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 voice on the phone enough to answer it.
Nina Campbell, Global Energy Lead at Consumers International, led the Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services, the report examining a liberalised, choice-based energy market from the perspective of Italians aged 75 and over. Marine co-authored the Blueprint and brings that collaboration into this conversation on trust, exclusion, and who a market is actually built for.
In this episode:
– Why Consumers International moved away from "vulnerable consumer" toward "energy hardship," and what that shift changes about people's willingness to ask for help
– The loyalty premium: why discovering you paid more for staying put damages trust more deeply than a plainly bad deal
– The invisible labour of carers, 16% of Italians in a caregiving role around energy, mostly women over 45, absorbing costs the system doesn't recognise
– How the Blueprint's ten solutions took shape through direct collaboration with suppliers
– What it would take to replicate this method for other consumer groups and other markets
Reference: Blueprint for Inclusive Energy Services, Consumers International. (2026)
Energ'Ethic, with Marine Cornelis of Next Energy Consumer: the energy transition examined through the people it touches and the systems that govern it. If you are working on a related mandate or research question, you can reach her at contact@nextenergyconsumer.eu
Energ' Ethic goes out every other week.
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Music: I Need You Here - Kamarius
Edition: Podcast Media Factory
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