[Policy guide] The EED Energy Savings Obligation and energy poverty alleviation

Social Watt and ENSMOV H2020-funded projects get together to produce this joint guide. (Update: May 2022)

The energy savings obligation (ESO) in the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) requires EU Member States to achieve energy savings through national policy measures. The ESO is Article 7 of the current EED and Article 8 of the proposed recast Directive, published in July.

The ESO is the most significant energy efficiency measure in the European policy package, contributing around 50% of the overall EED energy efficiency target.
The EU Commission’s proposed recast of the EED introduces a requirement for a share of the energy savings to be achieved among energy poor households.

This policy brief provides an overview of the new requirement and explains how the shares are calculated for each Member State. It then
focusses on the policy measure that contributes the most to the aggregate achievement of the ESO target, the Energy Efficiency Obligation Schemes (EEOSs), which contribute 35% of savings (EU Commission, 2020). The briefing shares lessons from countries where EEOSs are used to alleviate energy poverty. The target audience is national public authorities, energy
and social policy experts and advocates.

---

About Social Watt

SocialWatt is an EU-funded project that aims to develop and provide utilities and energy suppliers with appropriate tools for effectively engaging with their customers and working together towards alleviating energy poverty. SocialWatt seeks to enable utilities, energy companies and obligated parties under the energy savings obligation (ESO) of the Energy
Efficiency Directive across Europe to develop, adopt, test and spread innovative energy poverty schemes.

In particular, SocialWatt contributes to the following three main pillars:

• Supporting utilities and energy suppliers to contribute to the fight against energy poverty through the use of decision-support tools.
  
• Bridging the gap between energy companies and social services by
  promoting collaboration and implementing knowledge transfer and
  capacity building activities that focus on the development of schemes that invest in renewable energy sources/energy efficiency and alleviate energy poverty.
• Implementing and replicating innovative schemes to alleviate energy poverty.