IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v207y2025ics0301421525003386.html

Energy poverty and a possible energy efficiency obligation scheme in Türkiye: Comparing income and energy expenditure-based definitions and policy implications

Author

Listed:
  • Cin, Rabia
  • Onaygil, Sermin

Abstract

There is a multifaceted relationship between Energy Efficiency Obligation Schemes (EEOS) and energy poverty. EEOS costs are often passed onto end-users through fees, potentially exacerbating energy poverty if benefits are not equitably distributed. However, EEOS can also mitigate these effects by incorporating social objectives. Türkiye plans to implement an EEOS by 2027, yet energy poverty remains largely overlooked in policy discussions. To support fair policy design, policymakers should recognize the complex relationship between EEOS and energy poverty. It is also crucial to understand how different definitions of energy poverty influence the identification of energy-poor households. This study statistically evaluates income and energy expenditure-based energy poverty definitions using the 2022 Household Budget Survey. Chi-square tests and post-hoc analyses are conducted to assess their effectiveness. Additionally, a simulation examines the impact of EEOS-related fees on households. The findings indicate that the identification of energy-poor households is significantly shaped by the selected definition. Although fee implementation does not drastically increase the number of energy-poor households, it intensifies affordability challenges. Furthermore, conventional definitions fail to capture hidden energy poverty and underlying inefficiencies. These findings highlight the importance of a well-targeted and socially sensitive EEOS design that incorporates affordability concerns and structural vulnerabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Cin, Rabia & Onaygil, Sermin, 2025. "Energy poverty and a possible energy efficiency obligation scheme in Türkiye: Comparing income and energy expenditure-based definitions and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:207:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525003386
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114831
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421525003386
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114831?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Galvin, Ray, 2024. "Reducing poverty in the UK to mitigate energy poverty by the 10% and LIHC indicators: What tax changes are needed, and what are the consequences for CO2 emissions?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    2. Brunner, Karl-Michael & Spitzer, Markus & Christanell, Anja, 2012. "Experiencing fuel poverty. Coping strategies of low-income households in Vienna/Austria," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 53-59.
    3. Cin, Rabia & Onaygil, Sermin & Gökçek, Tayfur, 2024. "An ex-ante cost-benefit assessment of the possible Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme in Türkiye," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    4. Dogan, Eyup & Madaleno, Mara & Taskin, Dilvin, 2021. "Which households are more energy vulnerable? Energy poverty and financial inclusion in Turkey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    5. Howden-Chapman, Philippa & Viggers, Helen & Chapman, Ralph & O’Sullivan, Kimberley & Telfar Barnard, Lucy & Lloyd, Bob, 2012. "Tackling cold housing and fuel poverty in New Zealand: A review of policies, research, and health impacts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 134-142.
    6. Parajuli, Ranjan, 2011. "Access to energy in Mid/Far west region-Nepal from the perspective of energy poverty," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 2299-2304.
    7. Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana & Tirado Herrero, Sergio, 2012. "Building synergies between climate change mitigation and energy poverty alleviation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 83-90.
    8. Meltem Ucal & Simge Günay, 2022. "Household Happiness and Fuel Poverty: a Cross-Sectional Analysis on Turkey," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 391-420, February.
    9. Anderson, Will & White, Vicki & Finney, Andrea, 2012. "Coping with low incomes and cold homes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 40-52.
    10. Moore, Richard, 2012. "Definitions of fuel poverty: Implications for policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 19-26.
    11. Darmais, Amélie & Glachant, Matthieu & Kahn, Victor, 2024. "Social equity provisions in energy efficiency obligations: An ex-post analysis of the French program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    12. Meltem Ucal & Simge Günay, 2023. "Is precarity a fate for women in Türkiye? Rethinking energy poverty from a gender perspective," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(3), pages 615-636, December.
    13. Moser, Simon, 2013. "Poor energy poor: Energy saving obligations, distributional effects, and the malfunction of the priority group," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1003-1010.
    14. Argun, Irem Duzdar & Kayakutlu, Gulgun & Ozgozen, Neslihan Yilmaz & Daim, Tugrul U., 2021. "Models for Energy Efficiency Obligation Systems through different perspectives," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Gilbertson, Jan & Grimsley, Michael & Green, Geoff, 2012. "Psychosocial routes from housing investment to health: Evidence from England's home energy efficiency scheme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 122-133.
