Consumidores vulnerables en el sector eléctrico, lucha contra la pobreza energética y el bono social

Abstract

The European Union has introduced within the set of laws related to the Electricity Internal Market, the need of fighting energy poverty. In Spain, due to the increasing number of consumers unable to pay their monthly electricity bills, Parliament created a social bonus, as a mean of helping vulnerable consumers. Even though Spanish electricity legislation has kept unchanged the legal framework for the interruption of supply when the customer doesn’t pay the bill, recent reforms have included within the list of essential supplies some individual consumers, whose supply can’t be interrupted even when bills aren’t settled. Autonomous Communities should address this situation by means of social aids to consumers, rather than by an attempt to change basic state law related to interruption based on the lack of payment.