The National Energy Poverty Strategy (ENPE) does not provide new solutions to tackle the structural problem and perpetuates the bureaucratisation of aid.
The ban on supply cut-offs is not extended to all households, applying only to homes that benefit from the thermal social tariff.
Madrid, 19 February 2026. Fundación Renovables regrets that the latest update of the National Energy Poverty Strategy (ENPE) 2026-2030 maintains an assistance-based model and does not include major structural reforms to solve a problem which, according to Eurostat data, affects around 20% of the Spanish population.
This same week, to mark European Energy Poverty Week, Fundación Renovables called for the ENPE to move away from the assistance-based model and demanded structural changes. We regret that the updated Strategy does not reflect this basic premise and does not include significant changes.
The renewal of this document, which sets the strategic planning until the end of the decade to combat energy poverty, once again lacks specific reduction targets, updated indicators and evaluation and monitoring mechanisms during its implementation. The absence of targets makes no sense and will also prevent greater transparency and proper measurement of the impact of public policies in this area.
The strategy also continues to fail to automate access to the social tariff, undoubtedly one of the major shortcomings of the current system. According to the latest data from ESADE and Oxfam Intermón, eight out of ten potential beneficiaries are unable to access it due to bureaucracy and lack of information.
The Ministry for the Energy Transition has also failed to redefine the concept of vulnerable consumer, meaning that only those receiving the social tariff fall into this category. As a result, the 80% who cannot access this support are also left unprotected, since the reform only prohibits supply cut-offs for households classified as vulnerable.
The definition of energy-vulnerable households must be urgently reviewed, as it does not only concern citizens who cannot pay their bills to heat or cool their homes, but also people living in homes that are not energy efficient. This forces us to reflect on a sad reality: only 14% of the Spanish population lives in homes that have been recently renovated to achieve thermal comfort in winter and summer, according to Eurostat data.
Fundación Renovables nevertheless welcomes progress in certain areas compared with the previous ENPE. This includes the introduction of a gender perspective which recognises, for the first time, that energy poverty is feminised and affects women to a greater extent. In this regard, the diagnosis of the situation and of the implications of living in energy poverty in a climate emergency context has improved.
It is therefore surprising that this improved diagnosis is not accompanied by far-reaching reforms and targets to broaden the scope of action and increase protection for citizens, bearing in mind that access to energy must be universal and that any social tariff must have a progressive approach. Important measures are welcome, such as the future creation of an Energy Poverty Observatory to improve the collection and management of data on this social problem, although it is essential that its role should not be limited to observation, but should also include the mobilisation of funds and the execution of projects.
Spain must raise its ambition and put all its efforts into implementing structural changes that move beyond the assistance-based model that currently prevails. It is incompatible for the country to lead economic growth in the EU while ranking as the fourth country with the worst energy poverty rate.
