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Households Facing Constraints. Fuel Poverty Put into Context

Author

Listed:
  • Dubois, Ute

    (ISG Business School)

  • Meier, Helena

    (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln)

Abstract

The present paper discusses the concept of fuel poverty taking into account the arbitrages made by households when they are facing economic constraints. Fuel poverty is still lacking a common definition throughout Europe: while the UK and France have (different) official definitions, there is still no definition in a country like Germany, or at the European level. Where definitions exist, they often consider that fuel poor households have high energy needs. The possibility of being fuel poor even without having high energy needs and the various arbitrage possibilities of households – i.e. to under-spend and use too little energy – are not systematically discussed. Our paper tries to fill that gap by putting fuel poverty into the larger context of constraints faced by households. Based on a graphical analysis , it shows that different situations of fuel poverty might occur. It results in the identification of two distinct fuel poverty problems: an “energy inequality” problem, reflected by the fact that some households pay disproportionately high energy bills, and an “energy affordability” problem that can affect a larger share of the population. It finally explores the two types of fuel poverty for European countries and discusses policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Dubois, Ute & Meier, Helena, 2014. "Households Facing Constraints. Fuel Poverty Put into Context," EWI Working Papers 2014-7, Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI), revised 25 Feb 2014.
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:ewikln:2014_007
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bhattacharya, J. & DeLeire, T. & Haider, S. & Currie, J., 2003. "Heat or Eat? Cold-Weather Shocks and Nutrition in Poor American Families," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(7), pages 1149-1154.
    2. Brutscher, P., 2012. "Self-Disconnection Among Pre-Payment Customers - A Behavioural Analysis," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1214, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fuel poverty;

    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General
    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N74 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: 1913-
    • P18 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Energy; Environment
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

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