Is energy access a human right?
When #energy suppliers refuse to serve someone, are they violating #humanRights?
Note:
* heating during the winter keeps people alive
* refrigeration keeps food safe
* some people rely on life-support systems that require electricity
OTOH, the above needs can be met using PV panels, batteries, a tent inside the house for extra insulation, etc. So it’s a messy question.
For the #poll below:
HR=human right
DoHR= #UN Declaration of Human Rights (#UNDoHR)
[ ] energy is a HR both philosophically & per DoHR
[ ] energy is a HR philosophically but NOT by DoHR
[ ] energy is not a HR philosophically but is per DoHR
[ ] energy is NOT a HR philosophically or by DoHR
My early thought was: how can energy be a human right when you have people living remote and far from the grid?
Suppose Alice and Bob both need an organ transplant. Only one viable organ is available. In that case, it is /impossible/ to protect the human right to live for both people. But we do not say “welp, guess we have to scrap the right to live as a human right”. We maintain the right to live as a human right even though protecting that right is impossible in some situations. If an ER doc decides to save Alice and let Bob die and he gets dragged into court for violating Bob’s human rights, the doc obviously has a strong defense that he was forced. The other human rights violation is that the two people were not treated as equals. The defense would be that if you let them both die to treat them as equals, the right to live was denied in more cases than needed.
So w.r.t. energy, we could still declare energy is a human right (or claim that it inherently follows from other declared rights) despite the impossibility of serving everyone.
Thanks for the info. I wonder if those meters take cash, or if they take no money at all and perhaps they are just a remote controlled switch. One of my concerns is whether unbanked people can pay in cash.
They have a plastic key that has to be topped up at a shop which offers the service. You can only pay in cash (something to do with card fraud, apparently). I assume it is the same when they cut people off remotely via their smart meter but I don’t know how the credit is physically transferred to those.
My early thought was: how can energy be a human right when you have people living remote and far from the grid?
Suppose Alice and Bob both need an organ transplant. Only one viable organ is available. In that case, it is /impossible/ to protect the human right to live for both people. But we do not say “welp, guess we have to scrap the right to live as a human right”. We maintain the right to live as a human right even though protecting that right is impossible in some situations. If an ER doc decides to save Alice and let Bob die and he gets dragged into court for violating Bob’s human rights, the doc obviously has a strong defense that he was forced. The other human rights violation is that the two people were not treated as equals. The defense would be that if you let them both die to treat them as equals, the right to live was denied in more cases than needed.
So w.r.t. energy, we could still declare energy is a human right (or claim that it inherently follows from other declared rights) despite the impossibility of serving everyone.
People who survive off grid have ways to meet their energy needs, or they would not survive.
In the UK, the energy companies are not allowed to cut off someone’s supply. They’ve been getting round that by forcibly installing pre-payment meters, a practice which is coming under increasing scrutiny.
I am blocked from #newsAndStar but was able to reach the article this way:
http://web.archive.org/web/20230202102237/www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/national/23293213.british-gas-suspends-force-fitting-prepayment-meters-debt-agent-report/
Thanks for the info. I wonder if those meters take cash, or if they take no money at all and perhaps they are just a remote controlled switch. One of my concerns is whether unbanked people can pay in cash.
They have a plastic key that has to be topped up at a shop which offers the service. You can only pay in cash (something to do with card fraud, apparently). I assume it is the same when they cut people off remotely via their smart meter but I don’t know how the credit is physically transferred to those.