Current debates regarding energy poverty in France

Transcription

1 Current debates regarding energy poverty in France Ute Dubois ISG Business School, Paris Energy Action European Conference Dublin, March 29,

2 Introduction Energy poverty in France publicly recognised, defined (2010) & addressed through various policy measures Recent debates & policy evolutions: about the delivery of measures Social tariffs for electricity & gas replaced by an energy cheque (2018) Thermal renovations actual figures remain What possible game changers? Massification and the simplification of delivery Improving knowledge & raising awareness about the benefits of EP alleviation 2

3 Outline of the presentation 1. Energy poverty in France: what do we know? Quantifying & qualifying EP Main policy tools 2. Financial support to low-income households: the launch of the energy cheque in The debate about the massification of thermal renovations 4. Health as an emerging issue? 3

4 1. Energy poverty in France: what do we know? 4

5 EP in France: what are we talking about? Energy precariousness started being debated in 2005 Official definition of 2010 is vague Data sources for EP measurement National housing surveys (every 5-7 years, the last one in , over homes in metropolitan France) but limited data on EP PHEBUS survey (realised once in 2013, 2356 households) focus on energy performances of homes Several methods have been tested to quantify the problem 10 percent of actual expenses (different from UK approach) Cold homes (subjective, during 24 hrs) LIHC transformed into Low-income-high expenses ie. based on actual expenses Per square meter of home Different from England & Hills Consequence: people living in smaller homes and large families are more represented Inclusion of transport (2015) Modelling energy needs (planned) 5

6 Energy poverty measurements in France: the housing survey of (ONPE, 2016) Indicator Energy expenses indicator (10%) Low Income High Expenses per sq. meter Low Income High Expenses per cons. Unit Cold home (at least 24 hrs) % of Households Number of Households Number of people Persons per Household Evolution of EP Households Evolution of EP people % 2.8 M 5.5 M % 38% 13.9% 3.8 M 8.5M % 15% 10.3% 2.8 M 5.1 M % 2% 6% 1.6 M 4.1 M % 17% All data for the three first income deciles Source: ONPE (2016), on the basis of the national housing survey of

7 Types of energy poverty related difficulties Estimation of the total number of EP households: 5,6 millions of households (the envelope, which includes all situations below + low-income high expenses per consumption unit, i.e. 0.3 million) The core : 1 million households (Cold home + at least one other form of EP) 0.6 M Energy expenses indicator (10%), three first income deciles: 2.8 M Cold home (at least 24 hrs) three first income deciles: 1.6 M 1.4 M 0.1 M 0.5 M 0.6 M 0.4 M 0.9 M +0.3 M Low Income High Expenses per consumption unit (three first income deciles) not included in LIHE per sqm Source: ONPE (November 2016), on the basis of the national housing survey of 2013 Low Income High Expenses per sq meter three first income deciles: 3.8 M 7

8 EP measurements in France: the PHEBUS survey of 2013 (source: Belaid, 2018) Estimation of energy poverty Method: LIHC per m² for the income deciles D1-D % of French households are energy poor (3.18 million households) fuel poverty gap = 672 on average Source: Belaid (2018) Exposure and risk to fuel poverty in France: examining the extent of the fuel precariousness and its salient determinants, Energy Policy Profiles of energy poor households (clusters) 1. foreign family, employed, living in collective housing, collective heating (24% of sample) 2. single person, retired, tenant, living in collective housing, small flat (23% of sample) 3. family in individual housing, individual central heating, gas (32% of sample) 4. homeowner in individual housing, large size of home, rural area, oil heating (21% of sample) 8

9 Levers for energy poverty alleviation Energy supply conditions Protecting vulnerable consumers against disconnection, reducing or subsidising energy bills, enabling choice of suppliers and payment methods Resources Financial assistance for lowincome households, for households with payment difficulties, targeted measures for certain types of households Energy poverty alleviation Energy efficiency Thermal renovation programmes, replacement of boilers & heating equipment, small appliances & fixing problems, information provision 9

