Unpacking the spaces and politics of energy poverty: path-dependencies, deprivation and fuel switching in post-communist Hungary

Stefan Bouzarovski*, Sergio Tirado Herrero, Saska Petrova, Diana Ürge-Vorsatz

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

This paper focuses on the embeddedness of energy poverty – understood as the inability to secure a socially and materially necessitated level of energy services in the home – in the socio-technical legacies inherited from past development trajectories, as well as broader economic and institutional landscapes. Using Hungary as an example, we explore the recent expansion of energy poverty across different demographic and income groups. While much of the mainstream literature focuses on cases where energy poverty affects distinct social groups and issues, our analyses examine the systemic implications of a form of deprivation that involves a much wider range of social and spatial strata. We develop a framework that highlights the different ways in which inadequate access to energy services has resulted in the emergence of new political reconfigurations among a variety of actors, while prompting the articulation of household strategies with far-reaching structural consequences.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1151-1170
Number of pages20
JournalLocal Environment
Volume21
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2016

Keywords

  • Hungary
  • energy poverty
  • natural gas
  • path-dependency
  • prices

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