We should be very worried about what is about to happen in the UK. In 2010, I wrote the @UNDP report 'Electricity and Equity in the Dominican Republic: A Human Development Perspective'. At that time, the DR had one of the worst electricity sectors in the world and was in crisis.
As obvious as this is to say, electricity is an essential service that people need to live a decent life. Following Sen's capabilities approach (1999), the report illustrated the devastating impact of skyrocketing energy costs and daily blackouts on domestic households.
Lack of access to electricity excluded people from the most critical of services: adequate lighting, effective healthcare, a basic education, communications, and so on. People who received a poor service not only struggled to pay high bills but were impacted in other ways...
...Spiralling costs meant they couldn't keep medicines cool, children's homework was disrupted and houses were unsanitary because houses didn't pump sewage properly. Electricity theft was rampant and people were regularly electrocuted/hospitalised/killed.
The unstable provision of electricity directly contributed to civil unrest, riots and deaths. Burglaries increased in areas where blackouts were most prevalent. The rich/tourists avoided these problems by hiding away in affluent areas and installing private generation systems.
If we define poverty as the denial of options and opportunities at the most basic of levels, the long term socioeconomic impact of the UK energy crisis will be catastrophic. Energy companies and the government are directly responsible for this dire situation and it's terrifying.
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