In Portugal there are currently between 660 and 680 thousand people living in a situation of severe energy poverty, i.e. they belong to "households in poverty whose energy expenditure represents more than 10% of total income" and that accumulate the "situation of monetary or economic poverty" with the inability to keep their homes in conditions of thermal comfort. This is one of the conclusions drawn from the Long-Term National Strategy to Combat Energy Poverty 2022-2050 (ENLPCPE 2022-2050) which focuses on the current cost of living crisis in Portugal.
According to the newspaper Público, the document, which is under public consultation until 3rd March 2023, believes that it is "consensual to consider that the fringe of the population that is in a situation of monetary poverty is also in a situation of energy poverty".
The ENLPCPE 2022-2050 aims, among other things, to ensure greater comfort in homes, more disposable income and better quality of life and health for families and individuals experiencing energy poverty, writes the publication, stressing that the strategy in question is interconnected with another national strategy, the Long-Term Strategy for the Renovation of Buildings (ELPRE). This, in turn, aims to provide the country with a "decarbonised and highly energy efficient building stock".
The document also concludes that energy poverty affects between 1.8 million and 3 million Portuguese people. Other ideas to retain that appear in the ENLPCPE 2022-2050 include that:
- 17.4% of families will not be able to keep their homes "adequately heated";
- At least three million people belong to households in which the energy bill consumes one tenth of the budget.
Citing the information in the document, Público reports that it is possible to "graduate energy poverty according to its severity" in order to "create the best responses adapted to the target public", considering that around 660,000 to 680,000 live in more dramatic situations and "between 1.1 and 2.3 million people [live] in a situation of moderate energy poverty".
Portugal is the fifth EU country most at risk of energy poverty
Recent data from the European Commission shows that Portugal is the fifth country in the European Union (EU) at greatest risk of energy poverty, a scenario that has been accentuated by the crisis. According to Brussels, government measures to support families in this situation would weigh 2.1% on GDP in 2022.
In its autumn macroeconomic forecast, the EU executive reflects on the weight that high inflation levels and the accentuated energy crisis have on the risk of energy poverty, placing Portugal as the fifth worst country in the EU - only surpassed by Lithuania, Croatia, Latvia and Romania -, given the pre-existing energy poverty rate and the expected rise with the current situation.
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