A French research group called CERI EDF&RD, composed of geographers, sociologists, and political scientists supported by various institutions, studies issues related to energy including fuel poverty, renewable energies, and energy autonomy. The group's research on fuel poverty aims to: 1) compare fuel poverty policies across Europe and their relationship to governance models, 2) understand the impact of energy market liberalization on fuel poverty, and 3) analyze local innovations addressing fuel poverty. Examples of successful local innovations highlighted are a partnership in Liverpool called Healthy Homes and a program in Frankfurt called Cariteam Energiesparcheck which take holistic, preventative approaches through public-private-NGO cooperation. In Eastern Europe, initiatives rely

1. A French Research Group and
Energy poverty
Manchester
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2. Outline
• 1. A Sciences Po / EDF research group
• 2. What we have researched in the field of
energy poverty
• 3. Conclusion : What we currently do : How to
deal with fuel poverty outside the EU ?
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3. I. The energy group CERI EDF&RD
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4. Who we are
and
Research topics
• A group of geographers, sociologists, political scientifs
supported by various institutions :
– the Caisse des Dépôts to work on renewable energies and
decentralization (Governance issues), since 2015 we work
on the energy autonomy (France, GB, Germany,
Netherland, Poland)
– IDEX ( a group of some Paris universities) to work on social
acceptance / social acceptability of local renewables
energy projects (Biomas and windfarm). (collective action)
– EDF to work on fuel poverty. Governance and collective
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5. Fuel Poverty
Our scientific project
• 1. To compare the different policies in Europe
addressing fuel poverty in order to understand
the extent to which the different forms of
governance influence or not the different
policies.
• 2. To understand the extent to which the process
of liberalisation (market) and privatisation (the
firms) leads or did not lead to an increasing
energy poverty (fuel poverty).
• 3. To isolate and analyze local innovation dealing
with energy poverty.
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6. Four questions
State Market and social Field / Governance / collective action /
Europeanisation
• The first one covers the nature of the link between the institutional change
implied by the liberalization of the energy sector since 1996, and the
emergence/deepening of the phenomenon of energy poverty. This is the question
of new relations between the State, the market and the social field. (1)
• The second question relates to the variety of country institutional constructs
(centralized, decentralised or federal) to determine if one of them reveals itself to
be more effective in fighting the phenomenon of energy poverty. This is the
governance question. (2)
• The third question covers the types of innovation that emerge locally between
public, private actors and NGOs to resolve this problem. This is the collective
action question.
• The fourth question seeks to bring out the differences between the 3 western
countries and the 2 eastern countries of the Union, to understand the weight of
historic traditions in institutional and collective action matters. This is the
Europeanization question.
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7. Six outputs
• 1. Each country prepares its own construction made of quantitative and
qualitative data on the basis of more or less relevant evaluations and
assessments.
• 2. It is from this makeshift that public interventions are adjusted. Because of a lack
of accurate data, public players tend to reformulate already known responses.
• 3. Because of a lack of a coordinated policy at ministerial level, central objectives
not only become contradictory with each other, like those for environment and
energy, but also between the latter and the ministry of social affairs.
• 4. As a consequence, the reaction from the central actors is often to unload the
task of assisting these more or less visible populations onto the communes.
• 5. Everything therefore depends, beyond money, on the ability of local players
to innovate by developing cooperation with private players and associations.
• 6. This ability results, in large part, from the institutional architecture in which
the local level takes its place and the margins that the centre is ready to accept.25/06/15 F Bafoil R Guyet Sciences Po 7

8. II. Local innovations – Liverpool
and Frankfurt
Fuel poverty
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9. Local innovations as buffer
• For state failures to repair / compensate for
– The lack of identification of the “fuel poor”
– The lack of accurate understanding of a multi-
dimensional issue
– The missed target of public policies
– The budget reduction of public programmes
– The lack of coordination and trans-sectoral
approach to deal with the issue

10. Local innovations as buffer
• For market failures to compensate for
– The increase in energy prices
– The missed results of the competitive system
– The increasing mistrust in the company-client
relationships
– The critical management of disconnections
– The perception of increased profit of the utilities
to the detriment of the consumers

