For a real ban on electricity disconnections

New provisions in the EU’s electricity market rules call on EU governments to ensure vulnerable households are protected from disconnections, but does not explicitly ban them, notes Sarah Coupechoux. Alternative solutions exist, such as deferred payments, social tariffs or reduced power deliveries via smart meters, she writes.

Sarah Coupechoux is head of the Fondation Abbé Pierre’s European mission for housing the poor. She co-signed this op-ed together with a group of other signatories who are listed at the bottom of this article.

The consequences of electricity disconnections are terrible for households.

It takes a toll on their physical health, as energy deprivation increases the risk of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, but also osteoarticular and neurological diseases. It also affects people’s mental health, increasing the risk of anxiety and depression. Not to mention the risk of fatal accidents when people attempt to cook or keep warm in other ways in their own homes.

Secondly, it worsens their economic situation and overall resilience, as households spend a lot of money making trade-offs between multiple rising costs of basic necessities like food and washing.

Women are particularly exposed, as they are often responsible for managing the family budget and finding ways of coping: it’s a huge domestic and mental burden for them.

Finally, energy deprivation is a factor in social exclusion, with dramatic effects on well-being, self-esteem, working life, family life and education.

According to Eurostat, around 42 million people in Europe suffered from energy poverty in 2022. That’s 35% more than in 2021.

How many of these people will face the threat of a power disconnection this winter?

The first negotiations between the European Commission, European Parliament and national governments on updating the EU’s electricity market rules will be held on the 16th of November.

The European Commission and the national governments, aware of the importance of this issue, have included a new article on disconnections in the discussions. This new article asks governments to ensure that vulnerable households are protected from disconnections, but does not say disconnections are forbidden, nor to what extent they should be prevented. This is not an obligation, but an invitation to do one’s best.

In practice, this wording does not represent a major advance on the previous directive. Governments have always been responsible for providing a minimum level of protection for vulnerable households, but the extent of this protection has not been determined.

With rising prices not only for energy but also for other basic necessities like housing, the current situation calls for much clearer and more imperative protection.

We want an explicit ban on electricity disconnections for vulnerable households, but also for households unable to pay their bills or, more generally, in a situation of energy poverty.

Already in June 2022, when the 7th overview on housing exclusion in Europe was presented, Feantsa and the Fondation Abbé Pierre warned of the difficulties households were having in meeting all their bills, particularly housing and energy bills, and of the fact that there was a significant risk of seeing debts increase over the next few years.

We know that arrears do not occur at the height of the crisis but several months or years later. Countries recording disconnections (as not all Member States do it) were already counting several hundred thousand disconnections per year in 2020 or 2021. Germany, for example, recorded more than 234,000 disconnections in 2021.

Figures compiled by the European Energy Regulators, ACER and CEER, reveal that around 1% of final household consumers are disconnected each year. Still, very few national regulators report these statistics despite being obligated to do so.

The failing paradigm guiding Europe’s current approach to disconnections needs to change. A person in arrears and whose energy is cut can simply not pay. Not today, not tomorrow. Before a person reaches the point of non-payment, they have made budgetary choices. They have reduced their food quality and quantity and deprived themselves of health care. They no longer have any leisure activities. They are struggling because they have been put at risk by the overlapping loopholes in our energy and social systems.

They are at risk of poverty or even extreme poverty and they can enter a spiral of over-indebtedness with major consequences for their well-being, their jobs and the lives of their families, but also for society as a whole.

The pace of the disconnection spiral can be devastating: in some countries, it can take as little as one or two weeks from the time people are notified unilaterally by the supplier to the actual disconnection; and often without recourse or alternative.

Although we live in one of the wealthiest continents on the planet, these decisions lead to living conditions that shouldn’t exist. It’s not only a question of choices like eating or heating. It’s about living in the dark, without being able to cook for the family, without light to do the children’s homework, without a fridge to store food or run life-saving medicine, without being able to wash clothes or even take a hot shower, and without communication tools vital to finding work or accessing government support amidst Europe’s digital transition.

However, there are many alternatives to disconnection. Households can be referred to social services for assistance and access to deferment plans, debt relief, and social tariffs. Some countries, such as France and Italy, use smart meters to reduce power in these cases.

With the revision of the electricity market, the European Union must show its citizens that it has heard them and is committed to a socially just transition by significantly raising consumer protection.

It’s no longer enough to demand protection from disconnections. A real ban on disconnections, especially when coupled with other structural measures on energy efficiency, for instance, would be life-changing for many, recognising that energy is an essential service for a dignified life.

It would also level the playing field in the particularly unbalanced contractual relations between households and suppliers. The right to clean, affordable energy is a fundamental right – the first step to ensuring that for millions of Europeans in need is with a ban on disconnections.

This is why many European and national organisations call for a real ban on disconnections in Europe.

We can’t wait any longer – we need a real ban!

Co-signatories:

• Víctor Viñuales – Executive Director – ECODES
• Juan Carlos Benito Sanchez – Coordinator, Social Energie Support Centre – Fédération des Services Sociaux
• Nicolò Wojewoda – Europe Regional Director – 350.org
• Marine Cornelis –  Executive Director – Next Energy Consumer
• Silvia Pastorelli – Climate & energy campaigner – Greenpeace European Unit
• Ludovic Voet – Confederal Secretary-  ETUC
• Anne Bajomi – Energy Poverty Policy Officer – FEANTSA
• Monique Goyens – Director General – BEUC – The European Consumer Organisation
• Kieran Pradeep – Climate and Energy Justice Campaigner – Friends of earth Europe
• Sheila Góis Habib – Policy and Advocacy Officer – EAPN
• Marie Toussaint – Member of the European Parliament- Greens/ EFA