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--- topics:human_rights [2026/03/19 16:02] – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation admin
+++ topics:human_rights [2026/04/07 22:59] (current) – vso_vso
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-[[merge_into_other_topics:public_service]]
+<WRAP catbadge>Actors and Stakeholders</WRAP>
-[[merge_into_other_topics:provisioning_systems]]
+====== Human rights ======
-[[targets]]
+<WRAP meta>
+lead-authors:
+contributors: Klaus Kubeczko
+reviewers:
+version: 0.3
+updated: 26 March 2026
+sensitivity: public
+ai-use: Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) was used to structure and paraphrase source material; reviewed by Vitaliy Soloviy, 26 March 2026
+status: draft
+</WRAP>
-====== Electricity as Human Right? ======
+<WRAP intro>
+Access to energy is recognised as a basic human need in international frameworks and translated into universal service obligations and essential service rights in national and regional laws. This framing shapes how universal service obligations, essential services, and energy poverty are defined in law and regulatory practice, and what governments are obliged to guarantee to all residents regardless of income or location.
+</WRAP>
-In The International Journal of Human Rights,  Löfquist (2020) "considers three answers to the question whether electricity access should be a universal human right. A first position is that there is no human right to electricity but perhaps contractual rights related to various societies. A second position is that electricity is a derived human right, a right based on other rights, grounded on rights such as the right to adequate housing. A third position is that there is a universal human right to electricity. It is argued that the second position is the strongest since it supports the idea that humans often need access to electricity but avoids the stronger claim that all humans must have this access. The latter claim faces the challenge that rights language should focus on the needs of humans and not be extended too far to include everything that could be beneficial for humans. Such an extension might diminish the attention on the actual aim of human rights: That all humans should have a good enough life."
+===== Why this matters =====
-[Source: Löfquist, L., 2020. Is there a universal human right to electricity? The International Journal of Human Rights 24, 711–723. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2019.1671355]
+Where energy is treated solely as a commodity, access depends on ability to pay and market availability. A rights-based framing imposes obligations on states and regulated providers to ensure universal access regardless of geography or economic circumstance. As electricity systems become more complex and digitalised, the gap between those who can participate actively and those who cannot risks widening — making the rights framing increasingly relevant for smart grid governance.
+<WRAP callout>
+The European Pillar of Social Rights states that everyone has the right to access essential services of good quality, including energy, and that support for access shall be available for those in need.((European Commission. Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Access to Essential Services for People on Low Incomes in Europe: An Analysis of Policies in 35 Countries: 2020. Publications Office, 2020. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2767/93987))
+</WRAP>
-===== Right to Electricity (India) [Burgess et al. 2020]=====
+===== Shared definitions =====
-"By a “right to electricity,” we refer to the social norm that all people deserve electricity regardless of payment. This entitlement has driven universal electrification programs around the world for decades and remains salient in developing countries investing in electrification today. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi writes, “Everyone has a right to a life of dignity. Traditionally, food and shelter have been seen as the most basic necessities. However, the Modi government has gone beyond this core basket of necessities to include even electricity” (Modi 2019)."
+Basic human needs encompass universal requirements including energy, water, nutrition, housing, and security; while how these needs are met varies, they are reflected in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 22–26) and underpin arguments for universal provision.((Coote, A. (2023). Universal Basic Services: Provisioning for Our Needs Within a Fair Consumption Space. Hot or Cool Institute. https://hotorcool.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Universal-Basic-Services-Provisioning-for-our-needs-within-a-fair-consumption-space.pdf))
-[Source: Burgess, R., Greenstone, M., Ryan, N., Sudarshan, A., 2020. The Consequences of Treating Electricity as a Right. Journal of Economic Perspectives 34, 145–169. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.34.1.145]
+The EU regulatory framework uses a specific terminology to distinguish types of publicly mandated service obligations:((European Commission. A Quality Framework for Services of General Interest in Europe. COM(2011) 900 final. 10 December 2011.))
-===== Basic electricity as a right (South Africa) [Conway et al. 2019]=====
+^ Term ^ Definition ^
-"While access to an affordable range of energy services is required to meet basic needs, most national constitutions and laws in SSA do not yet recognise the right of access to energy [27]. One of the reasons for this is that many countries’ primary laws, and particularly their constitutions, pre-date the international consensus on energy as a development pre-requisite [27]. Constitutions are also deliberately difficult to change; they favour principles over specifics and are generally designed to allow for future interpretation that may give effect to additional rights that are not explicitly provided for in the countries’ founding or primary laws. For example, although South Africa’s relatively young Constitution, adopted in 1996, makes no mention of a right to energy or electricity, its Constitutional Court ruled in 2010 that electricity is an important basic service and that local government has a constitutional obligation to provide it (see [28]). Indeed, South Africa has an array of laws and policies that not only confirm the **state’s obligation to provide all with access to energy services**, but also **require local government to provide its indigent residents with free basic energy** [23,29]"
+| **Service of general interest (SGI)** | Services classified by public authorities as being of general interest and subject to public service obligations; covers both economic and non-economic activities |
+| **Service of general economic interest (SGEI)** | Economic activities delivering public-good outcomes not supplied, or not supplied under adequate conditions, by the market without public intervention |
+| **Universal service obligation (USO)** | A type of public service obligation requiring that specified services are available to all consumers at a defined quality and affordable price, regardless of location |
+| **Social services of general interest (SSGI)** | Social security schemes and essential services provided directly to individuals with preventive or socially cohesive functions |
-[27] A.J. Bradbrook, Achieving access to modern energy services: a study of legal strategies, in: Y. Omorogbe, A. Ordor (Eds.), Ending Africa's Energy Deficit and the Law: Achieving Sustainable Energy for All in Africa, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2018, pp. 26–44.
