Energ’Ethic - Climate Justice and Energy Transition
Sep 8, 2026 · 40 min · 10 segments
Some of the most consequential facts about an energy system never appear on a policy dashboard: whether an 85-year-old can read her own bill, whether she knows help exists, whether she trusts the…
Yeah, I think one of the most alarming messages or sort of larger messages that came out of the work was probably around the sense that actually there was a really deep lack of trust in the energy sector generally.
That actually we heard people talk about how, you know, if we talk about the team talks about the offers that are available and then people are saying, well, that's not for people like me.
And that actually, yeah, a sense that there was no help available, no idea of where to go.
That sense of that lack of trust has been eroding over time as, I mean, the sector's always been very complicated and probably not very good at expressing itself in ordinary terms, which has left a lot of people disengaged from their energy use.
But that's only increasing as the new technologies come online, especially for older people who just don't feel ready to engage with those opportunities.
So we heard a lot of the older folks we spoke to talk about the real fear that is developing around scams, around even just pushy sales practices, cold calls, people trying to upsell them with bundled deals that they didn't really understand and weren't sure if they were really advantageous, let alone just flat out scams.
So, yeah, so this sense that the sector was just a bit of a minefield and that really the help that's available wasn't tailored for older consumers was quite concerning.
And we might remember, Marlene, we... one person told us that they felt like talking about their energy bills or their struggle with energy bills was a taboo, that actually they just wouldn't dream of reaching out for help about that issue.
So, yeah, it really said to us that there are huge issues around basic trust in the sector that need to be urgently addressed.
How people, you know, this sense of powerlessness and the sense that people needed to kind of shrink themselves in because of this table, because the coping mechanism they had put in place, like switching everything off or giving up the oven.
So stepping in, but really walking on, like they were walking on eggshells because they didn't feel like legitimate.
And this profound sense of lack of agency, right? Or lack of control, something that is so fundamental to our daily lives was really hard to see, right? Hard to notice.
That was a big learning to look at the role of carers in the Italian energy sector in particular because we found that actually something like 16% of Italians are in a caregiving role often for an older adult and that actually the system doesn't really allow for those people to be acknowledged to get access to the information they need to support caregiving.
Yeah, I think one of the most alarming messages or sort of larger messages that came out of the work was probably around the sense that actually there was a really deep lack of trust in the energy sector generally.
That actually we heard people talk about how, you know, if we talk about the team talks about the offers that are available and then people are saying, well, that's not for people like me.
And that actually, yeah, a sense that there was no help available, no idea of where to go.
That sense of that lack of trust has been eroding over time as, I mean, the sector's always been very complicated and probably not very good at expressing itself in ordinary terms, which has left a lot of people disengaged from their energy use.
But that's only increasing as the new technologies come online, especially for older people who just don't feel ready to engage with those opportunities.
So we heard a lot of the older folks we spoke to talk about the real fear that is developing around scams, around even just pushy sales practices, cold calls, people trying to upsell them with bundled deals that they didn't really understand and weren't sure if they were really advantageous, let alone just flat out scams.
So, yeah, so this sense that the sector was just a bit of a minefield and that really the help that's available wasn't tailored for older consumers was quite concerning.
And we might remember, Marlene, we... one person told us that they felt like talking about their energy bills or their struggle with energy bills was a taboo, that actually they just wouldn't dream of reaching out for help about that issue.
So, yeah, it really said to us that there are huge issues around basic trust in the sector that need to be urgently addressed.
How people, you know, this sense of powerlessness and the sense that people needed to kind of shrink themselves in because of this table, because the coping mechanism they had put in place, like switching everything off or giving up the oven.
So stepping in, but really walking on, like they were walking on eggshells because they didn't feel like legitimate.
And this profound sense of lack of agency, right? Or lack of control, something that is so fundamental to our daily lives was really hard to see, right? Hard to notice.
That was a big learning to look at the role of carers in the Italian energy sector in particular because we found that actually something like 16% of Italians are in a caregiving role often for an older adult and that actually the system doesn't really allow for those people to be acknowledged to get access to the information they need to support caregiving.
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