Voluntary Public Partnership to Combat Energy Poverty in Romania

The high degree of inertia of state institutions, lack of detailed knowledge of the realities on the ground, lack of human and material resources resulted in delayed actions. Countless attempts to electrify all households in Romania have failed. In the view of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI), the development of Voluntary Public Partnerships can fill these gaps and eliminate future failures.

AEI has sent numerous alarm signals about extreme energy poverty (people who have no access and no hope of having access to electricity in the future) and has tried in recent years, through the Energy for Life project, to present solutions to solve this situation, thus bringing light to 34 isolated households in the Apuseni, Ciuc, Vrancea, Giurgeu, Bargau and Rodna Mountains.

The example set by AEI must be continued in an institutional way, so that extreme energy poverty – houses without electricity – is eradicated in Romania.

AEI has volunteered to be involved in this action and to carry out some operations under an Agreement with the Ministry of Energy to cover the partial lack of expertise and to identify the necessary funds.

Thus, in November 2023, the Intelligent Energy Association signed the Partnership for Combating Energy Poverty in Romania (PCEP) with the Ministry of Energy with the aim of eradicating extreme energy poverty – zero homes without electricity.

Under the umbrella of the Partnership for Combating Energy Poverty, AEI will continue the ‘Energy for Life’ project, which aims to install photovoltaic panels in households without electricity, and in the next period an inventory will be carried out of homes in Romania without electricity in order to identify solutions to eradicate extreme energy poverty and reach the target of 0 households without electricity.

 

Key activities

The Partnership for Combating Energy Poverty in Romania aims to carry out the following activities:

• Field inventory of all properties without electricity in Romania and the creation of the National Electronic Register of Households without Electricity in Romania
• Public policy proposals on reducing extreme energy poverty in Romania
• Conducting studies to address and effectively reduce extreme energy poverty
• Activities to effectively reduce extreme energy poverty through the resources attracted.

 

New project

Within the partnership it was proposed to develop a new project – ‘Houses with heat’, in order to support families in need by distributing firewood for heating their homes. At the same time, through this project AEI intends to highlight the need for winter heating in more than 70% of the localities in Romania that are not connected to the gas distribution network.

Since its launch, the ‘Energy for Life’ project has enjoyed real support from media representatives and, at the initiative of TVR producer Monica Ghiurco, the Support Community for Combating Energy Poverty (SCCEP) will be created.

SCCEP will support and publicise the programmes to be implemented under the partnership with the Ministry of Energy, so that they are known by a large number of people and attract as many donors as possible.

AEI invites all companies that want to support this cause to join the projects to be carried out within the framework of the Partnership for Combating Energy Poverty in Romania (PCEP), by adopting a house to bring light or heating in winter.