EmpowerTOOL

Collective advisory assemblies (CAAs) are an innovative, flexible, impactful, ready-to-use tool applicable for addressing various forms and levels of energy poverty. CAAs take the form of sessions typically gathering 10 to 30 people and open to anyone who is experiencing difficulties in relation to the access and affordability of domestic energy services, e.g., unsuitable high energy bills, inadequate tariffs or supply contract, late payment or indebtedness with providers, or health issues related to energy poverty. CAAs stand out as a community tool in which a group of people with similar energy poverty conditions share concerns and grievances in a safe and trusted space and where practical solutions are co-created through collective intelligence. Unlike individualised approaches based on one-on-one interventions CAAs constitute a horizontal engagement methodology in which people affected by energy poverty act ‘experts by practice’ capable of providing advanced peer-to-peer advice and guidance. The support provided is non-invasive, helps affected people reclaim their dignity, and opens the door for new forms of ‘energy citizenship’ that allow the participation of traditionally excluded segments of consumers into energy decision-making. Over 300 CAAs have been organized across Europe since the methodology was initially devised in Barcelona (Spain) in 2014, and its viability has been further confirmed by the Horizon 2020 EmpowerMed project, which enabled its replication in France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Albania. The experience accumulated so far provides solid evidence on the positive impacts for vulnerable households in terms of cost savings, debt reduction, consumer empowerment and change of social imaginaries on energy poverty. Its scalability and replicability are ensured because CAAs are an inexpensive support, cost-efficient tool, have low-entry material and financial requirements, and allow a great degree of flexibility in their implementation.