Exploring the effect of energy transition on energy poverty in the European Union: Empirical evidence

During the past few years, the risk of energy poverty has become a reality for an increasing number of households in the European Union and worldwide. Institutions react to this problem basically by introducing new policy measures. However, their efforts collide with two significant issues: (1) the difficulty of objectively measuring energy poverty among countries and (2) the understanding of the cause-effect relationship among policy measures and their impact on energy poverty. In this study, we propose a composite measure of energy poverty alternative to the existing approaches in order to make more effective time comparisons across member states of European Union. Then, we verify whether the investments to support energy transition implemented so far has been able to affect energy poverty among European Union countries. Outcomes reveal that energy transition can be considered a means to alleviate energy poverty, supporting the efforts of policymakers who propose measures toward the energy transition.