People's different heat perception complicating energy poverty calculations
Although Estonia's energy poverty situation looks relatively good on paper, individual indicators may not provide the full picture, according to a University of Tartu researcher.
Energy poverty generally refers to a situation in which a person is unable to maintain a comfortable temperature in their home. However, energy poverty is not separately defined in Estonian law and comparing countries is also difficult because people's perceptions of what is warm enough vary.
"We don't have a Europe-wide measure that says if it's 21 degrees Celsius in a room in your home, that means it's warm enough. We don't have a single temperature that tells us we're warm," said Hanna Laius, a project manager at the University of Tartu's Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. For example, in one country a room temperature of 21 degrees Celsius may be considered perfectly adequate, while in another, 25 degrees may be considered comfortable. People's own assessments therefore also affect how energy poverty appears in statistics.
Laius said that pensioners, single parents and people living in rural areas are among the more vulnerable groups in Estonia. In addition to income, the condition of a person's home is also very important. Many buildings constructed during the Soviet era are poorly insulated and require more energy to heat.
"If, so to speak, the wind is blowing in through the gaps around your windows, you can turn the heat up as much as it will go, but you simply won't be able to get your home warm enough if it doesn't retain heat at all," Laius added.
The University of Tartu's Energy Poverty Nexus project is now working to establish an energy poverty observatory in Estonia. In addition to government agencies, the plan is to involve universities, energy companies and the Estonian Union of Co-operative Housing Associations in its work.
One of the observatory's key tasks would be to monitor energy poverty indicators and statistics and make them more comparable with those of other European countries. "Monitoring is very good in some countries, while in others it is still, so to speak, in its infancy. [Work needs to be done] to ensure that the indicators are also comparable across Europe," Laius said.
The observatory should help assess which subsidies and other measures actually reduce energy poverty. According to Laius, improving the energy efficiency of homes would provide a more lasting solution than temporarily compensating people for their energy bills. In other words, the less heat a home loses, the less fluctuations in energy prices affect a household's ability to make ends meet.
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Editor: Andres Reimann, Marcus Turovski
