Energy poverty continues to threaten families

This October, families with regulated electricity tariffs have paid the most expensive price in history. According to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), the average wholesale price has been €204.09, and, therefore, an average family will have, for the first time, paid over €100 in its electricity bill. Although in recent days it seems that the price is going down – albeit staying well above previous years – the truth is that trying to save by looking at the price fluctuations according to the time of day is an almost impossible task for the average consumer. The famous off-peak hours, when electricity is cheaper, oscillate, and, for example, in these last few days have been more in the afternoon rather than at night. But this does not mean that this will always be the case.

If working out all the details of the bill and the structure of the price of electricity is complicated even for experts, for vulnerable people it is impossible. A large part of the work done by organisations that support these families involves checking their bills, warning them when, as usual, they have contracted much more power than they need, which they pay for unnecessarily, and advising them on what procedures they can take to apply for the aid or subsidies that have gradually been included in the legislation.

It should be borne in mind, for example, that in order to access the social vouchers you have to be in the regulated market, which has now registered record prices, and the paperwork that needs to be handed over to social services is often complicated and difficult to understand for many people.

This aid, moreover, does not arrive quickly. The agreement that was presented on March 29th between Endesa, the Generalitat and other administrations, for example, has not yet reached the affected people, who explain that they have been waiting seven months to know if their debt will be written off. The spokespersons of the Alliance against Energy Poverty, which was one of the instigators of the agreement, explain that they still do not know of any case in which someone has received a letter of debt cancellation. And the company, which assures that it has not cut off vulnerable families' electricity, admits that they have not sent them because, they say, during this time they have been collecting data, but are about to do so.

In the meantime, however, many families are becoming increasingly anxious due to the uncertainty of what may happen this winter and the concern generated by seeing alarming news on the news every day about the increase in electricity prices. In many poor houses, people have been living in the dark for some time now and installing an electrical appliance is almost a luxury, but the situation is especially rough when the cold weather arrives and people need to use electrical appliances – often old and inefficient – to heat themselves.

Bureaucracy cannot indefinitely delay the social measures that have been agreed and that are urgent, and the administrations have to ensure that the information and resources reach the people who really need them. What has already been achieved cannot be lost.