Energy consumer in the Cuban legal system: Towards comprehensive protection

Abstract

Nowadays, energy consumer protection must be a top priority in an energy crisis context. The State must fight energy vulnerability and energy poverty through all means. In this scenario, Law has crucial relevance to providing legal guarantees for energy access. In the Cuban legal order, energy consumer protection has new challenges and demands new perspectives. This article entitled: ‘Energy consumer in the Cuban legal system: Towards a comprehensive protection’ has, as a general objective, to determine the need of creating a comprehensive protection system that provides legal security to the energy consumer in the Cuban legal system. This article initially addresses the main general aspects of energy consumer legal protection, first referring to its historical evolution and conceptualization. It also explains the need for each State to provide a comprehensive protection system for its energy consumers, taking as reference good practices in the existing ones. Next, regulation of energy consumers is determined in the Cuban Energy Law and Policy Framework, evidencing the existence of legislative gaps to provide effective protection.