Considerazioni sulla povertà energetica delle famiglie italiane

Abstract

In the last 15 years households’ energy expenditures have significantly increased causing a reduction of consumption of energy commodities that increased households’ vulnerability in order to buy a minimum set of energy commodities (so called energy poverty). In 2014 almost 1.9 million of households were energy poor. Since 2009 Italy has been running two means-tested programs targeting energy poverty, namely the «bonus elettrico» and the «bonus gas». The estimated eligible population is around 3.9 million of households, with almost 1.5 million effectively benefiting from these policies. However, there is evidence that the programs are only marginally tackling the problem, leading to a review of the existing policies.