Powerful Encounters:
Picturing an end to energy poverty

Around 50 million people in Europe are currently living in energy poverty. Energy poverty  comes in many shapes and sizes that go beyond struggling to pay high energy bills. Some households are unable to heat or cool their homes, some people can not afford to cook for their family, or light their living spaces. Despite governments offering financial support at the height of the energy crisis, energy poverty has remained a major issue. Support initiatives have often failed to deliver long-term solutions for those needing them most, including people with health issues, the elderly and those living in indecent housing.

Through a set of powerful photographs, Powerful Encounters explores how people across Europe are facing energy poverty and how they are fighting for the right to decent, climate-resilient homes which are powered by affordable, clean energy. 

Being a prominent societal problem throughout the entire EU, energy poverty has many faces, it feels different for each individual household and manifests differently in each European country. And at the same time, it is a shared struggle. Energy poverty is not a personal burden, it is a structural inequality. No matter the country, people facing energy poverty are already struggling with low incomes, substandard housing, and high energy prices. 

With stories from Lisbon in Portugal to Plovdiv in Bulgaria, people from five different countries talk about their lived experience, the local relief initiatives that have already made a difference in their lives, and the solutions they think are needed to eradicate energy poverty and deliver energy justice across Europe. 

Eradicating energy poverty calls for immediate emergency support for those most in need of energy, together with structural solutions that actually address the root causes of energy poverty. The time to act and deliver on these solutions is NOW.