Enhancing energy democracy and tackling energy poverty by fostering the uptake of renewable energy: the case of Greece

Energy poverty is an important issue affecting many Europeans. To successfully mitigate it while putting citizens at the heart of the energy transition and fostering energy democracy, bottom-up approaches need to be pursued at a policy level. Collective energy actions can pave the way towards the uptake of renewable energy, enabling and incentivising consumers to become prosumers. Due to their nature, collective energy actions can contribute to empowering citizens to participate in the energy market, especially when combined with innovative financing schemes that can secure the funds needed to invest in renewable energy projects. In this chapter, the notion of employing collective energy actions to support citizens to tackle energy poverty leveraging joint energy initiatives that use renewable energy is investigated. The principles of collective innovative actions are presented along with their link to renewable energy, followed by the notion of community finance and crowdfunding. Then, a discussion on how this approach can be especially beneficial in mitigating energy poverty is provided. Finally, the case of Greece is presented. The status of energy poverty in Greece and the legal framework of collective energy actions such as energy communities is given along with the challenges that need to be addressed to foster citizen participation and enhance energy democracy for the case of Greece.