Is Spain’s Energy Voucher Lighting the Way for the Poor? A Microeconomic Evaluation of the Bono Social Eléctrico

Manuel Llorca and Ana Rodriguez-Alvarez

No 4-2025, Working Papers from Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics

Abstract: Energy poverty refers to the inability of households to afford adequate energy services, connected to negative impacts on health, well-being, and economic opportunities. It is a social policy issue that exacerbates inequality and limits access to essential services, particularly among vulnerable populations. In Spain, energy poverty has become an increasing concern, with many low-income households struggling to meet their energy needs despite various social protection mechanisms. This paper analyses the effectiveness of the Bono Social Eléctrico (BSE), a Spanish social electricity voucher aimed at alleviating energy poverty among vulnerable households. Departing from a microeconomic theoretical framework and a applying a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) approach, the study evaluates the gap between observed and potential energy poverty levels. The empirical analysis employs Spanish household panel data from 2021 to 2023, capturing key household characteristics and subsidy information. The findings indicate that, while the BSE contributes to reducing energy poverty, its impact is constrained by insufficient coverage of the poorest households and inefficiencies in allocation. The study suggests policy recommendations to enhance the voucher’s targeting mechanisms and explores strategies for more effective interventions to address energy poverty.

Keywords: Energy poverty; Policy evaluation; Stochastic frontier analysis; Spain; Bono social eléctrico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 D12 I38 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2025-04-23
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-reg
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10398/5dc34b34-a108-4f12-922d-0f8477a13860 Full text (application/pdf)
Full text not avaiable

Related works:
Working Paper: Is Spain's Energy Voucher Lighting the Way for the Poor? A Microeconomic Evaluation of the Bono Social Eléctrico (2025)
Working Paper: Is Spain’s energy voucher lighting the way for the poor? A microeconomic evaluation of the Bono Social Eléctrico (2025)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2025_004

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics, Porcelaenshaven 16 A. 1.floor, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CBS Library Research Registration Team ().