by Marine Cornelis and Miriam Eisermann

The energy services developed by and for people in energy poverty in the POWER UP pilots are meant to guide municipal work across Europe and to inform policymaking at EU level. 2026 will mark a shift for municipalities working on energy poverty and energy communities. Several major EU policy moves are expected – at varying degrees – to encourage more fairness into the energy transition. Here is for you a short explainer on what is being prepared in Brussels and how this can impact municipalities working on a fairer energy system.

More shared ownership in energy matters?

After the controversial EU Grids Package published today, the first quarter of next year will come with the Citizens Energy Package. It should clarify conditions for citizen participation, shared ownership and consumer rights in the energy market. It should strengthen the links between community energy, renovation, and energy poverty measures. It’s a chance to show that the EU is still committed to finish what has started with the Clean Energy Package in 2019, to keep people and communities at the heart of the energy system and get fossil energy out.

Overall, citizen participation will hopefully gain visibility through two recently launched initiatives: The Citizen Energy Advisory Hub (CEAH) provides resources, tools and support to energy communities, while the Energy Communities Facility provides a €45,000 grant to selected energy initiatives that want to develop a business plan for their community energy project. The investment and business models that were designed by Valencia, Eeklo, Roznov and Campania area could be useful blueprints.

From firefighting to structural solutions

More than four years ago, POWER UP partners set off with the idea to design solutions that would help overcome the structural reasons for energy poverty. As of beginning of 2026, the Social Climate Fund could back this effort at a wider scale. The Fund should combine income support with structural measures such as renovation, clean heating and certain local renewable schemes. Its purpose is to mitigate the unequal impacts of the ETS, the European emissions trading system, for buildings and road transport (a new ETS2 is starting in 2027). ETS2 revenue must be entirely returned to citizens through direct measures and investments in energy efficiency and renewables. Depending on national choices, this could offer new financial opportunities for municipalities.

Public procurement for the social good

Governance frameworks will also evolve and we do hope that some of the POWER UP policy recommendations for EU and national policymakers will have been taken on board. Discussions on updating the Directive on public procurement signal efforts to make procurement more supportive of environmental and social goals, while the European Investment Bank’s Circular City Centre promotes circular and socially responsible procurement. Multi-stakeholder arrangements involving municipalities, housing providers, cooperatives and local organisations are gaining recognition across EU initiatives, e.g. in the Renewable Energy Directive or the New European Bauhaus Facility Roadmap. The EU Agenda for Cities launched this December, should reinforce cities’ role and will guide integrated urban strategies across the 2026 cycle. And still, much of it are top down plans with too little multi-level governance.

Local blueprints for effective policies

Insights from municipal experiences captured in initiatives such as POWER UP provide useful context for how these policy shifts may translate in practice:

• Valencia’s social conditioning of public procurement of roofs: energy communities who want to install PV on public roofs are required to earmark up to 10% of the electricity produced for vulnerable households. By taking example from this POWER UP pilot, the EU could ensure public procurement criteria go beyond the price of products or services with a clear focus on social benefits.
• One Stop Shops, Energy Offices or energy literacy initiatives – at local or even district level – have proven to be successful for meaningfully engaging households in vulnerable situations and giving them agency in energy matters. The energy poverty mitigation measures carried out in POWER UP pilots as well as the newly established one-stop shops in places like Roznov, Campania area and even – a premiere in the country – in Centar (Skopje), North Macedonia  
• The very first energy-sharing initiative in a social housing building in the Czech pilot of Roznov pod Radhostem

2026 foresight

Ultimately, 2026 will be shaped less by brand new directives and more by the reform or activation of instruments already adopted. As many Member States are only just starting to implement and many are lagging behind, we call for clarity in regulation. Municipalities need to navigate in a landscape in which financing, renovation, citizen participation, social and energy policies intersect. The opportunities for a resilient and fair system will arise where these strands meet. This can be particularly the case in countries where national governments encourage multi-dimensional approaches to energy poverty, with support to sub-national authorities. If municipalities have the skills and money for impactful action in buildings or neighbourhoods, for individual and community support in renovation works and locally-produced energy, we can advance in the fight against energy poverty.

Experience from recent municipal projects, including work shared through POWER UP, shows that effective implementation depends on clear and stable regulatory and legal frameworks as well as on collaboration, proximity to communities and institutional flexibility.