Spain

Energy Poverty and Energy Communities' status

In Spain the National Strategy against Energy Poverty 2019-2024 was published in April 2019, with official measurement indicators in accordance with those used by the EU Energy Poverty Observatory, and indicating that the phenomenon affects to more than 3,5 million citizens in the country. The strategy sets the first official definitions for energy poverty and the vulnerable consumer in a country level, and defines the objectives to reduce energy poverty by 25% for each of the indicators by 2025. Currently, the main instrument to help energy poor citizens is the social bonus for electricity, a discount rate that is applied in the electricity bill to consumers considered as vulnerable. Linked to the discount, an additional support also exists to help consumers afford their heating needs. In that regard, energy poverty in Spain is highly related to the large amount of money citizens spend to cover energy needs, and it is significant that the country has one of the highest energy prices in Europe while the salaries are relatively low compared to other countries with similar energy prices. Regarding official institutions, Spain does not have an Energy Poverty Observatory in a national level, and the only one is under the regional government of Gipuzkoa, which publishes statistics related to energy poverty in a regional level.

At a glance

Energy Supporters and Mentors in Spain

POWERPOOR provides to everyone who is interested in alleviating energy poverty the opportunity to become an Energy Supporter and Mentor by taking part in training sessions. The content of the trainings is available in the POWERPOOR Online Trainer Library along with other interesting energy poverty related materials. There are various trainings taking place in the 8 pilot countries and in an EU level. Follow us on social media to find out more about the upcoming ones. 

4 trainings have taken place in Spain. 78 people got trained and 61 of them followed the certification process and became POWERPOOR Energy Supporters or Mentors. You can find all the POWERPOOR certified Energy Supporters and Mentors here.

Energy Poverty Alleviation Offices in Spain

The Energy Poverty Alleviation Offices in Spain are under development. The role of energy poverty alleviation offices can be found here.

Other municipalities within the POWERPOOR network

In Spain 7 municipalities are engaged representing 524 thousand people. The municipalities are Iruñea-Pamplona, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Errenteria, and Eibar.

Find out some key best practices from implementing the POWERPOOR appoach in Spain.