Unión Renovables is participating in a united front to demand that the state plan to combat energy poverty prohibit power cuts.
Sixteen social and energy organizations have joined forces to create the Red estatal para el derecho a la energía (State Network for the Right to Energy, RedE, a coalition comprising various state organizations created with the aim of forming a united front to present objections to the draft of the new Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty promoted by the Spanish government, which was presented this September.
The organizations warn that the plan will not address the “extremely serious situation of energy poverty in Spain” and point out that it lacks “ambitious, concrete, and measurable objectives.” Therefore, they will present objections demanding that it include an explicit prohibition of power cuts to vulnerable households, the automation of the social electricity bonus, and specific programs for the energy rehabilitation of homes in vulnerable situations.
The organizations express particular “concern” about “the omission” in the strategy of prohibiting power cuts to vulnerable homes. They warn that this measure has been “extended since 2020” and warn that it is an “essential containment measure to avoid an unprecedented wave of power outages.” This measure expires on December 31, and the entities are calling on the Spanish government to be “clear” in its willingness to maintain it.
Other measures they are calling for include debt forgiveness for vulnerable households, “relieving them of an unaffordable financial burden,” and the automation of the social bonus. Network spokespersons warn that 80% of people who qualify for the social bonus do not benefit from it, and therefore are calling for its scope to be expanded so that it cannot be provided solely by leading retailers.
They also propose redefining the concept of vulnerable customers, considering that it excludes households that equally need protection. They also call for the need to allocate specific programs and their own resources to the energy renovation of homes in vulnerable situations. In this sense, they argue that their inclusion in general programs open to the entire population has not been an effective measure for vulnerable households.
The network calls for the elimination of “complex” procedures, improved coordination between social services and businesses, and “effective and binding” participation of citizens and social organizations in decision-making spaces, with greater “transparency and accessibility.”
The organizations believe that the COVID-19 pandemic marked a “before and after” for raising awareness among citizens about the importance of “guaranteed rights in homes,” but they call for their protection to be strengthened.
Among the organizations that are part of the network are the Alliance Against Energy Poverty, the Network for Energy Sovereignty, the Coalition for Community Energy, Engineering Without Borders, Ecologists in Action, Aeioluz, the Federation of Consumers and Users (CECU), ECODES, and Union Renovables.
