Power outages in Madrid shanty-town: energy poverty violates the European Social Charter
06 March 2025
In a ground-breaking decision, a European rights committee has ruled that access to energy is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of fundamental rights, and stressed that Spain and other states cannot outsource their human rights duties to private utility companies. FEANTSA called for immediate restoration of electricity for the rights-deprived and energy-poor residents of Cañada Real. Bring back power to the people!
In what has been hailed as a ‘landmark decision’ about the impact of power outages on the inhabitants of the Cañada Real Galiana shantytown in Madrid, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) concluded that Spain breached multiple elements of the European Social Charter. In response to a collective complaint lodged by a group of NGOs, the Committee held that a situation where people experience intermittent access to energy, or no access to energy at all, over a prolonged period of time render the persons energy poor, thereby violating the Charter. In its consideration of the plight of those living in the shantytown – 54% of whom are Roma – the ECSR focused heavily on the relationship between human rights and access to energy.
Severe deterioration of the health condition of residents
The complaint detailed the deleterious effects of the lack of electricity on the health of the residents, how it has aggravated their social exclusion and poverty, and the negative impacts on school-children, women, older persons and persons with disabilities. The deprivation of electricity affects approximately 4,500 people, of whom around 2,900 live in Sector 6, where there is a permanent, ongoing power outage, and around 1,600 live in Sector 5, where intermittent power cuts occur.
Evidence showed severe deterioration of the health condition of the affected population since the power outages started in October 2020, due to respiratory problems aggravated by the cold and the precarious heating systems in the home; as well as burns, difficulties in carrying out treatments that require electrical connection (such as nocturnal assisted breathing); difficulties in maintaining certain medicines in optimal conditions such as insulin for diabetics; difficulties in personal hygiene, difficulties in washing clothes; and prolonged healing time for winter illnesses such as flu and colds. The reports also provided evidence of comorbidity complications from exposure to cold which have led to at least five deaths and a number of carbon monoxide poisonings requiring emergency hospital care.
Rights recognised in the Charter “must take a practical and effective rather than purely theoretical form”
The Committee recalled that the rights recognised in the Charter must “take a practical and effective, rather than purely theoretical, form.” And further, that housing of an adequate standard Article 31§1 means “a dwelling which is safe from the point of view of sanitation and health, i.e. it must possess all basic amenities, such as water, heating, waste disposal, sanitation facilities and electricity and must also be structurally secure, not overcrowded and with secure tenure supported by the law.”
In a press release welcoming this ground-breaking decision, one of the complainants, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) noted that,
“… the Committee has made clear that it considers ‘stable, consistent and secure access to adequate energy’ a prerequisite for, and a key element of, enjoyment of the rights to housing, health, education, and protection against poverty and social exclusion under the European Social Charter. To be ‘adequate’ for the purposes of the Charter, energy must be affordable, clean and sustainable.”
The Committee emphasised that technical challenges cannot justify denying residents access to electricity, underscoring that the right to adequate housing includes access to essential services and utilities; and asserted that where states choose to deliver energy through private companies, they cannot ‘outsource’ their human rights duties to those companies: “Guaranteeing Charter rights remains a state responsibility.”
FEANTSA called for the immediate restoration of electricity for the residents of Cañada Real and reminded the Spanish government of its obligations under the new EU Electricity Market Directive which mandates protection against electricity disconnections for vulnerable customers. FEANTSA also called for measures to regularise electricity contracts for residents; a coordinated and participatory framework to ensure the provision of essential services and dignified living conditions; and an “acceleration of the relocation process with clear timelines and guarantees for residents' rights and well-being.”
