Delivering affordable energy in Europe

Energy poverty remains a major concern for European people. Recent legislation has attempted to protect vulnerable consumers from electricity disconnection. This year, the European Commission has issued an action plan for affordable energy as part the Clean Industrial Deal, which focuses on decreasing energy prices for citizens, businesses and communities across the EU. This plan proposes a series of measures to lower energy bills and fast-track cost-saving and reinforcing structural reforms for our energy system.

Against this backdrop, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission are holding a joint conference on affordable energy. This event will build on the previous EESC conferences on Energy poverty at the crossroads of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Green Deal (2021), Tackling energy poverty at the heart of the ecological and energy transition (2022), Tackling energy poverty for a just transition (2023), and Affordable Energy: Turning civil society views into action (2024).

This conference will shed light on the much needed efforts to give citizens the power to be actively engaged, and make energy production more inclusive and affordable, including in rural areas.

In 2025 our annual conference will look at:

• How to ensure that the EC Action Plan for Affordable Energy drives a just transition responding to the rising geopolitical and environmental challenges;
• How policy makers can involve and activate SMEs, households and vulnerable citizens, making them primary actors of the EU green and competitive transformation.

Innovative solutions aimed at promoting an active consumer role will be the subject of the first panel, dealing with the game changing role of energy communities. These forms of consumers engagement have an untapped potential essential to achieve a faster and more effective green transition. The exchange will feed into the forthcoming European Commission Citizens Energy Package expected to be presented by the end of 2025.

The conference will then examine the situation of vulnerable consumers and poor households faced with precarious working conditions. The panel will explore the most suitable options to guarantee basic energy consumption, as well as effective inclusion and access to essential services for the working poor.

Thirdly, the conference will consider investment needs and possible EU instruments to fund a green transition while strengthening energy security and affordability, in the light of the Affordable Energy Action Plan put forward by the European Commission.

The conclusions of this conference will be sent to the EU institutions, civil society organisations in the EU and other stakeholders dealing with the issue of energy affordability.