Transforming a challenge… 

According to the EU Energy Poverty Observatory more than 50 million households in the European Union are struggling to attain adequate warmth, pay their utility bills on time and live in homes free of damp and mold. In the CEE region alone, the percentage of people unable to keep home adequately warm in 2016 ranged from 4,7% in Czech Republic to 41,3% in Bulgaria. On top of that, in 2017 the percentage of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the region was well above 20% in most of the countries, with higher figures in Romania (36%) and Bulgaria (39%). 

…into an opportunity. 

After a successful partnership in 2015-2016, 2017-2018, for 2019 the Schneider Electric Foundation, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, and Ashoka, have renewed their commitment to helping improve the living conditions of millions of people facing energy poverty in Europe.To improve the impact of the project, Enel Romania has joined our efforts as local partner. It is by offering support for the most innovative social entrepreneurs in Europe that we can help entire communities tackle energy poverty and move towards energy sustainability. 

What energy poverty is? 

Energy poverty has multiple root causes and there is no standard definition that can encompass all of them. Currently the explanation with the widest acceptance states that energy poverty refers to the inability of a household to ensure energy services it needs at affordable costs (Liddell et al., 2012).  

For the Social Innovation to Tackle Energy Poverty Solutions Accelerator we consider energy poverty to be:  

  • Cross-sector collaboration: Leveraging synergies with other sectors (e.g. health, social care) to build more systemic projects; 

  • Education, training, and employment: Boosting education and promoting community engagement, creating new skills and/or jobs in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy; 

  • Energy efficiency: Crafting low cost opportunities to switch to more efficient energy solutions; 

  • Energy production: Facilitating poor neighbourhoods' access to energy by implementing creative ways to produce energy (energy communities, grids, cooperatives); 

  • Innovative funding: Offering funding and partnerships for private initiatives to build and/or renovate energy-efficient housing or equipment (e.g. credit, equipment leasing, third-party financing); 

  • Mapping and raising awareness: Gathering and/or sharing data with interoperable systems to improve the identification of the population affected by energy poverty and their needs, and raising awareness among public authorities; 

  • Health, Wellbeing and Economic Development: Switching from unhealthy behaviours (old equipment, burning plastic and domestic waste) to other solutions that can improve the wellbeing of the family;   

And much more, as we think that innovative solutions can cover energy poverty causes from points of view never explored before. You can find below some great stories of previous finalists and winners as examples to what energy poverty means for us.