Beyond an income based energy poverty relief system in Romania Dr. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Beyond an income based energy poverty relief system in Romania

• Dr. Anca Sinea

Babes-Bolyai University, Romania

Perspectives on Energy Poverty in Post-Communist Europe - a Routledge publication project

• ”energy divide” (Bouzarovski and Tirado Herrero, 2017)
• „spatial patterns” of energy poverty & the practical

variations in the occurrences of energy poverty depending on the various economic, social, to some extent historic and cultural, but also political and institutional contexts and legacies (Boardman 1991, Bouzarovski and Tirado Herrero 2015, Bouzarovski and Petrova 2015) .

• various communisms and transition paths (Linz and

Stepan 1994)

Proposed chapters

• Bosnia-Herzegovina: Energy poverty facing a complex technical, economic and constitutional context in Bosnia and

Herzegovina

• Bulgaria: Inconsistencies in policy-making are driving energy poverty in Bulgaria
• Czech Republic: Hidden Energy Poverty. The case of the Czech Republic
• Germany (East vs. West)
• Hungary: Trapped in politics: energy poverty in Hungary
• Lithuania: Energy poverty as heating poverty in Lithuania
• North Macedonia: Energy Poverty in a subsistence-like economy
• Poland: Energy Poverty between energy paradigms in Poland
• Romania: Beyond and income based energy poverty relief system in Romania
• Slovakia: Social inequalities and regional disparities as the framing trends in energy poverty. Lessons learned from

Slovakia

• Slovenia: Slovenia: the central role of NGOs in the emergence of energy poverty as a policy issue
• Serbia: What to do with an insufficient state in Serbia? A private sector-lead agenda on energy poverty.

Energy poverty in conventional numbers

Heating aid: 4,6% (2015) Social tariffs: 1.014.000 (14%) households (2015) 2M: 13% (2018) LIHC: 12% (2018) M/2: 15,5% (2018) Arrears on utilities (EU-SILC): 15,9% (2017) Insufficient heating(EU-SILC): 9,6% (2018) CSD: < 23% households

Beyond just the conventional numbers

Accessibility

Monthly bill: Purchasing power 57%, Gini 33,1% (2017) Connection costs: 12-21% medium gross annual income

Access

Natural gas: 33% (44% close to the network; 78% rural uncovered) Electricity: 7136 isolated households (2019) Informal access: 422.000 households (2018) Wood: 82% rural + 12% urban District heating: 1,3 mil. households

Energy efficiency

Residential buildings of 1961-1987 (45% brick, 30% concrete, 18% adobe, 3% wood) 50% of households heat partially or temporarily

Pollution

Residential sector is the highest polluter

Power structure of EP intervention tool

• KEY: Local
• PROBLEM: Local clashes with national
• SOLUTION: Local

(Con)solid(ated) but loose system

• The game of thrones: Political

power/accountability and the untouchables

• The system: Inefficient (biased)
• The people: Unfit to deal with the challenges
• A nest of opportunities (reach-out, synergies,

local transitions)

Thank you!