Energy Equity in Focus: Multi-level Indicators for a Fairer Future

Seán Fearon, Fan He, Lirong Liu

Energy equity is about ensuring everyone has fair access to energy, both in how it’s used and produced. Equity is not equality. Ensuring everyone has equal access energy may result in some having more than they need and not enough being given to deserving causes. Equity ensures that energy use and production can be apportioned fairly. This idea is connected to bigger issues like social and economic fairness, historical inequalities, and how energy impacts our economy, society, and environment. When we choose ways to measure energy equity, we need to make sure we’re not just looking at the surface problems but also addressing the unfair systems that cause these issues.

As Baker et al. (2023) write: “Metrics can help correct systemic inequalities by identifying important features and developing standards, such that actions can be informed and geared toward meaningfully improving the quality of life as well as monitoring its evolutions.” This blog uses indicators at different levels to rethink energy equity.

At the household/individual level, the energy poverty rate tracks the number of households unable to access good enough energy services. In England, the new definition of fuel poverty accounts for people who may not pay for fuel due to financial difficulties, which can be measured by the detailed fuel poverty tables in DESNZ. The energy sufficiency rate measures the number of people or households using less than a certain amount of energy (132 GJ per person per year, according to Burke (2020)). The energy burden indicator reflects the percentage of household income spent on energy, with a combined dataset offered by the ONS on energy expenditure (across electricity, gas, and other sources) by social groups (including family status and living status).

Key indicators at the regional level include the rural energy poverty gap and average exposure indicator. The rural poverty gap measures how much more rural households would need to spend on energy to avoid energy poverty. The UK Average Exposure Indicator measures how much of a population is exposed to harmful pollution (like PM2.5), which can be matched with demographic data to see the impact on minority and marginalized communities.

At the national level, data contained in Table 801 in the UK National Travel Survey can be used to measure how easy it is for people to reach public transport, based on travel time. Job creation in green energy projects is another crucial indicator, as it shows how the transition to clean energy can promote sustainability and fairness.

At the global scale, access to affordable, sustainable, and dependable public transport is a systemic energy equity, and the indicator 11.2 of UN Sustainable Development Goals can provide insight into this issue. The Global Energy Vulnerability Index (GEVI) and World Energy Trilemma Index are comprised of indicators looking at energy security and sustainability, and can be used to compare the performance between countries.

We can see that there are indicators and database allow us to assess energy equity at multiple levels and with different focuses. Previous studies on energy equity emphasises a focus on specific populations who have long been victims of systemic energy injustice. We should measure energy equity outcomes and conditions at all levels, from individual households to global systems, to ensure that changes have the desired effect at all levels.