www. erranet.org ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova Presentation about energy poverty and a case study on conflicting law Prepared by Viktor Szilágy Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEA) !
45
Embed
Presentation about energy poverty and a case study on conflicting …€¦ · May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova Presentation about energy poverty and a case study on conflicting law Prepared
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
www. erranet.org ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Presentation about energy poverty and a case study on
conflicting law Prepared by Viktor Szilágy
Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEA)
!
2 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Energy Poverty
Definition – legal definition
• Unlike other states, Hungary has no official definition for energy poverty
• The current EU legislation in effect, the Third Energy Package tackles energy poverty in 3 legislative acts, the
Electricity Directive (2009/72/EC), the Gas Directive (2009/73/EC) and the Energy Efficiency Directive
(2012/27/EU).
• These directives do not give a definition for energy poverty, they only refer to it, and recognize it as a problem
to be addressed and solved.
3 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Energy Poverty
But there are some countries in Europe that recognized energy poverty at legal level:
• The United Kingdom was the first country that gave energy poverty an official definition. On this basis energy
poverty means that a household’s cost - maintaining an adequate heating regime (according to the WHO:
adequate temperature for the living room is 21 ºC, and 18 ºC for the other rooms) - is above the average. If this
amount is spent, it leaves the residual income below the official poverty line. This definition is based on the Low
Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator. According to the previous definition – in effect between 2001 – 2012 – if a
household must spend more than 10 % of its income for household energy, it shall be considered as energy
poor (The official UK Fuel Poverty Strategy of 2001).
• In Slovakia, energy poverty under the law No. 250/2012 is a status when average monthly expenditures of a
household on consumption of electricity, gas, heating and hot water production represent a substantial share of
average monthly income of the household.
• In France, the definition for energy poverty, existing since 2010 is the following: a person who encounters in
his/her accommodation particular difficulties to have enough energy supply for satisfying his/her elementary
needs. This is due to the inadequacy of resources or housing conditions.
4 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Energy Poverty
• In Ireland, energy poverty is a situation whereby a household is unable to attain an acceptable level of energy
services (including heating, lighting, etc.) in the home due to an inability to meet these requirements at an
affordable cost.
• According to legislation of Cyprus, energy poverty may relate to the situation of customers who are in
difficulties due to their low income, indicated by their tax statements in conjunction with their professional
status, marital status and specific health conditions. Therefore they are unable to cover the costs of their
reasonable needs for the supply of electricity, as these costs represent a significant proportion of their
disposable income.
5 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Energy Poverty
• The new EU legislative package, i.e. the „Clean Energy for All Europeans” addresses energy poverty in the
same directives but it still does not give an exact definition, rather more concrete details and tasks.
• Member States shall measure energy poverty through indicators which shall contain:
1. low income
2. high energy expenditure
3. poor energy efficiency of the consumers’ homes.
• Member States shall monitor energy poverty and report on it to the European Commission in every 2 years.
6 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Energy Poverty
As there is no legal definition for energy poverty, there is no legal protection aimed directly at those suffering from
energy poverty – the current Hungarian legislation approaches the problem by the definition of vulnerable
consumers:
• vulnerable consumers are those households that require special attention due to their social status defined in
legal regulation, or some other particular reasons
• vulnerable consumers are defined just in electricity and natural gas supply
• vulnerable consumers are defined according to their social status as follows:
7 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Vulnerable Consumers - Social Status
1. Unfavorable financial situation (indigence)
• being eligible for nursing contribution, i.e. for nursing a full aged relative at home (a sum of 29.500 HUF per
month)
• receiving alimentation for active aged persons, having lost working ability, or are unemployed but are no longer
entitled to unemployment allowance (a sum of 22.800 HUF per month)
• receiving alimentation for the old, i.e. for people who are entitled to a pension, based only on their age, not on
their working years (a sum between 24.225 – 38.475 HUF per month)
• receiving regular fee for child protection i.e. for those who are obliged to adopt or accommodate a child and
receive pension (a sum of 6.270 HU per month)
• receiving housing support (30 % of the housing cost) if the income is less than 250 % of the minimum pension,
based on age (28.500 HUF per month in 2017)
• receiving housing aid, i.e. a sum between HUF 1.339.500 - 1.909.500 can be given for buying or renting a
house to young adults between 18 and 30, having spent at least 3 years in public child care facilities
• fee for professional foster parents, who raise children in their own households.
8 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Vulnerable Consumers - Disabilities
2. Living with disabilities:
• blind or severe disability of the sight;
• deaf or having severe hearing impairment;
• mentally retarded by genetic reasons or by traumatic birth, or by disease before the 14th year of age;
• severe disorders in the personal development (psychological disorders);
• restricted mobility, or no mobility at all;
• combination of those above;
• combination of those above where there is no possibility for improvement and the individual will not be able to
live alone by himself, requiring constant help;
9 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Consumers in gas market
3 244 369; 99%
33 041; 1%
Universal service
Free market
Proportion of Consumers in Hungarian Gas Market
10 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Consumers in electricity market
5 209 886; 94%
343 706; 6%
Proportion of Consumers in the Hungarian Electricity Market
Universal service
Free market
11 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Vulnerable Consumers in gas market
14069; 95%
769; 5% 31; 0%
Social disposition Disability Both
Proportions of Vulnerable Consumers in the Hungarian Gas Market
12 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Vulnerable Consumers in electricity market
38718; 96%
1651; 4%
117; 0%
Social disposition
Disability
Both
Proportion of Vulnerable Consumers in the Hungarian Electricity Market
13 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Vulnerable Consumers vs energy poverty
But the question is: are only vulnerable consumers
energy poor?
Or are they the only ones registered and accounted for?
Currently there are no official statistics on this: a
backward approach is necessary!
A walk in the dark
14 ERRA Customers and Retail Markets Working Group Meeting May 25-26 Chisinau, Moldova
Consumers in Hungary
The number of consumers in Hungary
Electricity Gas
Universal service Free market Altogether Universal service Free market Altogether