Access to energy statement
Access to energy statement
In recent local news, a single mother of 3 children approached the Luxembourgish Pirate Party because her electricity was cut off. The reason: She was unable to pay her final balance on time. While she has proof that all advances have been paid, she was now struggling with this final account and was, therefore, mercilessly cut off. (Source: RTL.lu)
This is where we at Volt cannot stay silent and have to make a statement to raise awareness to the situation's seriousness.
First of all, we would like to thank the Pirate Party for their show of compassion and the actions they took. Not only did they help this mother in need, but they also investigated further and called out our leading politician Claude Turmes on his broken promise that socially weak people will not lose access to electricity.
We support these efforts of the Pirate Party in holding our leaders accountable for their words and their actions, or in this case, in-actions.
For that reason, Volt also calls for Mr. Turmes to keep his word and take immediate action to prevent these situations.
We therefore stand behind demands that the government must guarantee access to electricity as it is regarded as a de facto human right, especially in struggling times like we are currently facing.
This means that current payment deadlines are to be immediately postponed while a sustainable long-term solution is found and established. A relief fund that evaluates each case could be one option.
No matter the solution, we would also like to point out that the government hparticipates as a stakeholder in the energy company, which makes them complicit if they do not renounce these inhumane practices.
Image source: Herr Olsen (CC BY-NC 2.0)