Missing Attention or Missing Competences – Germany’s Fight against Energy Poverty

At least since the EU has paid more attention to the issue of energy poverty it gains political attention in some member states as well. Independently, energy poverty is a social risk in Germany anyway (Heindl et al. 2014). Although German energy transition is not the only reason for energy poverty, parts of its configurations and consequences intensified the problem so that it can be seen as one aspect of the social dimension of energy transition (Heindl et al. 2014). Hence, it might be expected that the issue becomes part of the political agenda to alleviate the impact of energy transition by fighting energy poverty, but Germany only partly fulfils this expectation. There are three different ways to fight energy poverty drawing on the three main reasons of it (too high energy prices, too low household income, too high energy consumption; see Thomson und Snell 2013). These three reasons are tackled differently by the different levels of policymaking. There is only little direct and a little more indirect action on the national level to reduce energy poverty, meaning almost no change in social benefits; only little in reducing energy prices and some more in supporting the reduction of energy consumption (especially as part of environmental policies). In turn, on regional and local level there are different initiatives that directly concentrate on the reduction of energy poverty (Kopatz 2013; Kopatz et al 2010). However, these initiatives are primarily concentrated on reducing energy consumption and dealing with higher energy costs – also because they have only little competences in the other two fields. The paper focusses on the question: How does Germany deal with energy poverty as social dimension of energy transition? First, it shows how energy transition in Germany influences and increases energy poverty. Second, it shows different forms of tackling the issue on national and regional/ local level. Third, it tries to explain why there are different problem perceptions on the different political levels and how the levels influence each other. Heindl, Peter; Schüßler, Rudolf; Löschel, Andreas (2014). Ist die Energiewende sozial gerecht? In: Wirtschaftsdienst. Vol 94 (7). 508-514. Kopatz, Michael (2013). Energiewende. Aber fair! Wie sich die Energiezukunft sozial tragfähig gestalten lässt. München: oekom verlag. Kopatz, Michael; Spitzer, Markus; Christanell, Anja (2010). Energiearmut. Stand der Forschung, nationale Programme und regionale Modellprojekte in Deutschland, Österreich und Großbritannien. Wuppertal Papers Nr. 184. Wuppertal. Thomson, Harriet, & Snell, Carolyn (2013). Energy Poverty in the EU. Policy Brief. York.