To fully understand the current issues of energy welfare / poverty, we should carefully analyze: the comparative level of energy prices in the different European countries, taking into account the timetable of their liberalization and convergence, the comparative level of the incomes of the population of different countries and the share energy expenditure in household revenues and the comparative structure of energy consumption across different energy sources. The complexity of the problem of energy welfare / poverty of the population of different countries is a topic of high relevance, insufficiently approached, the proof is that there are great deficiencies even in the official definition of the vulnerable consumer.