10 Levers for energy poverty alleviation No disconnection in winter Special tariffs for technical interventions Energy supply conditions Protecting vulnerable consumers against disconnection, reducing or subsidising energy bills, enabling choice of suppliers and payment methods Social tariffs ( ) Energy suppliers Solidarity Departments Resources Financial assistance for lowincome households, for households with payment difficulties, targeted measures for certain types of households Energy poverty alleviation Energy efficiency Thermal renovation programmes, replacement of boilers & heating equipment, small appliances & fixing problems, information provision 10

11 Levers for energy poverty alleviation Energy Cheque (2018) Social funds for housing (FSL) Energy supply conditions Protecting vulnerable consumers against disconnection, reducing or Local subsidising energy bills, enabling choice energy of suppliers and payment methods subsidies Resources Financial assistance for lowincome households, for households with payment difficulties, targeted measures for certain types of households Energy poverty alleviation Energy efficiency Thermal renovation programmes, replacement of boilers & heating equipment, small appliances & fixing problems, information provision 11

12 Levers for energy poverty alleviation Energy supply conditions Protecting vulnerable consumers against disconnection, reducing or Habiter subsidising energy bills, enabling choice Mieux of suppliers and payment methods (2011) Tax credits, zero interest loans Advice & small appliances Resources Financial assistance for lowincome households, for households with payment difficulties, targeted measures for certain types of households Energy poverty alleviation Energy efficiency Thermal renovation programmes, replacement of boilers & heating equipment, small appliances & fixing problems, information provision 12

13 2. Financial support to low-income households: the launch of the Energy Cheque in

14 Why replace the previous social tariffs for electricity & gas? Much progress has been made over time to increase the number of beneficiaries First reducing the complexity of procedures to benefit Then attributing them automatically However there was a remaining complexity regarding delivery Injustice: amount of support dependent on Having an electricity or gas contract Type of energy used (advantage for natural gas customers) Crossing databases (low-income households & energy customers) causing losses of beneficiaries End 2017: 3.1 million beneficiaries for electricity (vs. 4 million potential beneficiaries) 14

15 The energy cheque Launched in March 2018 Replaces social tariffs for electricity & gas Allows payment of energy bills All types of energy bills And / or works of improvement of environmental quality of homes or energy saving measures per year (average = 150 ), depending on Household composition Income per consumption unit (income threshold = 7,700 per consumption unit) Financing A contribution paid by electricity and gas consumers through their bills The state budget 15

16 Energy cheque: first lessons from four Departments Households (+) more beneficiaries (+) consumers with all types of heating energy (+) amount of subsidy is clear (+) flexible use (?) learning how to use cheque (?) uptake (78%) (-) level of subsidy still insufficient Management of the system (+) attribution criteria easier than for social tariffs (+) better coverage for people with lowest incomes (?) electricity & gas suppliers do not automatically know the beneficiaries potential impact on customer protections (?) management costs 16 16

17 3. The debate about the massification of thermal renovations 17

18 Why is massification an issue? 7.5 million homes considered as highly energy inefficient (1.5 million owned by lowincome households) 250,000 renovations realised through the main French renovation programme Habiter Mieux between 2011 and 2017 Renovation objectives of the Energy Transition Law of 2015: 500,000 homes per year from 2017 on Out of which (each year) 250,000 homes of low-income households to reduce energy poverty by 15% until 2020 Goal: renovate 150,000 highly inefficient homes per year from 2018 on (source: Plan Bâtiment Durable 2018). The problem: implementing renovations at a large scale appears more difficult than initially expected 18

