Comparative Assessment of Energy Poverty in Baltic States and Visegrad Countries

Abstract

The paper analyses energy poverty development in two groups of countries: Baltic States, namely Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and Visegrad countries (V4), namely Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic. All 7 countries are EU Member States since 2004. The biggest difference between group of countries is that Baltic States were formed Soviet Union republics and en-countered more severe problems with regain of independence. The paper provides comparative assessment of energy poverty indicators dynamics in both groups by defining the leaders in energy poverty reduction as well as lagging behind countries and tries to provide the main reasons of such situ-ation. Comparative assessment of individual countries and groups of coun-tries allows to define the best practices in mitigating energy poverty and pro-vides policy recommendations for the countries experiencing problems in en-ergy poverty mitigation based on analysis performed.