    16. Walker, Gordon & Day, Rosie, 2012. "Fuel poverty as injustice: Integrating distribution, recognition and procedure in the struggle for affordable warmth," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 69-75.
    17. Duzgun, B. & Komurgoz, G., 2014. "Turkey's energy efficiency assessment: White Certificates Systems and their applicability in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 465-474.
    18. Rosenow, Jan & Platt, Reg & Flanagan, Brooke, 2013. "Fuel poverty and energy efficiency obligations – A critical assessment of the supplier obligation in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1194-1203.
    19. Ünal, Berat Berkan & Onaygil, Sermin & Acuner, Ebru & Cin, Rabia, 2022. "Application of energy efficiency obligation scheme for electricity distribution companies in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2015. "Fuel poverty, affordability, and energy justice in England: Policy insights from the Warm Front Program," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 361-371.
    2. Scarpellini, Sabina & Sanz Hernández, M. Alexia & Llera-Sastresa, Eva & Aranda, Juan A. & López Rodríguez, María Esther, 2017. "The mediating role of social workers in the implementation of regional policies targeting energy poverty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 367-375.
    3. Recep Ulucak & Ramazan Sari & Seyfettin Erdogan & Rui Alexandre Castanho, 2021. "Bibliometric Literature Analysis of a Multi-Dimensional Sustainable Development Issue: Energy Poverty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Fabbri, Kristian, 2015. "Building and fuel poverty, an index to measure fuel poverty: An Italian case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 244-258.
    5. O'Sullivan, Kimberley C. & Howden-Chapman, Philippa L. & Fougere, Geoffrey M. & Hales, Simon & Stanley, James, 2013. "Empowered? Examining self-disconnection in a postal survey of electricity prepayment meter consumers in New Zealand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 277-287.
    6. Cin, Rabia & Onaygil, Sermin & Gökçek, Tayfur, 2024. "An ex-ante cost-benefit assessment of the possible Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme in Türkiye," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    7. Dalia Streimikiene & Vidas Lekavičius & Tomas Baležentis & Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos & Josef Abrhám, 2020. "Climate Change Mitigation Policies Targeting Households and Addressing Energy Poverty in European Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-24, July.
    8. Bouzarovski, Stefan & Simcock, Neil, 2017. "Spatializing energy justice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 640-648.
    9. Burlinson, Andrew & Giulietti, Monica & Law, Cherry & Liu, Hui-Hsuan, 2021. "Fuel poverty and financial distress," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Liang, Yinhe & Liu, Xi & Yu, Sitian, 2025. "Education and energy poverty: Evidence from China's compulsory education law," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    11. Singh, Anita, 2026. "Why is the United Kingdom fuel poor?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 209(PA).
    12. Stefan Bouzarovski & Saska Petrova & Sergio Tirado-Herrero, 2014. "From Fuel Poverty to Energy Vulnerability: The Importance of Services, Needs and Practices," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-25, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    13. Yiming Xiao & Han Wu & Guohua Wang & Hong Mei, 2021. "Mapping the Worldwide Trends on Energy Poverty Research: A Bibliometric Analysis (1999–2019)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-22, February.
    14. Paudel, Jayash, 2021. "Why Are People Energy Poor? Evidence From Ethnic Fractionalization," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Maciej Lis & Katarzyna Salach & Konstancja Swiecicka, 2016. "Heterogeneity of the fuel poor in Poland – quantification and policy implications," IBS Working Papers 08/2016, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    16. Scarpellini, Sabina & Rivera-Torres, Pilar & Suárez-Perales, Inés & Aranda-Usón, Alfonso, 2015. "Analysis of energy poverty intensity from the perspective of the regional administration: Empirical evidence from households in southern Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 729-738.
    17. Peter Heindl, 2015. "Measuring Fuel Poverty: General Considerations and Application to German Household Data," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 71(2), pages 178-215, June.
    18. Stefan Bouzarovski, 2014. "Energy poverty in the European Union: landscapes of vulnerability," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 276-289, May.
    19. Mattioli, Giulio & Lucas, Karen & Marsden, Greg, 2018. "Reprint of Transport poverty and fuel poverty in the UK: From analogy to comparison," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 114-125.
    20. Llorca, Manuel & Rodriguez-Alvarez, Ana & Jamasb, Tooraj, 2020. "Objective vs. subjective fuel poverty and self-assessed health," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:207:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525003386. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.