Energy poverty and affordability in Ireland

Energy poverty is a persistent policy issue across Europe, one which will become increasingly relevant in the face of energy price volatility, climate change, geopolitical uncertainty, and the need for a just transition.

Measuring energy poverty is vital for policymaking as it identifies vulnerable
households, guides targeted supports and tracks progress, enabling timely
adjustments to address rising energy costs, climate goals and changing household conditions.

Energy poverty refers to a household’s lack of access to essential energy services that ensure a basic standard of living and health. It can be experienced in multiple ways. Energy bills might be too expensive, representing a high share of household’s income or limiting their capacity to afford other essentials. Alternatively, households may be forced to behave in ways that reduce their energy consumption to a point where their physical and mental health is compromised.

Energy poverty stems from insufficient disposable income to afford adequate energy services, rendering it highly context-dependent and closely intertwined with a range of socio-economic issues and forms of hardship (Estévez and Tovar, 2024). It is also shaped by broader structural factors, including wage levels, income inequality, housing quality, corporate taxation, access to affordable energy, and the energy efficiency of the dwelling stock. Beyond national contexts, systemic and geopolitical factors such as extractivism, global inequalities, and the legacies of colonialism influence energy access, prices and infrastructure (Bouzarovski et al., 2025). In this sense, energy poverty is not simply an individual or household problem, but a multidimensional justice issue embedded in both national and global social, economic and political structures.

The European Union has placed this challenge firmly on their policy agenda: Current directives require Member States not only to monitor energy poverty but also to design and evaluate measures that protect people experiencing energy poverty and vulnerable consumers, ensuring that affordability risks are systematically addressed. In Ireland, these aims have been incorporated into the Energy Poverty Action Plan (EPAP) and the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).

In this report, we address key questions related to energy poverty and affordability.