New Report: How can we deliver inclusive energy services for those who need them most?
Access to affordable energy services is a growing challenge worldwide. Despite being recognised as an essential service under the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, energy poverty still affects 2 billion people globally. Rising costs, shifting weather patterns, and rapid technological change are widening the gap between modern energy systems and the consumers they are meant to serve.
At a time when ongoing geopolitical tensions are placing further pressure on global energy markets, our latest research report series asks how these challenges are amplified for consumers in vulnerable circumstances.
Introducing the Global Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services
Today, we launch the Global Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services: Recommendations for the Italian Marketplace, a practical framework
to help the energy sector truly meet the needs of consumers in vulnerable circumstances, with a particular focus on Italy’s ageing population. This report marks the first of our Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services project – a global initiative to drive fairer, more inclusive energy systems.
In Italy, around 2.4 million households face energy poverty, with older consumers especially impacted. Nearly 40% of people aged 75 and over live alone, and factors such as limited incomes, health conditions, low digital confidence, and social isolation make rising energy bills a significant source of stress and uncertainty for this group.
Yet listening to the experiences of this group of consumers also highlights an opportunity: to design energy services that are more inclusive, intuitive and grounded in real consumer experience – ensuring no one is left behind.
The Blueprint provides energy suppliers, civil society, and policymakers with a menu of opportunities to improve communication, support investments in energy efficiency, and strengthen trust by better supporting older consumers.
Developed in partnership with A2A, Associazone Consumatori Utenti (ACU), Banco dell'energia, Confeuropa Consumatori, E.ON, Edison, Enel, Rete ASSIST-ETS, and Unione Nazionale Consumatori, the Blueprint is the result of a collaborative, multi-stakeholder process bringing together expertise from across the energy and consumer landscape.
From listening to collaboration
The Blueprint began with listening to a wide range of global and local experts, alongside Italian consumers, to map real challenges across the consumer energy journey – from awareness and affordability to support and redress.
Energy companies, consumer organisations and civil society groups worked side-by-side within the project Steering Group to test ideas, challenge assumptions and co-create realistic solutions. This approach strengthened understanding, encouraged shared responsibility, and helped move from siloed thinking to practical, scalable action.
The result is a comprehensive menu of actions available to key actors, grounded in the lived consumer experience that can lay the foundation for more accessible, responsive and human-centred energy services in Italy and beyond.
Ten Proposed Solutions
1. Improve Accessible Communication Across All Channels
Ensure all customer communications are clear, inclusive and easy to understand for diverse consumer needs.
2. Proactively Identify Vulnerability Through Data
Use data responsibly to identify and support consumers in vulnerability before challenges escalate.
3. Build Personalisation and Continuity in Customer Care
Provide tailored support by assigning dedicated contact points and working more closely with key intermediaries.
4. Deliver Energy Advice and Support through Trusted Intermediaries
Work with community organisations to maximise their role in delivering clear, reliable guidance to consumers.
5. Introduce Regular Customer Check-Ups
Proactively engage with customers to ensure they are on suitable tariffs and accessing available support.
6. Support Targeted Electrification and Efficiency Programmes
Support households experiencing vulnerability to benefit from energy-saving technologies and upgrades.
7. Simplify Proxy Access for Carers
Make it easier for carers to manage energy accounts and support those in need.
8. Deliver Coordinated Summer Resilience Support
Protect consumers in vulnerability from increasing heat-related risks, such as heatwaves, by providing advance alerts, practical guidance, cooling kits, and coordinated community health support.
9. Strengthen Cross-Channel Consumer Protection Systems
Build trust by ensuring secure, transparent and verifiable communication across all touchpoints.
10. Establish an Inclusive Energy Services Decalogue for Italy
Share this framework to drive ongoing collaboration and raise service standards for consumers in vulnerable circumstances.
Each solution represents an opportunity for supplier innovation, while reflecting a shared responsibility across energy suppliers, policymakers and civil society. Organisations directly involved in the project have demonstrated strong leadership and indicated their intention to explore many of these approaches in the context of their own commercial activities.
Next steps: sustaining momentum
While focused on Italy, the Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services: Recommendations for the Italian Marketplace offers a practical model for other markets: start with the consumer, bring stakeholders together, and co-create solutions grounded in real needs.
Its release suggests that inclusive energy systems are not only possible, but achievable when organisations align around a shared goal. The priority now is to maintain momentum by expanding awareness across Italy and strengthening engagement with local authorities and civil society. Meanwhile our team is exploring opportunities to share these learnings and expand this project into other countries.
As the transition to a cleaner, fairer and more affordable energy future accelerates, inclusion must remain a central priority. By suggesting ways to put consumers at the heart of service design, supported by multi-stakeholder collaboration, this Blueprint provides a strong foundation for a fairer, more trusted and resilient energy future.
To learn more about the project, contact impact@consint.org.
