Portugal is one of worst countries in Europe for people living in energy poverty
Portugal plans to end energy poverty by 2050 (again!). This is the main objective of the new national strategy published today in State gazette Diário da República, which estimates reducing the number of people who cannot adequately heat their homes to 1% in 26 years.
The National Long-Term Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty (ELPPE) 2023-2050 “has the main goal of eradicating energy poverty by 2050, protecting vulnerable consumers and actively integrating them into the energy and climate transition, which is intended to be fair, democratic and cohesive,” says the resolution signed off by the Council of Ministers.
It is very similar to the National Long-Term Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty (ELPPE) 2021-2050, although this is not mentioned in Lusa’s story today.
The State news agency says: “ELPPE will be based on four strategic axes of action, including the promotion of energy and environmental sustainability in housing, universal access to essential energy services, integrated territorial action and knowledge and informed action”.
The ambition is to reduce the number of people living in households without the capacity to keep their homes adequately heated to 10% in 2030, 5% in 2040 and ‘just 1% in 2050’.
The population living in homes that are not cool during the summer is expected to be 20% in 2030, says the document, rising to a target of 10% in 2040 and falling to 5% in 2050.
The number of people living in homes with problems of infiltration, damp or rotting elements “should also be reduced from 20% in 2030, to 10% in 2040 and 5% in 2050”, it goes on.
The plan is also to reduce the number of households whose energy expenditure represents more than 10% of their total income from 700,000 in 2030 to 250,000 in 2040 and 0 in 2050.
The strategy includes the creation of a National Energy Poverty Observatory, the mission of which will be to monitor the evolution of energetic poverty in the country, and define new strategic indicators and/ or propose public policies, “as well as promote decentralised territorial action”.
This observatory will be responsible for drawing up the respective action plans for combating energy poverty, which should be for 2030, 2040 and 2050, and reviewed every three years.
The observatory will also promote decentralised territorial action in a network with Energy Citizen Spaces and implement actions to train national, regional and local public and private players involved in implementing the strategy.
Says Lusa, the idea is that the observatory will also identify, characterise and monitor households in a situation of energetic poverty, in collaboration with INE (statistics institute), and develop campaigns to increase energetic literacy “appropriate to the profile of households in a situation of energetic poverty”.
The composition and operation of the observatory will be determined by the member of the Government responsible for energy, and the first action plan must be presented within 30 days.
NB: It is unclear now that parliament is being dissolved on January 15 whether this timeline will be followed to the letter, or delayed until a new government has been formed.
According to estimates advanced by the previous National Strategy for the Long-Term Combat of Energetic Poverty 2021-2050, between 1.9 and 3 million Portuguese (out of a population of little over 10 million) live in energetic poverty, and between 660,000 and 740,000 survive in a situation of extreme energetic poverty.
Source material: LUSA/ pobrezaenergetica.pt
