Protection Against Energy Exclusion as a Social Welfare Task

Many households in Poland are currently experiencing a situation in which they must choose between drastic energy savings, resulting in a noticeable lack of heat comfort, and spending on energy costs at the expense of other basic needs, such as food or medications. This phenomenon has negative consequences, from a deteriorating state of health, especially among children and older people, to ‘saving themselves’ by burning coal dust or waste, which, in turn, increases emissions and leads to pollution of the air. It also causes energy exclusion in many cases, which can cause breaches of human dignity. The question therefore arises: how does social welfare deal with energy exclusion on legal and social grounds with regard to satisfying the energy needs of citizens and what are the role and tasks of social welfare in conditions of an energy crisis? The answers to these questions are accompanied by an analysis of the concepts of energy poverty and energy exclusion, as well as a discussion and assessment of selected forms of social welfare in counteracting the energy exclusion of citizens.