- Endesa's corporate headquarters hosted the IX Interdisciplinary Seminar, with the participation of representatives of the company, the faculty, MITECO, Energía sin fronteras, the Red Cross, ECODES and Naturgy.
- The objective of the Seminar, created by the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas, is to undertake interdisciplinary research focussed on reality and to serve as a meeting point to facilitate contact between the entities and people involved in the fight against energy poverty.
The energy situation in Spain and the rest of Europe began to become complicated in mid-2021 with the rise in the price of gas and started getting worse a year ago with the start of the war in Ukraine. This has had a direct impact on the cost of energy consumption, which became an important part of domestic expenses, as well as being an important component in the prices of the rest of the products and services for household consumption. And those who are suffering the most are the most vulnerable groups or those on the threshold.
This was the starting point for the IX Interdisciplinary Seminar, held at Endesa's corporate headquarters and organised by the Energy and Poverty Faculty of the Comillas Universidad Pontificia, with the participation of representatives not only of the Faculty but also of public bodies, such as the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), but also non-profit organisations (Energy without Borders, the Red Cross and ECODES) and energy companies (Endesa and Naturgy). Together they analysed issues such as measures to support consumers in the context of the current energy crisis and the impact of anti-crisis measures on vulnerable people.
This outlook from the point of view of different social players is essential to try to tackle a problem that, according to the latest Report on Energy Poverty Indicators in Spain in 2021, prepared by the Comillas Energy and Poverty Faculty, already affects 4.5 million people (9.5% of the population) who could not pay their energy bills on time and 6.7 million (14.3% of households) who could not keep their homes sufficiently warm.
Each day the speakers recalled that a number of measures have been launched by the public administrations. The most significant include the following: An increase in income thresholds that give access to the electricity Social Bonus, inclusion of new groups and an increase in energy with the right to an electricity Social Bonus discount, reduction of VAT and other taxes on electricity, cap on the price of gas to prevent it from being transferred to the electricity market through technologies that generate electricity with gas, a reduction of the remuneration for non-emitting plants (hydraulic, nuclear and renewable) to avoid extraordinary profits and a discount on fuel prices.
As an example, and according to data analysed by Endesa, the final impact of the measures introduced by the Government on the bill for an average consumer with a regulated electricity tariff (PVPC) is a reduction of €26 per month. If the family is also vulnerable and is registered for the Social Bonus, the measures had a more positive effect, reducing their bill by €69 per month; while for severely vulnerable families the average reduction was €64 per month.
According to Efraim Centeno, director of the Seminar, "past experience shows that the measures are often not implemented as they were intended for different reasons: Information, ignorance, difficulty of the procedures, etc". For this reason, "the Seminar proposes to advance in the improvement of the effectiveness of these measures through dialogue, uniting the points of view of academia, companies, organisations in contact with vulnerable people and the administration," added Roberto Barrella, professor at the Comillas Pontifical University and researcher for the Seminar.
In his welcome speech, José Casas Marín, General Manager of Institutional Relations and Regulation at Endesa, stressed the exceptional nature of the current situation: "After the pandemic and now with the war in Ukraine, the current energy crisis is having a greater impact than expected and energy poverty is a major issue. Spain has been a pioneer in Europe and has proposed many measures to alleviate it, especially for the most vulnerable consumers." And Juan José Alba, Endesa's Manager of Regulation, suggested that, "while addressing the automation established in the National Energy Poverty Strategy, it would be advisable to improve coordination between public administrations and the companies responsible for its management, as well as streamlining the management of the Social Bonus so this can be done more automatically and centrally, for example, by developing a national platform for the management of vulnerable customers at risk of social exclusion using blockchain technology. The energy efficiency of homes is a problem in Spain and, in particular, in vulnerable groups, so it is essential to propose express, low-cost measures to improve energy efficiency in vulnerable homes and as a result, their energy consumption".
Manuel García, General Manager of Energy Policy and Mines at MITECO, reminded us that "Spain has anticipated and led the debate in Europe with regard to the crises we suffered and continue to suffer. We needed to act diligently with the instruments already in hand, so there are structural reforms that are still pending." With regard to the electricity Social Bonus, he remarked that "access to and renewal of the Social Bonus has been made available to 300,000 households, although we are far from reaching the maximum number. We are aware that it is possible to simplify access to the Social Bonus and that it could be automatic, but it is not as simple as that because Spain is a decentralised State with autonomous regions, so coordination between administrations is very important."
Social organisations also provided a warning. According to Sara Casas, from the Spanish Red Cross, "75% of the people we assisted did not know how to manage the measures or even if they were able to benefit from them. In addition to this lack of knowledge, there is also a lot of hidden energy poverty and a large group of people who are not yet protected by these social protection shields."
With regard to this, Fernando Urquiza, from Energy without Borders, agreed with this lack of knowledge and stressed that "general measures for the entire population are being applied to vulnerable sectors. The problem is that the specific measures for these groups, such as the electricity Social Bonus, do not reach them because they do not know that they exist or because they do not know that the conditions have changed and they can now benefit." And as for the thermal Social Bonus, Urquiza added that "the current proposal lacks both sufficient quantity and scope."
According to Leire Díez, from ECODES, "an increasing number of families are visiting us at our energy support points and we are collaborating more and more with social entities. We need to inform people more effectively with regard the Social Bonus because many families do not know that they have the right to it or how to request it. Automating the granting of this right would increase the number of families that could benefit." He also pointed out that it would be important to "reduce the energy demand for these families through rehabilitation."
With regard to this, Ester Sevilla, from the Naturgy Foundation, pointed out that "the Naturgy Foundation has maintained a strong commitment to energy rehabilitation in homes since 2018. By the end of last year, 3,600 homes had taken advantage of our programme" and called for other sectors besides energy such as construction to become involved, by providing measures to improve energy efficiency in vulnerable groups.
About the Seminar on Energy and Poverty
The University of Comillas, with the collaboration of companies in the energy sector and social agents, created the Energy and Poverty Seminar, which was founded within a privileged environment which give coherence to studies, legislative proposals, training and dissemination actions that contribute to the mitigation and ideally the eradication of this problem in Spain. Its action focusses on two axes: Conducting interdisciplinary research focussing on reality and serving as a meeting point to facilitate contact between the entities and people involved in the fight against energy poverty.
About Endesa
Endesa is the largest electricity company in Spain and the second largest in Portugal. The company is also the second largest gas operator in the Spanish market. Endesa operates an end-to-end generation, distribution and marketing business. Through Endesa X it also offers value-added services aimed at the electrification of energy usage in homes, companies, industries and Public Administrations. It has also created a new line of business. Endesa X Way is fully dedicated to electric mobility. Endesa is firmly committed to the United Nations SDGs and strongly supports the development of renewable energies through Enel Green Power España, the digitalisation of grids through e-distribution, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The Endesa Foundation is also active in CSR-related matters. Our workforce numbers around 9,260 employees. Endesa is a division of Enel, the largest electricity group in Europe.