17% of Spaniards cannot heat their homes in winter and only 14% of the population lives in homes renovated in the last five years.
Spain must create a social tariff that guarantees universal access to a minimum essential level of energy.
Madrid, 17 February 2026.- Fundación Renovables calls for an end to the assistance-based model that currently governs national policy against energy poverty and urges structural changes based on efficiency, electrification and energy renovation to guarantee universal access to energy.
During European Energy Poverty Week, 17% of Spaniards are still unable to heat their homes in winter, according to Eurostat data. This figure is far above the European average of 9%. It shows that the measures proposed and implemented so far have not worked, and that a radical change is needed to reduce vulnerability in access to energy as much as possible.
Until now, the National Strategy against Energy Poverty (ENPE) has based its actions on assistance policies aimed at providing aid and subsidies to vulnerable people without solving the structural problem. These forms of aid have also proved ineffective. ESADE and Oxfam Intermón data show that eight out of ten potential beneficiaries of the thermal social tariff are unable to access it because of the enormous bureaucratic burden.
In this regard, a social tariff must be introduced, exempt from VAT, charges and grid fees, with the first 1,500 kWh free of charge (with a minimum contracted power of 2.3 kW) for vulnerable households, without their necessarily having had to default on payments beforehand. The aim of this social tariff is to guarantee universal access to energy.
In addition to advocating the creation of a social tariff, Fundación Renovables calls for energy renovation to be promoted in every home in the country, prioritising those where people at risk of exclusion live. This would bring insulation, efficiency and electrification through heat pumps to all households.
National policy against energy poverty must also promote social self-consumption and the creation of inclusive energy communities, as both solutions reduce household costs while generating renewable electricity.
In a climate-change scenario, with summers becoming longer and more severe, Spain must also take into account that energy poverty affects citizens who are unable to cool their homes during the summer period. Renovation plans and aid are therefore an effective tool to improve insulation and modernise a very old housing stock.
According to Eurostat data, only 14% of the Spanish population lives in homes renovated in the last five years, making Spain the fourth worst-ranked country in the European Union. Among people at risk of poverty and social exclusion, the percentage living in homes with recent efficiency-related renovation work does not even reach 10%.
Fundación Renovables calls for the National Strategy against Energy Poverty 2026-2030 to change its approach and focus on implementing structural changes with efficiency, renovation and electrification as its main pillars. It is of little use for Spain to be the EU country with the highest GDP growth if, at the same time, it remains one of the European states with the highest energy poverty rates.
