Energy poverty has already reached the middle class in Austria. More and more people have to think about how and if they can keep their homes warm.
Should I warm up or save on groceries? Since the immense price increase, this demand not only affects the lowest income groups, but also increasingly broader layers of the population. In addition to gas and electricity prices, those of petrol, diesel and pellets are also rising sharply. “According to the latest calculation of the EU-SILC data set, about 1.7 percent of Austrians would not be able to heat their homes sufficiently in 2021,” says Christina Friedl from the Linz Energy Institute.
rising trend
Alarmingly, in the last quarter of this year, this value rose to a remarkable 8.4 percent – and the trend is rising! Inflation, which affects many aspects of life, lowers energy affordability for a larger segment of the population. Energy poverty is often a vicious circle. The affected people are doing everything possible to reduce consumption. In many cases, however, that means nothing but freezing.
Many households often miss the opportunity to increase efficiency, for example by insulating the home, as this is already expensive in itself.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
