In her most enlightening book, How Boards Work, Dambisa Moyo calls for corporate companies to, with the influence and guidance of their boards, constructively and methodically act to address societal and environmental concerns such as gender inequality, poverty and emissions of greenhouse gases. I found this both encouraging and refreshing. It made me ponder how best I could meaningfully assist companies in responding to Dambisa Moyo’s call, which they already do through carbon offsetting and other initiatives with remarkable social and environmental impacts. With this in mind, I recently joined C-Quest Capital (CQC), an award-winning global carbon project developer and social impact investor whose mission of transforming the lives of families in vulnerable communities around the world is in keeping with my professional interests. This organisation provides the corporate world with carbon-offsetting opportunities, which transform the lives of poor and vulnerable people, particularly women and children. See here for an example of this.

My new role and the access-to-energy discussions I have with my new colleagues have made me appreciate just how critical energy poverty is. Is it not a great concern that over a billion people worldwide lack access to clean and sustainable energy, as reported in Dambisa Moyo’s book, or that about 2.4 billion people across the world use highly inefficient cookstoves? But, energy poverty does not get the attention it deserves, especially in low-income countries. This blog post therefore marks the beginning of my journey to contribute to bringing energy poverty, particularly that in the global south, to the fore in both practice and research. It addresses foundational questions about energy poverty.

What does energy poverty mean?

Energy poverty can be defined in two ways. Firstly, it refers to the unavailability or limited supply of energy and energy technologies. Accordingly, individuals are considered energy poor if they lack clean energy and highly efficient cooking, heating, cooling and lighting appliances. Secondly, energy poverty is also about paying more for energy and energy technologies, as explained here and here, regardless of availability. In Europe, for example, individuals are regarded as energy poor if they spend at least 10% of their monthly income on energy needs. One can experience either or both of these forms of energy poverty.  

What are the signs of energy poverty?

Energy poverty manifests in different ways, including:

The use of unclean energy forms (e.g. biomass fuels like firewood and charcoal): This is a glaring reality in rural parts of Africa. Most rural households in Zimbabwe (95 %) and Malawi (96%), for example, depend on biomass fuels, particularly for cooking. Read more about this here. A 2021 energy study in Southern Ethiopia found that 90.7% of the 660 rural households sampled relied on firewood, and only 3.14 % used clean energy for cooking.

The inability to keep homes sufficiently warm or cool: Maintaining indoor thermal comfort is necessary, and anything short of this signals energy poverty. By way of example, a  2020 energy study in the European Union reported that 27 % of the population in Bulgaria, 23 % in Lithuania, 21 % in Cyprus and 17% in Greece could not keep their homes sufficiently warm, indicating energy deprivation.

Long periods of power outages or load-shedding: This needs no explanation for people in my home country, Zimbabwe. It is, however, a common phenomenon in many countries. As reported here and here, for example, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, South Africa,  Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Ghana experience power cuts: 2 to 3 hours for some and 6 to 12 hours for others. This power crisis has recently compelled the South African government to declare a state of disaster and propose to appoint a Minister of Electricity.

High energy bills: If a household’s energy needs make up the lion’s share of the monthly budget, the household is paying more for energy. For this reason, the household is classified as energy poor. In the US, for instance, the 2020 Energy Burden Report found that Native American, Black and Hispanic households spent 45%, 43 % and 20%, respectively, of their income on energy bills.

Arrears in energy bills or debts: the inability to pay for energy on time indicates energy poverty, and having an energy debt for too long eventually results in power disconnection.    35.6 % and 30% of households in Greece and Bulgaria, respectively, for example, had outstanding energy bills in 2018. In 2022, more than 2 million households in the United Kingdom were in electricity debt, as the Guardian reported here.

Precarious energy poverty coping strategies: This is quite common in urban areas, where paying more for energy and persistent long hours of load-shedding force poor and vulnerable people to adopt strategies that could negatively impact their quality of life. Examples of such strategies are using firewood, charcoal, plastics, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (which is expensive and unsafe) and paraffin lamps, skipping ( afternoon) meals or eating cold meals, as well as cutting back on other life necessities such as medication.    

What causes energy poverty?

Energy poverty is, as explained here and here, not the result of a single but a combination of  diverse factors, which include:

Low income (due to unemployment, low salaries, income support and lack of entrepreneurial opportunities) implies that one cannot afford energy and associated appliances. A lack of income usually forces one to resort to using unclean and unsustainable energy and inefficient energy appliances.

Rise in energy prices:

The world, as the World Bank reports, has recently experienced an unprecedented spike in energy prices, driven by soaring global oil prices, limited energy supplies, the war in Ukraine etc. In the UK, for example, electricity and gas prices rose by 66.7% and 129.4%, respectively, within the 12 months leading up to January 2023. Energy prices usually go up, sometimes twice or more, whilst incomes stagnate. This pushes households into energy poverty.

Low energy efficiency of the type of energy, appliances and energy performance of buildings:  This causes households to pay more for energy as they need more to meet their energy needs.

Who is [most] at risk of energy poverty?

