Revisiting energy poverty measurement for the European Union

Energy poverty constitutes a multifaceted challenge encountered by households worldwide. Given its intricate nature, the imperative to measure it entails the adoption of composite or multidimensional indices encompassing diverse indicators. Despite the comprehensive body of literature at the European level, most studies focus on assessing energy poverty within individual countries. Also, none of these studies have considered examining the causes and effects of energy poverty in their evaluation processes. In response, this research introduces a novel composite index that recognizes three fundamental drivers of energy poverty: high energy cost, poor energy efficiency, and low income, alongside three ensuing consequences: insufficient warmth within dwellings, energy arrears, and dwelling quality issues. The aim is to rank the Member States of the European Union (EU) using two criteria: solely the consequential factors and all factors collectively. By contrasting these two ranking criteria, the analysis identifies the Member States that exhibit significant differences in their standings. These states can be categorized as underperformers, denoting a significant capacity to address the issue yet exhibiting relatively higher levels, or overperformers, indicating a limited capacity to address the issue with relatively lower levels. The results underscore Czechia as an overperforming state and France as a significantly underperforming state, prompting a deeper exploration into the driving forces behind these variations. In this manner, the study introduces an approach to detect the root causes of energy poverty across EU Member States through a comparative lens.