Energy poverty remains one of the most urgent social challenges of Europe’s energy transition. The energy crisises exposed structural vulnerabilities across Member States, but it also accelerated innovation. Municipalities, civil society organisations, energy communities, and research institutions have developed concrete solutions that combine social protection, climate action, and citizen engagement.
This new edition of the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH) for inspiring examples for energy poverty struggle From local innovation to structural action reflects how the field has evolved recently. While the previous publication highlighted pioneering initiatives, this collection showcases a more mature phase of action. Many of the successful initiatives are no longer pilot projects but now cover more areas and households. In the mature phase of these initiatives, tpresents upper level of:
- Institutionalization: We are no longer talking about short-term projects, but about municipal units that manage these processes on a permanent basis.
- Scalability: Successful models (such as in-home energy consulting or the creation of energy communities) are adapted and implemented in different regions.
- Regulatory coherence: The direct link to European legislation (EU and EEA) ensures not only legitimacy but also access to targeted funding.
- Synergy: Combining social protection with technical measures (such as building retrofits and renewable energy) addresses the root of the problem, rather than simply subsidizing high utility bills
One example that illustrates how initial pilot initiatives have strengthened institutional capacity over time is the SLIME program in France.
SLIME is a national programme to tackle energy poverty that enables local authorities to co finance their actions through the French Energy Saving Certificates scheme. Its methodology is designed at national level and implemented locally by municipalities and regions. The programme operates in three complementary stages:
- identifying vulnerable households through a coordinated network of social workers, charities and energy actors
- conducting home visits to assess needs, improve comfort and install small energy-saving equipment
- guiding households towards the most appropriate local or national support schemes
SLIME emerged from the political will of French local authorities to better coordinate fragmented local actions and actors addressing energy poverty. It built on territorial diagnoses that highlighted gaps in detection and access to rights and initially operated as a structured pilot to organise local intervention chains.
To date, around 40% of French households live in a territory covered by a SLIME scheme. The objective is to further expand the programme nationwide so that all households experiencing energy poverty can access a home visit and structured support. Continued scaling would strengthen territorial coverage and consolidate SLIME as a national framework for early detection and coordinated intervention.
Energy Advice Points (EAPs) are a key energy poverty service implemented in several EU countries. These one stop shops operate within national, regional and local requirements, which can make them challenging to manage, replicate and scale. The digitalisation of Barcelona’s services has enabled the integration of databases, improved operational efficiency, empowered both users and professionals, and facilitated replication in other regions of Catalonia. Since April 2025, the My Energy Platform has been successfully demonstrated at Barcelona’s Energy Advice Points, validating a solution co-created with stakeholders across the energy poverty lifecycle. The project is funded by the local government, with additional grants from the Generalitat de Catalunya and the ICLEI Action Fund
supported by Google (digitalisation).
For more interesting cases you can read: From local innovation to structural action.
