The Right to Energy in the European Union (original) (raw)

2019, ENGAGER European Energy Poverty Policy Brief No. 2 (June 2019)

​Uninterrupted, high quality, affordable, and sufficient access to energy services is essential to human life. The European Union (EU) has recognized this in recent years by providing greater protection to vulnerable and energy poor households, and by requiring States to provide various forms of support to them. The new EU Electricity Directivef for example states that: "Energy services are fundamental to safeguarding the well-being of the Union citizens. Adequate warmth, cooling and lighting, and energy to power appliances are essential services to guarantee a decent standard of living and citizens' health. Furthermore, access to those energy services enables Union citizens to fulfil their potential and enhances social inclusion." The EU’s Clean Energy for All Package as a whole aims to further increase protection for households, particularly by requiring Member States to define, assess and report on the number of energy poor households within their territory and to indicate the measures they intend to take to address the situation. While the EU's Clean Energy Package stopped short of recognizing a new legally binding ‘right to energy’ for all individuals, sought after by European civil society organizations, the concept of the ‘(human) right to energy’ is gaining considerable traction in law, policy and advocacy all around the world. Electricity Directive 2019/944 for example affirms that ‘it respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights’. As an 'autonomous' right, the new ‘right to energy’ can be formulated in different manners, for example as referring to affordable, reliable, uninterrupted, high quality, clean or renewable energy supply or services, or as the right to a warm home. The ‘right to energy’ can also be posited in various ways, as a moral right, a call to action, a policy objective or legally enforceable right, the latter through constitutions, human rights treaties or in energy laws. This brief provides a brief 'state-of-the art' overview of recent developments at EU level and national European level, including as rights to energy have been recognized in Spain and France. It specifically considers what the right to energy might mean in practice, including when accepted as a legally binding (human) right.