fuel poverty because they’re going to empower people to be less susceptible to becoming victims of say Market fluctuations and other variables it’s estimated that 9.3 of Europeans suffer from fuel poverty in
The winter but with Summers becoming hotter 20% will have problems during the summer months too does fuel poverty also include the ability to keep homes cool homes in Northern Europe for example which are incredibly well adapted for cold weather can actually become real hot houses in summer homes aren’t ready
People aren’t ready I think it’s crucial to take this into account because 20% of the European population is a huge number so fuel poverty in summer is an issue that really needs to be tackled as soon as possible because it’s a question of resilience in the face of climate change
Well that brings us to the end of this week’s show stay warm and we’ll see you next weeko ciao and Al
17 Comments
Who blew up the Nordstream pipeline?
I live in a Prague. Building 7 yeard old. Insulated from outside. We had quiet cold January. Minus 14 maximum, average minus 2 I would say. Inside the apartment, we have 21 Degree Celzia and we do not use heating. Kick economy, insulate houses
This can't be true. On this very channel has been promised times and times again that renewable energy would be almost too cheap to meter. That was the ROCK SOLID PROMISE from liberals in power and liberals on Arte.
They can't have been lying their teeths off for years without any consequences would they. They can't be that fucking evil.
SO this documentary is obviously entirely false.
Single mothers should have stayed with father. Bad mommy😮
There is one thing that all countries have in common with energy affordability, the move to renewable energy costs more than you were tolled, you were lied too 😢, I am in Australia 🇦🇺 and we are going through the same problems, climate change is a hoax, it's just a control of the people political scheme 😮
Presenter would look better with a higher neckline. The deep v neck looks like a long beard.
All these videos by this producer is always victim mentality.
Prices for heating and electricity this is year is way lower then last year stop fearmongering .
Bucharest. I saved over the summer to be able to pay. I regret every one of the past 35 years.
These videos only wake up Russian bots; nothing gets more clicks faster than fearmongering, right? I work and, therefore, live, in central Europe. Minus Celsius temps. We're OK.
3:17 this gentleman would do much better if he put on a coat when he goes smoking on the balcony, and if he closed the door to his living room. Or better yet – how about giving up smoking? How much is a pack of cigarettes?
European citizens are suffering from the hegemonial ambitions of some of their leaders, teaming up with the Washington DC/Pentagon.
Read Washington chief strategist Brzinzki's "grand plan", or Mackinder before that (1904). The aim was always to drive a rift between Europeans, to avoid greater Eurasian co-operation and trade.
It’s nothing to do with Putin its greed, look at the gross profits from oil and gas companies over the last 3 years! It’s pure greed using Covid and Putin as a permission giver! The uk only got 4% gas before Ukraine war and its was already going up! Stop using excuses and call out the greedy energy companies!
Energy engineer here: regular citizens suffering. all the while industries and companies get much better energy prices while utility companies overprice your bills and, lo and behold, renewable power has to shut-off because they are too cheap, thus competing against inefficient and expensive powerstations (i.e. german coal plants).
long story short: today's system is set up for your loss. that's the only way our society can generate "income" because decades of false economic "science" has put price tags on everything while miscalculating costs. sadly, our system does not generate wealth anymore.
Who is a fanatic about turning lights off nowadays?
WHEN ONES HEAD IS STUPID THEN THE BODY SUFFERS.
I’m from Portugal, and this Been a problem long before the Russia/Ukrainian war although off course prices increased ,this comes down to the fact that besides new buildings most houses have no insulation at all , energy from renewables made up 60% in 2023, if wasn’t for the low rates and caps because of high renewable power the eu allowed the greed from energy companies would be even worse, some people without “spot” prices were even were entitled to receive money from energy companies sometimes meaning after the initial impact the overall costs didn’t increase that much, same thing with the price of oil that is already at pre pandemic prices for some months, problem is heating device “eat” a lot of power and most have low salaries so the alternative is fireplaces but wood is also expensive to use every day so it’s habit to layer up even at home, wearing pj’s and bedding made of flannel, wearing two pair of socks ect, temps don’t even get that low but again the problem is no insulated homes unlike Nordic countries, 10c and below is already considered cold here.
Tldr: bad insulated homes and a plague of low paying jobs.