A household is said to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost, given their income. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, although discussions on fuel poverty are increasing across Europe, and the concept also applies everywhere in the world where poverty may be present.
Definitions
In the UK, fuel poverty is defined by the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act as: “a person is to be regarded as living "in fuel poverty" if he is a member of a household living on a lower income in a home which cannot be kept warm at reasonable cost”. Statistically, this used to be defined as a household needing to spend more than 10% of its income to maintain an adequate heating regime. However, definitions of "income" and "adequate heating regime" vary between UK Government and Devolved Administrations. A new, more complex definition of fuel poverty is now used in the UK, based on the Hills review. This gave the following definition: fuel poverty is now defined as when a household’s required fuel costs are above the median level, and if they were to spend what is required, then the household would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line. Additionally, a Fuel Poverty Indicator has been created, which shows how far into fuel poverty households are, not simply if they are in poverty or not. In Eastern Europe, the term energy poverty is sometimes used instead. However, this use of the term can be confused with indicating a lack of any access to energy infrastructure, as has been used by the World Economic Forum when establishing its Energy Poverty Action initiative in 2005 to address energy poverty in the developing world by implementing electrification schemes.
Causes of fuel poverty
Fuel poverty is caused by a convergence of three factors:
high fuel prices brought on by green energy, including the use of relatively expensive fuel sources
poor energy efficiency of a home, e.g. through low levels of insulation and old or inefficient heating systems
The sharp rise in fuel prices from 2006-8 has led to an estimated doubling of the numbers in fuel poverty in countries where it is a major problem. A number of illnesses, including cancer can exacerbate the problems associated with fuel poverty. Efforts to shift away from fossil fuels and replace oil and coal with renewable energy sources do so at the expense of increased inequality.
United Kingdom
Fuel poverty has been the focus of political action since the early 1970s. In early 2008 it was estimated by Energywatch that there were around 4.4 million households in fuel poverty in the UK, with just over 3 million in England alone: this was more than double the number in 2003By April 2011 a YouGov survey indicated that the number of households in fuel poverty had risen to 6.3 million households, representing approximately 24% of all households in the UK.. Research by Confused.com found that 82% of the UK population had expressed a concern at being able to afford their energy bills throughout winter.
European Union
Nine percent of the EU population could not afford to heat their home sufficiently with Bulgaria scoring the highest of 39.2%.
