Thesis supervisors
: Olivier Coutard, Jonathan Rutherford
50 million Europeans face financial difficulties in heating, cooking, or lighting their homes. Households that go without these services due to insufficient income, or that devote a significant portion of their budget to this expense, are in a situation of energy vulnerability. European legislation requires Member States to establish policies to measure and reduce this problem. This is a complex objective because energy vulnerability is at the intersection of a set of factors addressed by distinct sectoral policies: energy prices, energy efficiency in housing, and social assistance.
This thesis examines the conditions under which the issue of energy vulnerability emerges on national and local public agendas, using an urban political ecology approach. The comparative study is conducted in two cities (Porto and Barcelona) where the issue is significant and addressed in different ways. Our analysis examines the factors that combine to create situations of vulnerability and bring them to the fore as a public issue. It looks at legislation, local innovations, and media coverage of the issue. We compare these forms of collective action with a study of the concrete conditions of energy vulnerability experienced by vulnerable households receiving social assistance and support from charitable organizations.
The main finding of the thesis is that situations of energy vulnerability are politicized, involving both new and traditional actors in energy governance and resulting in two types of responses. We also show how the activism of community groups is giving rise to a right to energy, which is not enshrined in national legislation and which, under pressure from new social movements, is becoming an imperative for local authorities. Finally, we show the spread of a model of interventions targeting households that aims to reduce consumption in order to lower bills and limit the number of unpaid energy bills. This experimental and inexpensive model is in the interests of civil society organizations, local authorities, and energy suppliers, even if it means that vulnerable households have to make even greater efforts to reduce their energy bills. Keywords
: energy vulnerabilities, energy poverty, urban political ecology, urban energy transition, Spain, Portugal
Thesis defense on Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Year of enrollment
: 2014
Doctoral school
: VTT – City, Transportation, and Territory
Composition of the jury
:
- Stefan Bouzarovski, University Professor, University of Manchester (Rapporteur)
- Olivier Coutard, Director of Research, CNRS (LATTS) (Thesis supervisor)
- Sylvy Jaglin, University Professor, Université Paris Est Marne la Vallée (Chair of the jury)
- Hélène Reigner, University Professor, Aix-Marseille University (Rapporteur)
- Jonathan Rutherford, Research Fellow, École des Ponts Paris Tech (Co-supervisor of the thesis)
- David Saurí, University Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona
50 million Europeans face financial difficulties in heating, cooking, or lighting their homes. Households in energy vulnerability either limit the use of these services because they do not have sufficient income, or devote a disproportionately large part of their overall budget to paying energy bills. European legislation requires Member States to establish policies for measuring and resolving the problem. This objective is complex because energy vulnerability is at the intersection of a set of factors covered by different sectoral policies: the pricing of energy, the energy efficiency of housing, and social assistance. This thesis studies the emergence of energy vulnerability in national and local public agendas with an urban political ecology framework. I conducted a comparative survey in two cities (Porto and Barcelona), where the issue is important and treated in different ways. I analyze the factors that combine to create situations of energy vulnerability in these cities and which turn them into public problems, through media, legislation, and local innovations. Policy analysis is complemented by a study of the concrete conditions of energy vulnerability as they are experienced by households that are in contact with social assistance agencies and charities.
The main result of the thesis is that situations of energy vulnerability are politicized by both new actors and traditional players in energy governance. I show how civil society activism gives rise to a right to energy, which is not enshrined in national legislation and which, under the pressure of new social movements, becomes an imperative for local communities. I then analyze the diffusion of programs targeting vulnerable households, based on a model that aims at reducing consumption and therefore limiting the number of unpaid energy bills. This experimental and inexpensive model meets the interests of organizations from civil society, local communities, energy suppliers, and the households themselves who were already reducing their expenses.
Keywords:
energy vulnerability, energy poverty, urban political ecology, urban energy transition, Spain, Portugal