IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v49y2012icp33-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Objective and subjective measures of fuel poverty

Author

Listed:
  • Waddams Price, Catherine
  • Brazier, Karl
  • Wang, Wenjia

Abstract

As energy prices continue to rise to reflect the real cost of carbon, the numbers of households in fuel poverty is increasing rapidly. This paper uses a unique data set to explore one alternative measure of fuel poverty based on whether consumers feel able to afford their energy, similar to one introduced by the government a few years ago. We explore the links between an expenditure based and our subjective measure of fuel poverty and compare these differences with those between official measures. Amongst low income households, 28% spent more than a tenth of their income on energy in the home, and so would be likely to qualify as fuel poor under the most usual definition; but only 16% felt unable to afford sufficient energy to keep their homes warm. Amongst this group who felt they had difficulty in affording sufficient energy, less than half were ‘expenditure’ fuel poor. The paper argues that reintroduction of a self-reported measure by the government would be a valuable aid to policy development.

Suggested Citation

  • Waddams Price, Catherine & Brazier, Karl & Wang, Wenjia, 2012. "Objective and subjective measures of fuel poverty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 33-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:49:y:2012:i:c:p:33-39
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.11.095
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512000882
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.11.095?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pudney, Stephen, 2008. "Heaping and leaping: survey response behaviour and the dynamics of self-reported consumption expenditure," ISER Working Paper Series 2008-09, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2004. "Well-being over time in Britain and the USA," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1359-1386, July.
    3. Tom Sefton, 2002. "Targeting fuel poverty in England: is the government getting warm?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 369-399, September.
    4. Scott, Susan & Lyons, Sean & Keane, Claire & McCarthy, Donal & Tol, Richard S. J., 2008. "Fuel Poverty in Ireland: Extent, Affected Groups and Policy Issues," Papers WP262, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    5. Paul Makdissi & Quentin Wodon, 2006. "Fuel poverty and access to electricity: comparing households when they differ in needs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 1071-1078.
    6. Bennett, M & Cooke, D & Catherine Waddams-Price, 2002. "Left out in the cold? New energy tariffs, low-income households and the fuel poor," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 167-194, June.
    7. Hills, John, 2011. "Fuel poverty: the problem and its measurement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 39270, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. John Hills, 2011. "Fuel Poverty: The problem and its measurement. Interim Report of the Fuel Poverty Review," CASE Reports casereport69, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kahouli, Sondès & Okushima, Shinichiro, 2021. "Regional energy poverty reevaluated: A direct measurement approach applied to France and Japan," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    2. Meltem Ucal & Simge Günay, 2022. "Household Happiness and Fuel Poverty: a Cross-Sectional Analysis on Turkey," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 391-420, February.
    3. Poruschi, Lavinia & Ambrey, Christopher L., 2018. "Densification, what does it mean for fuel poverty and energy justice? An empirical analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 208-217.
    4. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Farrell, Lisa, 2020. "Fuel poverty and subjective wellbeing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Dorothée Charlier & Sondès Kahouli, 2018. "Fuel poverty and residential energy demand: how fuel-poor households react to energy price fluctuations," Post-Print halshs-01957771, HAL.
    6. Heindl, Peter & Schuessler, Rudolf, 2015. "Dynamic properties of energy affordability measures," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 123-132.
    7. Dorothée Charlier & Sondès Kahouli, 2019. "From Residential Energy Demand to Fuel Poverty: Income-induced Non-linearities in the Reactions of Households to Energy Price Fluctuations," The Energy Journal, , vol. 40(2), pages 101-138, March.
    8. Legendre, Bérangère & Ricci, Olivia, 2015. "Measuring fuel poverty in France: Which households are the most fuel vulnerable?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 620-628.
    9. Charlier, Dorothée & Legendre, Bérangère, 2021. "Fuel poverty in industrialized countries: Definition, measures and policy implications a review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    10. Catherine Waddams Price & Karl Brazier & Khac Pham & Laurence Mathieu & Wenjia Wang, 2007. "Identifying Fuel Poverty Using Objective and Subjective Measures," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2007-11, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    11. DorothŽe Charlier & Berang re Legendre & Anna Risch, 2017. "Fuel poverty and indoor pollution: Providing financial support vs. combatting poor housing?," Policy Papers 2017.05, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    12. Chaton, Corinne & Lacroix, Elie, 2018. "Does France have a fuel poverty trap?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 258-268.
    13. Gordon, Ross & Harada, Theresa & Spotswood, Fiona, 2022. "The body politics of successful ageing in the nexus of health, well-being and energy consumption practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    14. Charlier, Dorothée, 2015. "Energy efficiency investments in the context of split incentives among French households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 465-479.
    15. Dorothée Charlier & Anna Risch & Claire Salmon, 2016. "Reducing the Energy Burden of the Poor and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Can We Kill Two Birds with One Stone?," Policy Papers 2016.01, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    16. Ang'u, Cohen & Muthama, Nzioka John & Mutuku, Mwanthi Alexander & M’IKiugu, Mutembei Henry, 2023. "Analysis of energy poverty in Kenya and its implications for human health," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Yu, Zhang & Khan, Syed Abdul Rehman & Ponce, Pablo & Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz & Chiappetta Jabbour, Charbel Jose, 2022. "Factors affecting carbon emissions in emerging economies in the context of a green recovery: Implications for sustainable development goals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    18. Marion Podesta & Jean-Christophe Poudou & Michel Roland, 2021. "The Price Impact of Energy Vouchers," The Energy Journal, , vol. 42(3), pages 27-54, May.
    19. Wang, Ke & Wang, Ya-Xuan & Li, Kang & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2015. "Energy poverty in China: An index based comprehensive evaluation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 308-323.
    20. Li, Kang & Lloyd, Bob & Liang, Xiao-Jie & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2014. "Energy poor or fuel poor: What are the differences?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 476-481.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:49:y:2012:i:c:p:33-39. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.