A Systematic Literature Review of Indices for Energy Poverty Assessment: A Household Perspective

Abstract

Both developed and developing countries face energy poverty issues today. The growing interest over the last few years at the scientific level demonstrates the importance of the problem. It was a practice for many years to measure energy poverty by calculating the economic single indicators. In recent years, this practice was increasingly criticized and new, more comprehensive indices were developed. Review and analysis of indices developed can help scholars to dig deep into the specific aspects of the problem. The paper aims to review the indices for energy poverty assessment from households’ perspectives and to provide the main insights into the indicators selection process by providing the set of indicators for sustainable energy poverty assessment. The literature search and analysis follows the SALSA (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis) and the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodologies. The literature search was carried out in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database. The search covered the period 1994–2020. Thirty-four developed indexes for energy poverty were identified for assessment. In order to measure the most important dimensions and to reflect the modern concept of the energy poverty, the paper proposes a set of indicators for sustainable energy poverty assessment.

Multidimensional energy poverty: A study of its measurement, decomposition, and determinants in Indonesia

“…Various single indicators and composite indices derived from quantitative-objective and qualitative-subjective data with various measurement methods have been used to analyse and evaluate household EP in developed and developing nations [ 36 , 81 ]. This study considered the results of ranking EP measures [ 29 , 30 ] according to the Bellagio Sustainability Assessment and Measurement Principles (Bellagio STAMP) [ 82 ], adapting to data availability and analysis objectives.…”

“…There are differences in EP measurements between developed and developing countries [ 14 , 15 , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] ]. Developed countries measure EP in affordability terms using objective and subjective monetary indicators [ [25] , [26] , [27] ], and several affordability indicators exist [ [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] ]. Developing countries measure EP in accessibility term using non-monetary binary indicators [ 23 , 31 ].…”

The Russia-Ukraine War and Energy Security: Impact and Policies, From a European Perspective

“…In addition, energy poverty problems arose due to increased energy prices. Ordinary people in many regions do not have enough capacity to pay more for their bills [12]. Specifically, the rate of the population in Europe that is unable to fully heat their home rose from 6.9% to 8.2% in the first year of the outbreak of Covid-19 [13].…”

Methodological Challenges in Energy Poverty Research

“…This conceptual effort contributed to the refinement of quantitative methods (Castaño-Rosa et al, 2019; Tirado Herrero, 2017), effectively used to discern common causes and effects of energy poverty, instances of variation and landscapes of energy poverty with their respective divides (Biermann, 2020; Castaño-Rosa et al, 2021; Gómez-Navarro et al, 2021) and even in determining features of household-level energy consumption behaviours specific to energy poor populations (Tirado-Herrero et al, 2018). Today no less than 41 composite indicators try to capture an as genuine as possible situation of energy poverty (Siksnelyte-Butkiene, 2021). Additional research, resulting from an interdisciplinary dialogue between professionals such as lawyers, sociologists or anthropologists, has focused on concepts such as vulnerability (Middlemiss & Gillard, 2015), energy justice (Jenkins et al, 2016; Pellegrini et al, 2020) or the right to energy (Hesselman et al, 2019).…”