The percentage of the population that cannot keep their home at an adequate temperature in winter goes from 13.4% in 2020 to 21.4% in 2021
More and more people find themselves unable to keep their homes at an adequate temperature in winter because they cannot afford the electricity bill, install heating or undertake insulation work in their homes. The main indicator that measures energy poverty increased in the Region of Murcia in 2021 by 8% compared to 2020, according to the
report released yesterday by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
This scourge reached 21.4% of the population in the Community last year, only below in Spain the autonomous city of Ceuta, with 33.3%. Behind Murcia are Melilla, Andalusia, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. This index was in the Region at 13.4% in 2020, at 5.1% in 2019 and at 13% in 2018.
“The fact that the perception of inadequate temperature is greater may have to do with sociodemographic factors such as the distribution of the population by age group or life cycle, as well as more technical aspects linked to energy efficiency in the home,” he warns. the Ministry in updating indicators of the
National Strategy Against Energy Poverty 2019-2024.
Another relevant indicator of energy poverty, disproportionate spending, affects 16% of Spanish households and the Region of Murcia presents the third worst index in Spain -with 23.34%-, only below Andalusia (24.49% ) and Castilla-La Mancha (23.74%), and despite experiencing a slight improvement compared to 2020 (23.89%).
However, in the Region the third indicator worsens, since the percentage of the population that is late in paying energy bills rises (from 10.5% to 12.4%). This figure experienced a slight improvement in Spain as a whole (with an average of 9.5%, equivalent to 4.4 million people).
And as for the fourth indicator, hidden energy poverty (defined as the percentage of households whose energy expenditure is less than half the national average), the Region presents a discreet 12.16%, a percentage that is practically maintains since 2018.
“This indicator may be associated with homes that limit their energy needs below what would be desirable to maintain a minimum level of comfort,” recalls the Ministry, “although it may also obey more efficient behavior patterns, as well as the availability of equipment with high standards of energy efficiency”.
The Ministry attributes the overall improvement in three of the four indicators of energy poverty (in the national average, only the one related to the inability to keep the home at an adequate temperature in winter worsens) to “the effectiveness of the measures of the social shield and the fiscal measures implemented by the Government during a good part of the year 2020 and that have been seen even more reinforced during 2021 ».
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