19 The central tool to realise this goal: the thermal renovation programme Habiter Mieux ( Living Better ) Initially: Comprehensive renovations of homes of low incomes households Renovation measures financed through A dedicated thermal renovation fund Plus classical funds from National Habitat Agency ANAH Plus energy suppliers contributions (white certificates) Specialised operators assist households on technical and financial engineering aspects over the whole duration of the project Initial goal 300,000 homes ( ), 250,000 Do not let the cold realised install inside hour home From 2018 on: goal of 75,000 / year. (ANAH communication campaign) 19

20 Delivery problems leading to evolutions of Habiter Mieux

21 Additional tools to create incentives to renovate for both households and suppliers Complementary financing for Habiter Mieux renovations Until 2018: zero-interest loan (Eco-PTZ) up to for 10 years Microcredit (maximum amount: between and for 8 to 10 years) at zero interest Tax credits for renovations (CITE = Crédit d Impôt Transition Energétique) 15% to 30% of expenses, depending on type of work A special Energy Poverty obligation added to the white certificates system 150 TWh cumac for energy poverty in Adds to 700 TWhc energy saving obligations for For : total obligation of 1600 TWhc (including 400 TWhc for the energy poor) 21

22 Areas of improvement: how to achieve massification? Finance partial renovations Encourage selfrenovation Go beyond energy efficiency and promote aspects like comfort, well being, health, value of buildings? Foster the development of simple and easily reproducible solutions by private operators Developing renovation offers addressing specifically buyers of homes & involving real estate agents timing matters Keep mechanisms stable 22

23 4. Health as an emerging issue? 23

24 The difficulty of lacking recognition of energy povertyhealth relations in France Practitioners knowledge Know that there are health difficulties associated with EP but often view health & energy efficiency as isolated from each other Health practitioners: hard to demonstrate causal relations Policy approaches Lacking awareness of EP-health relations and of health benefits of EP alleviation Policy fragmentation Research Limited data available Measuring impacts can be a complex exercise 24

25 EP-health relations in research Analysis of statistical data correlation between energy poverty & health and wellbeing indicators Energy poverty increases the probability of occurrence of (1) self-reported health, (2) long-standing illness and (3) mental health Source: Chaton & Lacroix (2014), Jusot & Lacroix (2014) Two ad-hoc studies on smaller samples of low-income households Housing conditions & health: Sample: 352 households (energy poor & non energy poor) health difficulties: chronic illness, acute health problems Impact of mould on chronic respiratory disease Energy poor people more exposed to winter pathologies Impact of thermal renovation on the consumption of health services: Sample: 210 households in the South of France 25% consider that their health has improved after thermal renovations In particular the low-income people Self-reported medical consumption has decreased (frequency of seeing a doctor) Less treatments for mental health problems Source: Ledésert (2013) and (2016) 25

26 Policy approaches Legislation on unhealthy buildings (insalubrité) and on the decency of homes Criteria for classifying a home as unhealthy are very restrictive Attempt to include energy efficiency of homes in decency criteria not operational Certain local initiatives of municipalities In combination with other difficulties like saturnism Information campaigns Detection of mould problems Practitioners knowledge Medical advisors specialised in indoor environment Initiatives where households identified as energy poor benefit from diagnoses by specialised medical advisors Results of a local experiment with 30 households Humidity in all cases 90 % have little or no insulation Two third have cold at home One third use a secondary heater Renovations recommended in 20 cases, often people need to move to a different place At a macro level, no recognition of impact of housing characteristics on human health (ex. Heat waves) At a micro level, it is still hard to obtain proofs/certificates on the links between housing and poor health 26

27 Concluding remarks France has made considerable progress in the past years in Refining policy tools to address EP Raising awareness on the problem among stakeholders Identifying energy poor households However, significant obstacles remain regarding Implementation of massive thermal retrofits Recognition of the multiple benefits of EP alleviation Need for Innovative approaches to foster delivery of retrofits Linking policy fields (housing / energy efficiency / social / health) 27

28 Current debates regarding energy poverty in France Ute Dubois ISG Business School, Paris Energy Action European Conference Dublin, March 29,