As temperatures drop, the number of people across the European Union who are unable to heat their homes is rising. New data published by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) reveals that the number of people living in energy poverty reached 47.5 million in 2023.
In 2019, around seven percent of the EU population – approximately 30.7 million people – could not afford to heat their homes. By 2023, this percentage had risen to 10.6 percent, with 23.7 million workers affected by energy poverty.
Once a problem primarily affecting the socially disadvantaged, energy poverty is now increasingly impacting employed individuals, many of whom work in industries struggling to survive due to rising energy costs.
The European Trade Union Confederation is calling for urgent measures to prevent further job losses and declining living standards, including energy price controls, a ban on electricity disconnections for vulnerable households, increased investment in renewable energy, and fair wages.
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„The time for discussion is over – urgent action at the EU level is needed to reduce energy bills for industries, businesses, and households and to ensure the right to clean, affordable energy, recognizing energy as a public good”, said Esther Lynch, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.
ETUC is urging immediate and stricter regulation of the energy market to prevent speculative trading and protect citizens and businesses from volatile prices. Trade unions emphasize that energy is a public good and that its distribution and pricing should not be governed solely by market mechanisms but through responsible state policies that ensure fair resource allocation and long-term stability.
Additionally, ETUC highlights the need to decouple electricity prices from gas prices to establish a fairer and more stable pricing system. To this end, trade unions propose the creation of a European Energy Agency to coordinate energy policies, monitor market trends, and prevent abuses that lead to increased costs for households and industry.
