Barcelona’s Energy Advice Points (PAEs) aim to identify and tackle energy poverty and improve energy efficiency in Barcelona. Any citizen can contact PAEs to find out about their energy rights and receive advice on reducing the extra costs of basic supply services. In addition, the service aims to avoid energy and water cuts due to the inability of consumers to pay, guaranteeing their right to energy.
The objectives of the project are to:
- Detect and manage possible situations of energy poverty.
- Promote community work to combat energy poverty.
- Promote employment and improve the employability of people with difficulties in accessing the job market.
- Validate the concept of peer-to-peer workers to improve the quality of care. The peer-to-peer workers have experienced vulnerable situations and provide energy advice to affected people.
PAEs is a free municipal service driven by the philosophy that the transition to green energy can only occur when social equality and social benefits are guaranteed. It seeks social inclusion not only by mitigating energy poverty, but also by generating labour opportunities for vulnerable groups.
There are 12 Energy Advice Points (PAEs) located mostly in the housing offices of the Barcelona City Council. Each PAE team consists of 2 advisers, 2 informants, 2 energy agents and 1 coordinator. In addition, the programme hired 32 long-term unemployed people trained as energy advisers in a previous pilot project “Energia la Justa”. Every year the service also hires 20 professionals with limited access to the labour market that receive 2 months of training and are employed for 10 months. Eighty per cent (80%) of the professionals have successfully returned to the job market after participating in the programme.
The advice points offer the information, support and assistance needed so that citizens can exercise their energy rights, and utility companies do not deny them access to basic services. They offer:
- Information and awareness on energy at the domestic level.
- Support and advice to vulnerable groups (e.g. consumers at risk of energy cuts).
- Energy interventions for households.
- Community-based interventions (e.g. workshops).
- Coordination of local private and public networks to guarantee the right to energy.
The project is developed within a budget of 100,000 to 1 million euros and every month manages to:
- Advise 2500 citizens
- Regularise 50 supplies
- Protect 600 citizens by law 24/2015
- Save 100kW of electrical power
Energy Advice Points were run in 2017 as a pilot project but given the success of the initiative (9.5 out of 10 citizen satisfaction), the municipality of Barcelona decided to transform it into a public service coordinated by Ecoserveis and ABD with the support of civil organisations. Due to the social conditions that arose as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the service has suffered lack of personnel and the response rate has dropped for less urgent cases.
The project started in 2016 and is ongoing.
Main beneficiaries: the energy poor.
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Countries impacted:
Spain -
Geographical scale:
Regional and Local -
Energy poverty phase:
Implementation -
Intervention type:
Capacity building and trainingHousehold energy efficiency and refurbishmentConsumer Advice, protection and empowerment -
Professionals involved:
Social workerEngineer -
Partners involved:
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Type of funding:
Local funds from the Barcelona City Council -
Website:
Case website -
SDGs addressed:
