EU Citizen Energy Package: protecting and empowering Europeans

The Citizen Energy Package is the European Commission's response to a reality affecting more than 50 million households in the EU: energy poverty. This legislative package seeks to protect the most vulnerable consumers, reduce energy bills, and empower citizens to actively participate in producing clean energy.

Key measures include a ban on supply disconnections during critical periods, an obligation to offer social tariffs, the right to individual and collective self-consumption, and simplified procedures for installing solar panels on homes and in residential communities.

Self-consumption sits at the heart of the proposal: every European citizen has the right to generate, store, consume and sell their own renewable electricity. Surpluses can be shared with neighbors or fed into the grid, with fair compensation that encourages household investment in renewables.

Energy poverty is not just an economic issue: it has direct impacts on health (respiratory illness, stress, cardiovascular problems), children's school performance, and workplace productivity. The package treats energy as a basic right, not a luxury.

Implementation will depend on member states, which must transpose the directives into national law. The Commission sets deadlines, monitoring indicators and sanction mechanisms to ensure the protections actually reach those who need them most.