From today until the 23rd, Energy Poverty Awareness Week is being celebrated. It commemorates the devastating cold waves that swept across Europe in February 1956, making that winter the harshest and coldest in Spain and Europe on record. Remember Filomena? This was much worse.
At Help Flash, we've been immersed in a charity project for months. We decided we didn't just want to light up roads, but also the homes of those most in need . Today, we're talking about the Light Up a Home campaign, through which we're doing our part to combat an increasingly worrying situation and meet the energy needs of underprivileged families.
What exactly is energy poverty?
Poverty is a complex and multifaceted reality, but what are we talking about when we refer to it as "energy"? Energy poverty occurs when a household is unable to maintain sufficient energy to meet its basic needs . It also occurs when a family has to spend an excessive portion of its income to meet its energy bills. In Europe, 50 million households are affected by energy poverty . These figures prompted the EU to create the Energy Poverty Observatory (EPOV). Its initial task was to develop a series of standard indicators to uniformly measure the level of energy poverty across Member States. These standards were set based on excessive or insufficient expenditure, inadequate home temperature, or potential non-payment of bills.Energy poverty is already a reality in Spain.
It's hard to imagine that, in Spain, simply turning on the light is a luxury for 12% of households . But it is. Following the relentless rise in energy prices, our country has become one of the countries with the highest rates in Europe, according to the latest Eurostat data , on a list topped by Germany, Denmark, and Belgium. The escalating electricity prices, which are continually reaching new all-time highs and seemingly never reaching their peak, combined with the economic collapse resulting from the pandemic, are making more and more Spanish households vulnerable to this precarious energy situation. 5.1 million families in our country are unable to afford the electricity bill, which has increased by €150 annually, particularly affecting people living in poverty or social exclusion. Two years ago, an already alarming figure was detected: 16.7% of Spanish households had excessive energy consumption, and 7.6% of the population had trouble heating their homes. The arrival of the pandemic and the constant rise in electricity prices have only exacerbated this situation .Help Flash launches the Light Up a Home campaign
Aware of this increasingly pressing problem, at the end of last December, Help Flash decided to launch the #lightuphome campaign . The project was scheduled to begin on Christmas Eve so that the first grants could reach the neediest families during that time and allow them to spend the holidays with at least that need met. With Light Up a Home, we wanted to raise awareness of this worrying social reality and raise funds to help disadvantaged families cover their annual electricity bills . Through this initiative, anyone can contribute to lighting a home. The funds raised are managed and distributed through Cáritas España , which has offices across the country that are visited daily by many families at risk of energy poverty. Since the campaign's inception, brands such as MMT Seguros , Deelivers, and Velca have joined the Light Up Your Home charitable initiative.How you can collaborate with Illuminate a Home
- If you want to light up a home by helping to pay the annual electricity bill of a family at risk of energy poverty, you can do so through the Light Up a Home website.
- From there, we'll redirect you to a registration form on the official Caritas website . With its extensive experience in social and charitable initiatives, Caritas is responsible for distributing the collected donations.
- What is the minimum amount you must contribute? There is no minimum donation . On the form, you can choose between "contribute with fixed amounts" or "other amount."
- You can also choose on the same form whether your donation is one-time or recurring.
- Be sure to check the option on the form that allows you to deduct your donation on your next tax return.
