Modeling energy consumption to measure energy poverty in households in Buenos Aires (Argentina), 2017–2018

Abstract

Energy poverty is a complex, multidimensional problem that affects people’s quality of life. Its study has become an important pillar of the public policy agenda and the literature in Latin America. Using the 10% indicator, this paper aimed to model the energy consumption of households in Argentina to estimate the energy expenditure of each and thus determine which households are in a situation of energy poverty. For the empirical analysis The authors used the 2017–2018 National Household Expenditure Survey of Argentina, and urban households in the interior of the province of Buenos Aires were selected as a case study. After characterizing the main energy consumption habits of the sample, energy poverty was assessed. The analysis shows that for the study period (2017–2018), a significant number of households suffered from energy poverty; that is, they spent more than 10% of their income on energy expenditures. The findings indicate that the Demand Model is consistent, as the degree of adjustment is 0.1% in the demand for electricity and natural gas and 0.3% in the demand for liquefied petroleum gas. In addition, 462,143 households (28.3% of the sample analyzed) in the interior of the province of Buenos Aires experienced energy deprivation when considering the 10% indicator. On the other hand, by means of the 2M indicator, the results show that 518,686 households were in energy poverty (31.8% of the sample analyzed).