Plugging the Gap Between Energy Policy and the Lived Experience of Energy Poverty: Five Principles for a Multidisciplinary Approach

Middlemiss, Lucie; Gillard, Ross; Pellicer, Victoria; Straver, Koen

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-99097-2_2

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…More recently, Longhurst and Hargreaves (2019) presented a pioneering study on emotional engagements with energy poverty. This study is part of a recent rise in interest in the lived experience of energypoor households (e.g., Middlemiss and Gillard, 2015;Butler and Sherriff, 2017;Middlemiss et al, 2018;Willand and Horne, 2018;Yoon and Saurí, 2019). In most of this literature on the lived experience of energy-poor households, the actual material deprivation, and the situations of the household members as well as their coping strategies are again the focus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the Concept of Dignity Is Relevant to the Study of Energy Poverty and Energy Justice

Großmann

Трубина

2021

Front. Sustain. Cities

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Since the concept of energy poverty first emerged, studies have combined normative orientations, analytical approaches and policy review to engage with energy deprivation as a problematic feature of contemporary societies. Over the past decade, this scholarship has aimed to conceptualize the normative grounds for critique, empirical work and policy design when engaging with the interplay of social life and energy systems. Scholars now include dynamic and complex concepts such as energy vulnerability and energy deprivation and are shifting toward the incorporation of social-philosophical justice concepts. However, in most of these writings on energy equality or energy justice, material aspects like access to (clean) energy, affordable energy costs, and material deprivation are in the foreground. This resonates with the energy poverty literature's emphasis on energy poverty as a material deprivation (Longhurst and Hargreaves, 2019). The way that energy poverty can result in financial stress, cold homes, poor health and the need to cut other basic expenditures is well-explored, but the less tangible, non-material deprivations stemming from energy poverty are less well-captured. We instead find it beneficial to also focus on the less tangible, non-material deprivations which have not yet been captured conceptually, and argue that the concept of dignity can be a pathway to investigate them. We aim to demonstrate how “dignity” can add to the normative orientations of energy poverty and energy justice research, and complement existing frames. With an empirical position in Europe we will draw from own empirical data and existing literature to illustrate how households living in energy poverty, or being cut off from energy provision, experience dignity violations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the Concept of Dignity Is Relevant to the Study of Energy Poverty and Energy Justice

Großmann

Трубина

2021

Front. Sustain. Cities

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“…A call for mixed methods in energy poverty measuring and monitoring is also emerging, including the Netherlands (PBL, 2018;ENGAGER, 2020b;Straver et al, 2020). This builds on academic and policy work on the lived experience, which offers new and important insights into this complex topic (e.g., Middlemiss and Gillard, 2015;Middlemiss et al, 2018). Lived experience research uses qualitative methods to document people's lives in the face of reduced access to energy services.…”

Section: Measuring and Monitoring Energy Poverty Nationallymentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanising the Energy Transition: Towards a National Policy on Energy Poverty in the Netherlands

Feenstra

Middlemiss

Hesselman

et al. 2021

Front. Sustain. Cities

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Energy poverty is emerging as a national agenda in the Netherlands. Local authority leadership and action on this agenda, and European Union reporting requirements around the energy transition have aligned to create an opportunity to establish a national agenda on this issue. Early action on energy poverty by local authorities stemmed from their recognition of the value of addressing environmental, health, social welfare and poverty goals through measures to address the problem. In contrast, the experiences of vulnerable energy consumers have limited recognition in national policy. Meanwhile EU requirements for climate reporting include a specification for measuring and monitoring energy poverty. This growing momentum has resulted in an emerging interest in energy poverty as a means to achieve a just transition at a national level, as reflected in the Dutch National Climate and Energy Plan. In this paper, we profile the case of the Netherlands, and outline the opportunity we see for the development of an energy poverty agenda in national energy transition policy, as part of a multi-level energy governance effort. We report on a national stakeholder workshop that we led, linking the lived experience of energy poverty in the Netherlands with policy solutions. Following the clear call for a national policy in this workshop, we also outline a strategy for engagement with energy poverty in the Netherlands, published recently in a white paper on this topic.

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“…In the energy context increased numbers of suppliers and supply tariff options to choose from enable the well-informed consumer to enhance individual utility and is thus a form of empowerment. When these options remain accessible only to those who have the means to know about them (e.g., time and knowhow for market-research and to understand the complexity of market offers) or when other conditions such as a bank account, positive credit history, or the installation of smart meters determine their availability, consumer empowerment leaves out the most vulnerable [31][32][33]. The same applies to energy prosumption.…”

Section: Challenges Of Empowerment In a Vulnerability Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering Vulnerable Consumers to Join Renewable Energy Communities—Towards an Inclusive Design of the Clean Energy Package

Hanke

Lowitzsch

2020

Energies

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The unequal distribution of costs and benefits of the energy transition is a challenge for energy justice and energy policy. Although the empowerment of consumers to participate in renewable energy communities (RECs) has great potential for a just energy transition, vulnerable consumers remain underrepresented in RE projects. The recast of the European renewable energy directive obliges the European Member States to facilitate the participation of vulnerable consumers and support their inclusion in its “enabling framework” for prosumership. However, the type and specific design of corresponding measures remains unclear. Against this background this article investigates consumer empowerment in a vulnerability context. In particular we stress the need to understand how vulnerability affects participation in RECs to inform both policy makers and practitioners on its specificities and restrictions for the “enabling framework”. To prevent the inclusion of vulnerable consumers in RECs from remaining an idea on paper lawmakers need to be made aware of the implications for a consistent “enabling framework”. We argue that both individual vulnerable consumers as well as RECs need incentives and support to boost RECs’ capacity to include groups that until now remain underrepresented.

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Plugging the Gap Between Energy Policy and the Lived Experience of Energy Poverty: Five Principles for a Multidisciplinary Approach

Cited by 11 publications

References 11 publications

How the Concept of Dignity Is Relevant to the Study of Energy Poverty and Energy Justice

How the Concept of Dignity Is Relevant to the Study of Energy Poverty and Energy Justice

Humanising the Energy Transition: Towards a National Policy on Energy Poverty in the Netherlands

Empowering Vulnerable Consumers to Join Renewable Energy Communities—Towards an Inclusive Design of the Clean Energy Package

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