+===== Perspectives =====
-[29] DPLG, National Framework For Municipal Indigent Policies, Department of Provincial and Local Government, Republic of South Africa, Pretoria, 2012 [Online] Available: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/text/2012/11/national_framework_ for_municipal_indigent_policies.pdf [20 January 2018].
-[Source: Damian Conway, Conway, D., Blake Robinson, Robinson, B., Patience Mudimu, Mudimu, P., Tawanda Chitekwe, Chitekwe, T., Kweku Koranteng, Koranteng, K., Swilling, M., 2019. Exploring hybrid models for universal access to basic solar energy services in informal settlements: Case studies from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Energy research and social science 56, 101202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.05.012]
+<WRAP perspectives>
+==== Actors and stakeholders ====
-===== Agreements and commitments that support the right to energy services (International, Africa, ...) [Conway et al. 2019]=====
+Household customers and small enterprises are the primary beneficiaries of universal service obligations in EU electricity regulation. The EU Electricity Market Directive 2019/944 requires member states to ensure all household customers enjoy the right to be supplied with electricity of specified quality at transparent, non-discriminatory prices, with member states empowered to appoint a supplier of last resort.((European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2019). Directive 2019/944 on common rules for the internal market for electricity. Official Journal of the European Union, L 158, 125–199. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/944/oj)) Distribution system operators carry a corresponding connection obligation.
-Internationally there are a number of (non-binding) agreements and commitments that support the right to energy services [27]. In addition to Goal 7 of the SDGs, Article 16 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights [30] (the right to the best attainable state of mental and physical health) leads to the logical conclusion that basic services, such as electricity, need to be delivered to give effect to these basic rights. It is likely that developing states will need to start explicitly identifying clean energy as a right in their national laws and policies and allocate appropriate funding.
-[27] A.J. Bradbrook, Achieving access to modern energy services: a study of legal strategies, in: Y. Omorogbe, A. Ordor (Eds.), Ending Africa's Energy Deficit and the Law: Achieving Sustainable Energy for All in Africa, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2018, pp. 26–44.
+@@GAP@@ Case examples needed. Suggested: a country where supplier of last resort provisions have been actively used; a non-EU case showing how energy access rights are operationalised outside the EU regulatory framework.
-[30] OAU, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 1987, Organisation of African Unity, Nairobi, 1987 [Online] Available: http://www.humanrights.se/wp-content/ uploads/2012/01/African-Charter-on-Human-and-Peoples-Rights.pdf [4 June 2018].
-[Source: Damian Conway, Conway, D., Blake Robinson, Robinson, B., Patience Mudimu, Mudimu, P., Tawanda Chitekwe, Chitekwe, T., Kweku Koranteng, Koranteng, K., Swilling, M., 2019. Exploring hybrid models for universal access to basic solar energy services in informal settlements: Case studies from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Energy research and social science 56, 101202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.05.012]
+==== Technologies and infrastructure ====
-~~DISCUSSION|Discussion Section - PAGE OWNER: Klaus Kubeczko~~
+@@GAP@@ No source content. Suggested angle: how smart metering and prepayment technology interact with universal service rights; whether digitalisation creates new forms of exclusion for users unable to engage with automated systems.
+==== Institutional structures ====
+The European Pillar of Social Rights (Principle 20) establishes that access to essential services including energy is a social right, creating a normative expectation that national regulatory frameworks accommodate.((European Commission. Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Access to Essential Services for People on Low Incomes in Europe. 2020. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2767/93987)) The EU SGI framework distinguishes between economic services subject to competition rules and non-economic services subject to national discretion, with energy falling in the former category as an SGEI.((European Commission. COM(2011) 900 final. 10 December 2011.))
+@@GAP@@ Case examples needed. Suggested: a country implementing energy poverty legislation that draws explicitly on rights framing; a non-EU regulatory case.
+</WRAP>
+===== Distinctions and overlaps =====
+<WRAP distinction>
+**Human rights vs universal service obligations**\\
+Human rights are legally binding international norms derived from instruments such as the UDHR; universal service obligations are specific regulatory requirements imposed in national or regional law. The two are related but not identical: USOs operationalise a subset of what rights frameworks require, and their scope and enforcement vary substantially by jurisdiction.
+</WRAP>
+<WRAP distinction>
+**Human rights vs energy poverty**\\
+Energy poverty is a condition defined by inadequate access to or affordability of energy services; human rights framing provides a normative basis for treating that condition as a policy obligation rather than a market outcome. The two concepts inform each other but belong to different analytical registers.
+</WRAP>
+<WRAP distinction>
+**Human rights (this topic) vs Service (#13)**\\
+The Service topic covers universal service, public service obligations, and service design in electricity markets. This topic focuses specifically on the rights-based framing — what international instruments say, how rights translate into regulatory obligations, and what a rights lens adds to smart grid governance. Overlapping sources are cross-referenced; do not duplicate the SGI taxonomy in the Service topic.
+</WRAP>
+===== Related topics =====
+[[topics:service|Service]] · [[topics:users|Users]] · [[topics:governance|Governance]] · [[topics:markets|Markets]] · [[topics:institutions|Institutions]]
+===== Topic notes =====
+State: raw notes structured. Version 0.3.
+Source overlap: substantial content in this topic also appears in or belongs to the Service topic (#13). The SGI/SGEI/USO taxonomy (COM(2011) 900) and EU Directive 2019/944 Art. 27 are used in both. Distinction block added to flag the boundary. Confirm with lead author which topic carries the primary institutional definitions and which cross-references.
+Gap log:
+- Actors perspective: needs at least one non-EU case of energy access rights in practice
+- Technology perspective missing; suggest smart metering / prepayment angle
+- Institutional perspective needs at least one non-EU case
+- No ISGAN source consulted yet