Persistent Energy Poverty and the Limits of Institutional Support: Evidence from the Spanish Bono Social

Alejandro Betancourt, Romero, José C. and Budría, Santiago ()
Additional contact information
Alejandro Betancourt: Universidad Pontificia Comillas
Romero, José C.: Universidad Pontificia Comillas
Budría, Santiago: Universidad Nebrija

No 18700, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: While a growing body of research has analysed the determinants of energy poverty, less is known about its dynamic nature and about whether current support schemes adequately reach households experiencing multidimensional vulnerability. Using the 2020-2023 longitudinal data from the Spanish component of the EU-SILC, the paper estimates the extent of energy poverty persistence in Spain and assesses the protective role of the Bono Social -Spain’s main public support scheme for vulnerable energy consumers. The paper also simulates the potential impact of alternative cash-equivalent energy support. The results show strong inertia effects: households experiencing energy poverty in the previous period are 1.9 to 6.4 percentage points more likely to experience it again. We also document important limitations in the coverage and take-up of the Bono Social. Counterfactual simulations indicate that a modest annual energy support transfer of € 500 per household can substantially reduce energy poverty, with reductions ranging from 1.8 to 17.3 percentage points. These findings highlight the need for more differentiated and better-targeted policy interventions.

Keywords: energy poverty; persistence; dynamic panel models; Bono Social; policy counterfactuals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 I32 I38 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp18700.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:iza:izadps:dp18700

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mark Fallak ().