“No home is the same”: Domestic energy justice in times of rising prices and the energy transition in Overvecht, Utrecht

Abstract

Energy poverty is a growing problem in the light of the steep rise of energy prices of 2021/2022. Vulnerability to energy poverty is not just dependent on high prices, low income, and energy-inefficient housing and appliances, but moreover on sociodemographic factors such as household composition, age, health, gender, and cultural background, and (energy-specific) poverty traps. Using the energy justice framing, this thesis shows how alleviation efforts, including the domestic energy transition, are only partly effective. While most efforts, such as a government compensation for the energy bill for poorer households and a head-started energy transition in the low-income neighborhood of Overvecht, do aim at reducing uneven distribution of energy costs and benefits, citizens are not sufficiently made part of of the procedure how these policies and efforts are made and not all needs are recognized.