Fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty: estimates

Introduction to the report

The figures presented in this paper are a best estimate of fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty rates under the proposed new definition of fuel poverty, following amendments agreed at Stage 2 of the Fuel Poverty (Targets, Definition and Strategy) Bill. They include an uplift to the Minimum Income Standard (MIS)^[1] for households living in remote rural, remote small towns, and island (RRRSTI) areas, as well as deducting from net household income (at part 2 of the definition, for the comparison to MIS) amounts received in care or disability benefits: Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA).

The criteria for applying the enhanced heating regime will be set in due course by regulations, but for present purposes statistics in this paper have applied an enhanced heating regime of 23°C in the living room and 20°C in other rooms for 16 hours every day, to households where at least 1 member is aged 75 or over, or in the absence of that least 1 member who has a long-term sickness or disability. For all other households the heating regime was 21°C in the living room and 18°C in other rooms for 9 hours a day during the week and 16 hours a day during the weekend.

Figures and analysis are presented for:

• A comparison of fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty rates between the current and proposed new definition, across a range of household and dwelling characteristics for 2017.
• Change in fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty rates under the proposed new definition, across a range of household and dwelling characteristics, between 2016 and 2017.
• Local Authority comparisons of fuel poverty and extreme fuel poverty rates between the current and proposed new definition for the 2015-2017 period.