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Energy poverty is defined in this report as a situation in which households are not able to adequately heat their homes or meet other required household energy services at an affordable cost (Pye et al, 2015). Research suggests that energy poverty has important consequences if not addressed, such as impacting health, further entrenching poverty and making other objectives less attainable, eg addressing climate change. Indicators from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) suggest that 10.2% of the European population are unable to keep their homes adequately warm. Other evidence points to particularly high levels of energy poverty in specific regions of Europe, including Central Eastern Europe and Southern Europe. However, much of this current understanding is based on proxy indicators, relating to consensual survey-based approaches.

The European Commission (EC) aims to support Member States in their task to protect vulnerable consumers and to address energy poverty by identifying best practices and supporting information exchange. The aim of this study is to support the EC to better understand energy poverty by improving EU wide data collection and monitoring.