engleski

Energy poverty in Croatia: New insights

The paper shows that energy poverty has become a rising problem in Croatia, as in most new EU Member States. Considering theoretical energy poverty line of 10%, the average households from first six deciles are struggling with the problem of energy poverty. The problem is additionally emphasized by the condition of residential stock because most of them are family houses and are built before 1980, which means high energy consumption for heating. The assessment of energy poverty in Croatia by using the number of people and households that are beneficiaries of vulnerable consumer subsidies shows that approximately 3% of the total population are energy poor according to the existing legal framework in Croatia. However, according to EU-SILC, the share of population that cannot keep its home adequately warm amounts almost 10%. These results show the inconsistency of the policy for addressing the energy poverty problem, since the share of population covered by legally defined measure is not equal to the share of potential energy poor population. It also shows that tackling the problem of energy poverty still remains within social policy and there is a need for systematic and long-term approach in dealing with this issue.

energy poverty ; Croatia ; energy efficiency

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