The Iberian Peninsula experienced a massive power outage in late April 2025, when both Portugal and Spain went dark for most of the day. Considered Europe’s biggest blackout in over 20 years, it was also a reminder of how precarious life can be without electricity and energy.
Not everyone was as surprised, though. Some 7,200 individuals, one-third of them children, live in the informal settlement of Cañada Real, which is situated on public land in Madrid, Spain. Europe’s largest shantytown, Cañada Real is a 14-kilometre-long area occupied by unauthorized construction on the outskirts of the city; it was built over a former livestock route. Since the 1960s, Cañada Real has been populated by culturally and socioeconomically heterogeneous groups: Spanish citizens who moved from rural areas to Madrid in search of employment, residents of Madrid who could not afford housing elsewhere in the city, Spanish Roma, migrants, and people from dismantled shantytowns. Most of these families endure severe economic deprivation. Since October 2020, some 4,500 individuals have suffered from inadequate access to electricity, with frequent, lengthy interruptions of supply, if not full disconnection. Nearly all families—97% of them—reported being unable to keep their homes warm in winter. The situation has been labelled by scholars as “a collective disconnection case of unprecedented magnitude in Europe.”
Unions and NGOs brought the situation to the attention of the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) in 2022, in what would become case 206/2022. In fact, this was the first case lodged with the ECSR after Spain accepted its jurisdiction to deal with collective complaints under the Revised European Social Charter. While the decision in favor of the complainants was issued in September 2024, the ECSR’s views were only made public on February 26, 2025.
The merits of the decision: State obligations in relation to business activities and the right to energy
The ECSR decision in Cañada Real is a notable endorsement of the idea that access to stable, consistent, and safe energy is a key component of the satisfaction of social rights.
The ECSR made it clear that privatizing public services cannot be an excuse for states to avoid their human rights obligations. In its regulatory capacity, the state must ensure the satisfaction of social rights “irrespective of the legal status of the economic agents whose conduct is at issue.” The involvement of private energy companies in the delivery of public services “must not result in the enjoyment or achievement of Charter rights being undermined” (para. 56). The ECSR decision rejects the state’s argument that it is not responsible for the rights violations in question, which has so far served as the basis for its lack of action.
In a key paragraph, the ECSR drew an explicit connection between access to energy and the satisfaction of social rights. The decision establishes that intermittent access to energy, or no access at all, over a prolonged period of time renders the persons concerned energy poor and is thus incompatible with the enjoyment of other rights outlined by the ECSR. Additionally, by qualifying the “adequateness” of the energy to which access is required, which includes affordable, clean, and sustainable energy, the ECSR narrows the state’s room to manoeuvre in implementing effective measures to end the rights violations (para. 205).
The ECSR also made important points about the importance of access to energy as a social determinant of health (para. 144, 148), urged the state to include energy in any rehousing plan (para. 96), and stressed that it should prioritize the needs of children, older persons, and people with disabilities (para. 222, 237). The government’s failure to collect reliable data shall be considered an impediment to the design of precise and effective policy for particularly vulnerable groups (para. 197, 208).
The ECSR’s decision should serve as a key driver of action, ensuring that the appropriate authorities use all mechanisms at their disposal to require that the energy distribution company reform the electricity infrastructure serving Cañada Real. It is a significant step toward guaranteeing access to adequate energy while a relocation plan for the affected population is being implemented.
A human rights–based approach to energy
International law currently does not provide for a right to energy as such. However, energy is already an important component of international human rights discourse. For example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) enshrines the right of women living in rural areas to have access to electricity and water as elements of adequate living conditions. The CEDAW Committee, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights have also elaborated on the subject of access to adequate energy as a human rights issue.
In addition, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier de Schutter, has called on states—and the European Union—to promote the transition away from non-renewable energy sources, to maintain an efficient and sustainable energy supply in rural and urban areas alike, and to prioritize energy poverty to secure a more just transition away from fossil fuels. The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, has similarly called for measures to decarbonize the energy sources of buildings and to improve the energy efficiency of new construction without compromising the general affordability of housing. The ECSR’s decision in Cañada Real, therefore, builds on an increasing recognition of the interdependence between access to energy and the satisfaction of other human rights.
A human rights–based approach to energy would be called upon to meet multiple demands, not least the triple planetary crisis of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and the widespread pollution of air, land, and water. The difficulty of addressing these large-scale dilemmas is only exacerbated by profound material inequalities, both in terms of who is most responsible for these challenges and in terms of who is best positioned to deal with their consequences.
Regardless of whether those owning the resources and providing the services are public entities or private companies, nobody should face a blackout or cessation of access to water, electricity, or any other source of energy as a consequence of not being able to pay for it. The obligation to fulfill social rights requires public authorities to provide adequate material assistance to people facing energy poverty, and ultimately to ensure that everyone has access to the safe and reliable energy needed to cook, heat their homes, and keep the lights on.