How serious is fuel poverty in Britain – and how much worse will it get?
Fuel poverty means being unable to afford to keep warm. The Government considers a household to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10 percent of its income on fuel for adequate heating (usually 21 degrees for the main living area and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms).
The Centre of Sustainable Energy, working with Consumer Focus, has estimated figures for fuel poverty based on all of the ‘Big Six’ energy companies putting prices up an average of 19% for gas and 10% for electricity:
The estimated number of GB households facing fuel poverty
- Before price rises – 4.1 million (England) + 0.33 million (Wales) + 0.68 million (Scotland) = 5.1 million (Britain)
- After price rises – 5.1 million (England) + 0.42 million (Wales) + 0.85 million (Scotland) = 6.4 million (Britain)
The estimated number of people living in fuel poverty in GB
- Before price rises – 7.35 million (England) + 0.60 (Wales) + 1.22 (Scotland) = 9.16 million (Britain)
- After price rises – 9.56 million (England) + 0.78 (Wales) + 1.59 (Scotland) = 11.93 million (Britain)
Further information in this Consumer Focus media release.
July 15th, 2011 at 8:40 am
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