Energy resilience strategies of Finnish households during the energy crisis of 2022–2023

This article examines the energy resilience strategies adopted by Finnish households during the energy crisis of 2022–2023. Our study contributes to the literature on energy resilience by applying existing resilience frameworks in an empirical analysis of how households responded to rising energy prices. We analysed survey data from 1082 households that own detached homes with electric-based heating. The results reveal that households employed a variety of measures, demonstrating different resilience strategies. The most common measure was burning more wood for heating, which reflects a restorative resilience strategy. Other frequent restorative measures included lowering room temperatures and finding ways to save on hot water usage. Additionally, a significant number of preventive measures were implemented, such as investments in energy efficiency and renewable technologies, aimed at reducing both current and future disturbances. Overall, household and home characteristics showed mixed and sometimes limited associations with the adoption of restorative or preventive measures. Our study underscores that supporting household energy resilience will require policies that account for both the diversity of resilience strategies and the varied characteristics of households. Future research should investigate the heterogeneity of strategies across different household types and assess whether certain resilience strategies are undesirable, unfeasible, or inaccessible for specific households.