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Initiatives Healthy Homes in Liverpool Cariteam Energiesparcheck in
Frankfurt
NATIONAL LEVEL
Definition of fuel poverty at
national level
Legal definition in the UK with an objective to eradicate
the phenomenon by 2016
No definition
No recognition of the problem
Consensus on the social welfare
system
Number of fuel poor 10% threshold: 4.5 million fuel poor in the UK in 2013 312 000 disconnections in 2012
Public policies Targeting fuel poor Targeting social beneficiaries
LOCAL LEVEL
Actors 17 partners (NHS, city, NGOs, involvement of
communities)
3 partners (city, Caritas, Job centre,
involvement of community)
Shared diagnosis Derelict areas, health risks, housing risks Disadvantaged populations
concentrated in specific urban areas
with employment and energy
difficulties
Redistributive measure Optimisation of the revenues within the project Social allowances independent from
the project
Preventive measure Housing and energy: insulation, changes in behavior,
changes in electrical equipment
Global: Health solution
Employment solution
Housing and energy: little
improvement of the installation for
electricity, heat and hot water;
education for behavior changes
Stimulate employment
Diffusion None, remains a local and temporary initiative Ministry of environment finances the
programme Stromsparcheck in
Germany based on the same
conditions of local partnership

12. The characteristics of local innovations
in Frankfurt and Liverpool
• Public-private-NGO partnerships (financial and
human resources)
• Diagnosis-sharing (identification of the specificities of
the local problem)
• Pragmatism and cooperation in the action (going
beyond the administrative limits)
• New targeting method
• Global approach of the difficulties (housing, energy,
socio-economic situation, health)
• Preventive action for a long term solution
• Diffusion of the innovation: limited in the case of
Liverpool, broad in the case of Frankfurt

13. Eastern Europe
• Local initiatives are based on local public authorities
(wood against voucher) or on NGO (especially to
support Roma population to get physical and
financial access to energy).
• Are mainly reactive than proactive to the energy
affordability issue and rely mainly on makeshift
measures
• The central State is the major player in energy
especially in Hungary where the government
unilaterally decided to decrease the energy prices for
all, thus increasing inequalities

14. The characteristics of local innovations
in Frankfurt and Liverpool
• Public-NGO partnerships (financial and human
resources)
• Diagnosis-sharing (identification of the specificities of
the local problem)
• Pragmatism and cooperation in the action (going
beyond the administrative limits)
• New targeting method
• Global approach of the difficulties (housing, energy,
socio-economic situation, health)
• Preventive action for a long term solution
• Diffusion of the innovation: limited in the case of
Liverpool, broad in the case of Frankfurt

15. Eastern Europe
• Local initiatives are based on local public authorities
(wood against voucher in Hungary) or on NGO
(especially to support Roma population to get
physical and financial access to energy).
• Are mainly reactive rather than proactive to the
energy affordability issue and rely mainly on
makeshift measures
• The central State is a major player in energy
especially in Hungary where the government
unilaterally decided to decrease the energy prices for
all, thus increasing inequalities

16. Local
Public
Private
Liverpool, Healthy
homes
Cariteam
Energiesparcheck in
Frankfurt
Programme Stromsparcheck
(financed by the centre based
on local partnership)
Hungary: decrease in
energy prices decided by
the central government
Local public authorities
dealing with social
assistance and adapting
solutions to local needs
Central

17. III. Conclusion
How to deal with fuel poverty
outside the EU
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18. The EU outside the EU
• Welfare and regulatory
state
• More or less existing
definition
• General accessibility
• Formal contracts, state
subsidies, taxes
• Urban / rural divide
• The developmental state
(liberal and protectionist)
• The phenomenon is very
rarely recognized
• Missing accessibility
• Informal relations,
communities, « grey
zones ». Different
consensus
• Urban issues (core and
peripheries) and center vs25/06/15 F Bafoil R Guyet Sciences Po 18

19. Thank you for your attention
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