Details
- Publication date
- 11 October 2020
- Author
- Provisional data
- Countries
- Spain, Italy
Description
The Covid-19 outbreak that spread worldwide at the beginning of 2020 exacerbated energy poverty issues. Several countries tried to contain the epidemic through confinement measures that require people to stay home. This measure had a two-fold effect: i) the energy needs of residential consumers grew, due to both augmented conventional demand (space heating, hot water, cooking and dishwashing) and new energy demand (as the one related with teleworking); ii) the confinement, or the associated measures, provoked a strong contraction in the job market, with many people losing their employment, either temporarily or permanently.
The article focuses on the measures implemented in Italy and Spain, the two initial epicentres of the epidemic in Europe; it highlights the key challenges that arise and outlines innovative alternatives to face them, beyond disconnection bans.