To achieve net zero emissions, it is necessary to encourage more citizen participation in the energy transition – by energy consumers turning into prosumers who generate, store, consume and sell excess energy to the grid. Initiatives like the 'Clean Energy for All Europeans’ legislative package have been agreed upon to encourage participation, for instance through citizen-led cooperatives called energy communities (ECs). However, the process of transitioning has not been fair and inclusive – enabling equal opportunities for citizen contributions. The limitations in the fixed energy grid due to congestion, capacity limits, uneven infrastructural development and network disruptions, etc., present unequal opportunities for consumers and prosumers; including individual households and ECs, to thrive. This creates grid vulnerabilities for citizens as the connection to affordable, accessible, quality and reliable grid services for the trading and sharing of energy is limited. Grid vulnerabilities can further exacerbate energy and transport poverty as the electricity for household consumption and clean transport services are also grid-dependent. Through a systematic literature review conducted on studies within the European context, we explore the connections between grid vulnerabilities, energy and transport poverty. To understand the uneven geography that exists, we also highlight the various perspectives on the geographical differences in these grid vulnerabilities. Then, building on the systematic literature review, we develop a novel conceptual framework on the implications of grid vulnerabilities for energy consumers and prosumers. Our findings show that to various levels, the benefits and costs in the clean transition are not equally distributed among the stakeholders, and across geography. Hence, we provide insights on grid vulnerabilities with respect to enabling more equal opportunities for the different system actors in the energy transition.

Energy poverty is the result of low income, high consumption and costs and poor energy efficiency of the home. Energy poverty affects nearly 50 million homes in Europe (Boeri et al., 2020). Although the EU has an agenda and a policy for this, the Netherlands does not have a policy, leaving municipalities, social welfare organizations and households with a lack of funding, framework and flexibility to fix the problem (Feenstra et al., 2021). Recent research has provided a spatial analysis of energy poverty across the Netherlands, covering 79% of all homes. In doing so, they have data as granular as the neighbourhood scale (Mulder et al., 2023). However, this spatial data needs to be complimented with temporal data to uncover how energy poverty interventions are experienced over time so that more tailored policies can be defined. This study addresses gaps in energy poverty intervention literature by using a mixed-methods intervention, exploring why behaviors change and looking beyond efficiency measures alone. It does so with the help of an existing organization (Woon) and their energy coaches. We test 3 interventions in 101 homes in 3 groups: those who only receive a single report on their energy-use, those who receive the report and have efficiency products installed, and those who receive the report, efficiency products and dynamic feedback on all 3 factors of energy poverty (income, consumption and efficiency) with a smart energy display It is expected that findings will help local Dutch governments and organizations with the necessary knowledge to tackle the energy poverty problem that has yet to be defined in policy.