Warm spaces as commoning: Rethinking energy poverty beyond the private doctrine

Abstract

This paper argues for policy solutions addressing energy poverty to look beyond the level of individual households. Drawing on commons thinking and recent turns in geographical literature to the idea of commoning as a post-capitalist response to the managing of needs and resources, this paper addresses keeping warm as a human need that can be met collectively. Through empirical research in ‘warm spaces’, which are community-led responses to the growing problem of energy poverty in the United Kingdom, the paper reframes typical understandings of energy poverty as an individual or household problem by demonstrating the value of more collective responses. Community warm spaces in Devon were visited over the winter of 2022–2023, and qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with both providers and users. Using this evidence, we demonstrate that community warm spaces can also combat loneliness and isolation, providing a cross-benefit to simply staying warm. Energy poverty and food insecurity are also closely linked, and these spaces tended to address multiple needs that were exacerbated by high costs of living, poor housing and low incomes. The key contribution of this paper is that energy poverty should be framed as a social rather than an individual challenge, bringing commons-based approaches into the discourse on tackling energy poverty.