The Abbé Pierre Foundation called for an energy check tripled in amount and expanded among its beneficiaries to help low-income households pay the bills, during a presentation on Tuesday of the National Day against Energy Poverty.
We, in any case from the Abb Pierre Foundation, are asking for an expansion of the energy check to reach households who are not beneficiaries of it today but who suffer from these difficulties in being able to heat properly, and a tripling of the amount of the check energy, declared the general delegate of the Foundation, Christophe Robert, at a press conference.
Price shields, put in place by the government in the fall of 2021 to mitigate the soaring costs of electricity and gas for all households, are gradually being phased out due to their staggering cost to public finances. .
When we lower the sail on this shield, if we do not help the most vulnerable households, well we are not close to emerging from this difficulty of energy insecurity, deplored Christophe Robert.
A maximum of 831 euros
The energy check, with an average amount of 149 euros per year, is reserved for the 20% of households with the lowest income, or 5.6 million households. It must be maintained in 2024. The energy check today goes for 48,277 euros. By tripling the amount of the energy check, the maximum would increase to 831 euros.
Twelve million people in France are in a situation of energy poverty, affecting the poorest 30% of households who devote more than 8% of their income to energy expenses and/or are cold in their homes, indicates the Abb Pierre Foundation. based on figures from INSEE and the National Observatory of Energy Poverty.
The indicators measuring energy poverty increased significantly between 2020 and 2023, noted the associations organizing the day, in a context of sharp increases in energy prices.
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