The following groups are highly likely to become energy poor:

Households with little or no income bear the brunt of the ‘energy burden’ due to, for example, a lack of income to meet energy costs (which are ever on the rise) and the use of inefficient energy appliances. As a result, they are on the verge of (i) falling into energy debt, which could emanate from energy bills arrears or borrowing money to meet their energy needs; (ii) resorting to the use of unclean energy and highly inefficient energy appliances; and (iii) adopting precarious energy poverty coping mechanisms.

Women suffer the most from energy poverty. Their vulnerability to energy poverty is well captured by the views of one female respondent in an energy study in Zimbabwe: 

When I am cooking using semi-dry wood, no one can even enter the kitchen because of the smoke. It is like a prison cell! So, I will have to serve my sentence because I am the mother who is expected to provide. I have no choice.

Single-parent households are most likely to be hardest hit by energy price increases since one parent has the sole responsibility of meeting energy and other needs of his/her household. In the UK, for example, single-parent households are impacted the most by rising energy prices as their energy bills rise faster, by about 56% than other households.

Households with many dependents and disabled members: these households have a high energy usage, which translates to spending more on energy.

Pensioners/ old-aged people: for many, retirement or getting old means a reduction in income and an increase in energy use, as pensioners or elderly people typically spend more time at home and move around less. Today, this is happening in the wake of rising energy prices! In the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, for instance, pensioners or older people are part of groups that have a high probability of falling into energy poverty. In the UK, pensioners’ energy bills rise 41% faster than those of non-pensioners.

Peri-urban households, especially those not connected to the electricity grid, as is the case in most African countries: These households, as observed in our study of peri-urban quality of life in Zimbabwe,  predominately use firewood, charcoal and Liquefied Petroleum Gas , which are all expensive. Firewood and charcoal, in particular, are undesirable forms of energy. Those that are connected to the electricity grid are not spared from load-shedding. The energy-poverty reality of peri-urban households was clearly described by one household in our study in the following manner:

Firewood is now scarce. We use firewood on a daily basis. We have electricity, but due to load shedding, electricity is only available at night. It is difficult to get firewood these days due to strict rules imposed by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and village heads to prevent deforestation. We wish the government to take note of our plight and control the price of gas, which is expensive… Firewood used to be abundant in nearby forests, which residential areas have now taken over, and in nearby mountains, which are now deforested due to the recent increased demand for firewood. We desperately need firewood, gas is expensive, and we cannot talk about electricity, which is only available at night.

Rural households are typically at a heightened risk of energy poverty due to disadvantages associated with energy infrastructure and lack of income, which hinder their access to clean energy and highly efficient energy technologies. As I shared earlier, by way of example, more than 90% of rural households in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Ethiopia are energy poor.

What are the effects of energy poverty on the quality of life of people?

The effects of energy poverty on the quality of life are multiple and include: 

Ill-health: As the World Health Organisation report states, low indoor temperatures can negatively impact the health of people, especially children, the disabled and the elderly. They can cause or worsen high blood pressure, cardiovascular illness, and respiratory diseases such as colds, flu, bronchitis and pneumonia, as reported here and here. On the other hand, extreme high indoor temperatures can adversely affect human health as they cause dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke and hyperthermia, as discussed here and here. In addition, thermal discomfort could lead to, or worsen,  mental illness such as anxiety and depression,  as described here and here. Lastly, the use of unclean energy, such as biomass fuels, can cause respiratory infections (such as pneumonia and tuberculosis), congenital disabilities or low birthweights,  cataracts and neurodegenerative diseases, as explained here and here.   

Mortality – low indoor temperatures and the use of biomass fuels, for example, can shorten one’s life. Excess winter deaths are of great concern in countries that experience extremely cold winters, as explained here. For instance, in the UK and EU countries,  more people die in winter than in non-winter months. England and Wales recorded 13 400 deaths in the winter period of December 2021 to March 2022, as seen here. Also,  as the World Health Organisation reports here, 3.2 million people die prematurely from illness caused by the use of biomass and inefficient cookstoves.

Indebtedness: It goes without saying that no one can do without energy for cooking, heating, cooling, lighting or powering energy appliances and having arrears in energy bills can usually result in energy supply being cut off. Thus, households lacking income resort to borrowing, and this pushes them into debts. Some debts result from long overdue energy-bill arrears, which is quite common, for example in the UK, where household energy debt grew by 43% in the 12 months leading up to October 2022.

Low educational attainment: As explained here and here, and based on my observations in Zimbabwe, energy poverty prevents children and adults from effectively learning at night and online, adversely impacting educational performance.  

Worsening deprivation, spending more on energy, debts, ill health, low educational attainment and isolation, for example, can exacerbate one’s state of deprivation. Indeed, about 141 million people worldwide could be pushed into extreme poverty by the current energy crisis, as revealed in a study here. 

When all is said and done, then, if we are to leave no one behind in ensuring affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for all by 2030 (SDG7), more and more discussions are required in both practice and academia on energy poverty, especially in the global south. Also, concerted efforts to address energy poverty matter now more than ever. This could, as I am learning in my current role with C Quest Capital, significantly transform people’s lives, especially those of women and children, as I will share in future blog posts.