Sendai – It was January 2021 in Sendai, and the city was in a deep winter freeze. A woman, in her 50s and out of work, had her water services shut off due to late payments, as well as her gas. Unable to cook at home or afford much of anything, and with public water faucets frozen solid, she spent a week eating raw eggs and drinking snowmelt before reaching out to a local food bank for help.
The woman’s case, recounts Saori Kasahara, a graduate student and volunteer with Food Bank Sendai, helped the organization realize that most of their beneficiaries were facing some level of energy poverty — forced to choose between “heat or eat” or, in many cases, unable to afford enough of either. It also highlights a growing issue that, amid rising costs due to overseas conflicts and a weak yen, goes far beyond Sendai. The European Union, where awareness of the issue is relatively high, describes energy poverty as occurring when a household must reduce energy consumption to a degree that negatively impacts health and wellbeing.
There are other definitions as well, such as when a high percentage of household expenditure is spent on energy. One primary factor that contributes to energy poverty is, understandably, low income. Roughly 15% of Japan’s population lives in “relative poverty,” according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
However, University of Osaka lecturer Hayato Koga points out that other factors, such as rising energy prices and housing conditions, also play a part. Being unable to meet the energy needs for a decent standard of living can negatively impact one’s mental health, opportunities for social interaction and performance at school and work, alongside serious health impacts, such as heat stress in the summer. Energy poverty has been rising in Japan since the 2000s, spurred by the March 2011 triple disaster, the Russia-Ukraine war and the weak yen, according to research by University of Tsukuba professor Shinichiro Okushima.
Based on his methodology, roughly 10% of households in Japan are in a state of energy poverty. Currently, energy poverty is not named in Japan’s national policies, a step experts say would help raise awareness and galvanize action. Existing measures — from welfare fuel allowances to energy-efficiency targets — indirectly address the issue to a certain extent.
However, experts and advocates are calling for both improvements to existing systems and further measures to fully tackle energy poverty in Japan. Researchers and advocates have identified various trends in energy-vulnerable groups. One such cohort is older adults living alone, a group that is expected to account for over 20% of households by 2050, up from 13.2% in 2020, according to a paper published earlier this year by Okushima and colleagues.
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