Inequality of energy poverty between groups in Spain Oihana Aristondo a, * , Eneritz Onaindia b a BRIDGE Research Group, Departamento de Matem atica Aplicada, Universidad del País Vasco, Avenida de Otaola 29, 20600 Eibar, Gipuzkoa, Spain b Departamento de Organizaci on de Empresas, Universidad del País Vasco, Avenida de Otaola 29, 20600 Eibar, Gipuzkoa, Spain article info Article history: Received 22 December 2017 Received in revised form 12 February 2018 Accepted 6 April 2018 Available online 10 April 2018 JEL Classification: C02 C44 D63 I32 Keywords: Poverty Inequality Energy poverty Welfare abstract In this paper, we have measured the evolution of energy poverty in Spain for years 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2016. It has been analyzed for different classifications of the household and different characteristics of the main breadwinner such as gender, type of house, education and so on. The variables used to measure energy poverty are three energy accessibility indicators: the ability to keep the home adequately warm, the arrears on utility bills (electricity, water, gas) and the presence of a leaking roof, damp walls or rotten windows. We have also computed the inequality of the energy poverty results between groups for each characteristic. Results suggest that energy poverty in Spain worsened between 2005 and 2016. Specif- ically, for thinly populated areas and for households in which the main breadwinner have been born outside of Europe. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Since Boardman's seminal work, Boardman [1]; the concepts of energy poverty or fuel poverty 1 have received a great deal of attention in energy literature and public policy, see also Boardman [2] and Bouzarovski and Petrova [3]. It is widely accepted that ac- cess to modern energy, or cleaner energy, can be considered a welfare indicator of society. Hence, we can conclude that the wel- fare of society is closely linked with the use of or the access to energy services and modern energy technologies. In the literature there is not a universally accepted definition of energy poverty or fuel poverty (see Refs. [4e6] and [7]. In fact, the concept of energy poverty can be divided into availability and affordability of energy sources. The availability of basic energy re- sources such as electricity is usually the central issue in developing countries, see Gonz alez-Eguino [8]; while in developed countries socially and materially affordable domestic energy services are the principal issues. In this paper, we are going to analyze energy poverty in Spain. For this purpose, we define energy poverty as the lack of essential, affordable, reliable and safe energy services. The variables we use to capture energy poverty are: the ability to keep the home adequately warm, the arrears on utility bills (electricity, water, gas) and the presence of a leaking roof, damp walls or rotten windows. We have decided to use these energy accessibility indicators following a consensual methodology denominated by Healy [9] and Healy and Clinch [10] in reference to the consensus existing in European so- cieties around a few minimum living conditions that a household is expected to have. As mentioned, energy poverty is going to be measured in terms of three energy indicators. Therefore, we are considering that en- ergy poverty is a multidimensional concept. In fact, Pereira et al. [11] argue that energy poverty extends beyond a unique variable and could be measured with a greater degree of accuracy using a multidimensional framework. In the literature we can find many works that measure energy poverty following a multidimensional framework, see Nussbaumer et al. [12]; Sadath and Acharya [13]; Bouzarovski and Tirado [14]; Okushima [15] and Aristondo and Onaindia [16]. All of them follow a ’column-first two stage’ or a * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: oihana.aristondo@ehu.es (O. Aristondo), eneritz.onaindia@ ehu.eus (E. Onaindia). 1 In what follows, the concept of energy poverty and fuel poverty will be equivalent in this paper. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.04.029 0360-5442/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Energy 153 (2018) 431e442