에너지복지법 제정 필요성에 관한 연구

Abstract

Social welfare policy is defined as behavioral principles, guidelines, consistent plans, or organized efforts to achieve specific goals related to social welfare, and such social welfare policies mean activities that should be done or not be done by the government or local governments in order to improve the quality of life of the people. Due to the fact that energy is an essential element of human life, and it is characterized as public goods, Energy, such as electricity, is a necessity and must be supplied consistently at least at a minimal level to maintain human life. However, as social polarization increases, the number of low - income households is increasing, and the number of households that are not supplied even with the minimum amount of energy is increasing. All human beings should be free from energy poverty, and the energy supply must be derived from the social welfare concept of the country. Already, major developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada have adopted energy welfare policies as an important element of the government and are paying attention to the well-being of low-income people. In our country, the need for energy welfare for low-income brackets has been also deeply recognized owing to the death of the youth from the candle fire, and the government has submitted the Energy Welfare Act in order to solve these problems. Nevertheless, for its insufficiency, the legislative bill has been submitted, but abolished, and recently another bill submitted is expected to pass the National Assembly plenarysession. This paper deals with the problems of energy welfare related to energy poverty, policy and system of energy welfare of major countries(USA, Australia, Canada, England), and also examines the necessity of enactment of the Energy Welfare Act as a plan for social welfare maintenance in Korea.