Around one in five (21.1%) households in Romania fall below the poverty line after paying their energy bills, according to a new annual report published by the Romanian Energy Poverty Observatory (ORSE).
„The data show the significant impact of energy costs on living standards and confirm that the phenomenon remains a major challenge at national level, especially in a context of new tensions on international energy markets. Energy poverty particularly affects rural areas and individual households, and the inclusion of gas cylinder costs shows an even greater pressure on household budgets”, reads the press release.
ORSE's analysis shows that energy vulnerability is driven by a combination of factors - low income, energy inefficient housing and limited access to modern technologies, with the effects unevenly distributed across regions, living environments and housing types.
„Energy poverty is a complex phenomenon that cannot be described by a single indicator. To truly understand the scale of the problem, we need to simultaneously analyze data on income, residential environment, energy costs, consumption and housing characteristics. We need integrated data to build effective public policies”, said Anca Sinea, coordinator of the Romanian Observatory on Energy Poverty, quoted in the press release.
As ORSE has pointed out in previous reviews, energy cost pressures are increasingly extending to middle-income households. But the situation remains dramatic for the lowest income households (income deciles 1 and 2). All households in the first income decile and 72% of those in decile 2 have fallen below the poverty line after paying their energy bills, according to the modified European LIHC (low income, high cost) indicator - adapted by ORSE to the national context to better reflect vulnerability.
By comparison, the national average is 21.1% of households, according to the latest available data analyzed by ORSE experts for the year 2024. The indicator used in the analysis (the modified LIHC) basically measures where energy costs push households below the minimum income level needed to live. Also, almost half (44%) of the households in income decile 1 practiced energy underconsumption, a severe form of energy poverty.
The highest levels of energy poverty are recorded in the North-East region, where about 32% of households fell below the material poverty line after energy payments. Also in this region, 261TPTP3T of households have restricted their consumption below the level adequate for their needs, the highest percentage nationally. At the opposite pole, Bucharest-Ilfov records the lowest values: only 6% of households fall below the poverty line after paying their energy bills and 7% of households practice underconsumption.
ORSE data shows that energy poverty is much more widespread in rural areas. Around 75% of households consuming below the minimum energy level are in rural areas. The same proportion - 75% - is also found for households falling below the poverty line after energy bills.
„These results reflect structural differences between rural and urban areas, including lower income levels, reduced energy efficiency of housing and limited access to modern energy infrastructure. But the burden of energy costs also affects urban areas. Some 52% of households spending more than 10% of their budget on energy are in urban areas and 48% in rural areas. At the same time, energy over-consumption is more common in cities (561TP33T) compared to rural areas (44%), reflecting differences in consumption and access to modern energy infrastructure. These results show that while rural areas need accelerated investments in access to clean, affordable and diversified energy sources and in energy efficiency in housing, urban areas require measures geared towards efficiency and optimization of consumption, adapted to the specificities of urban infrastructure and lifestyle”, underlines the press release.
Housing type significantly influences the risk of energy poverty. In Romania, about 60% of households live in single-family houses, the majority (74%) in rural areas. According to data from the ORSE report, 87% of households falling below the energy poverty line live in houses and only 13% in apartments. Likewise, 831TPTP3T of households that reduce energy consumption below the minimum necessary level also live in individual dwellings. The most affected by energy underconsumption are dwellings made of wood and straw - 361TPTP3T and 301TPTP3T of these households respectively.
ORSE's 2025 report also highlights the important role of gas cylinders for cooking, used by about 431TPTP3T of households in Romania, especially where there are no natural gas networks - predominantly in rural areas. Given the extent of this practice, the inclusion of gas cylinder expenditures in the energy cost analysis provides a more accurate picture of the real pressure on household budgets. Excluding this source leads to an underestimation of energy poverty for certain segments of the population.
„If these costs are included in the calculation of energy expenditures, the proportion of households at the national level that spend more than 10% of their income on energy increases to 32.3%, compared to 25.5% in the version that does not include this component. The proportion of households falling below the material poverty line after paying energy bills also increases to 22.4%. These developments show that the use of gas cylinders, essential to cover basic energy needs, has a significant impact on household budgets. In the absence of dedicated policies to develop infrastructure and facilitate access to modern energy resources, households dependent on cylinders remain at high risk of vulnerability, with direct effects on the quality of life and community development”, according to the ORSE report.
In this context, George Jiglău, coordinator of ORSE, explained that the fight against energy poverty cannot be achieved only through temporary measures on bills, but structural policies are needed - investments in energy efficiency in housing, access to modern technologies and energy solutions tailored to local communities.
The report stresses that tackling energy poverty effectively requires structural public policies, including: the development of an integrated national data system on energy poverty; strengthening cooperation between institutions and the energy sector; strengthening and institutionalizing the inter-ministerial group on energy poverty; differentiated policies according to the type of vulnerability and the definition of minimum energy needs; expanding support instruments such as the energy card - which can be used in a more flexible way (bill payment or energy efficiency investments); strengthening one-stop shops as local support tools for citizens; supporting community solutions and local energy self-sufficiency.
The report also confirms the need for flexible public policies to protect the population, adapted to the dynamic nature of energy vulnerability. ORSE experts emphasize that public policies need to address both the structural causes of energy vulnerability and crisis situations that can quickly affect households in the context of energy market shocks.
The annual report for 2025 published by ORSE takes into account the evolution of the phenomenon of energy poverty in Romania between 2020-2024. In calculating the indicators, ORSE uses data from the Household Budget Survey (ABF), published by the National Institute of Statistics, according to Agerpres.
The Romanian Observatory on Energy Poverty (ORSE) is a project initiated by the Center for the Study of Democracy, a think-tank established in 2006 within the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences, „Babes-Bolyai” University of Cluj, where it operates as an accredited research center. The aim of this initiative is to provide a 360-degree perspective on energy poverty at national level, as well as the necessary expertise to combat this complex phenomenon, which affects a large part of the population. ORSE brings together leading experts from various fields relevant to the subject of energy poverty in Romania to identify the best solutions.