The Energy Poverty in Poland and Polish Communes

This study attempts to analyse and provide details about the phenomenon of energy poverty in Poland and Polish, especially by characterizing the issue from a factual and legal point of view. Therefore, it focuses both on the meaning of energy poverty existing in research and its reflection in the legal system by linking it with the concepts of energy safety and the right to energy and power resources. The suitability of the normative separation of the phenomenon of energy poverty shows its interrelation with the public interest, which makes it the responsibility of administrative authorities, especially the self-government in communes, to counteract the issue. It also determines a new role of communes and extends the scope of tools introduced to rectify the situation of residents suffering from energy poverty. At the same time, it also burdens communes with new responsibilities (i.e., providing financial support to residents and balancing the need to combat energy poverty with other values and obligations, such as environmental protection). It also aggravates the existing multi-faceted nature of energy poverty and its effects.