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Fuel poverty and poverty: What’s the difference?

Fuel poverty and poverty: What’s the difference?. Robert Marchand Supervised by Prof. S.C. Lenny Koh , Dr Andrea Genovese and Prof. Alan Brennan.

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Fuel poverty and poverty: What’s the difference?

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  1. Fuel poverty and poverty:What’s the difference? Robert Marchand Supervised by Prof. S.C. Lenny Koh, Dr Andrea Genovese and Prof. Alan Brennan

  2. “…it is often misleading to talk about fuel poverty as if it were some special breed of poverty that necessarily requires different measures from those that are generally used to support the less well-off” (Hansard,December 16, 1985 col 131-8)

  3. Drivers of Fuel Poverty • Britain’s mild climate • Heating Degree Day variation - number days below 15.5°C • e.g. 15.5 °C -13.5 °C = 2 HDD’s • More than 3000 degree days p.a. is cold (Orton, 1988) • Slow development of energy efficiency regulations • 9 month heating season Heating Degree Days Annual Average 1971 - 2000 (Met Office, 2010)

  4. Drivers of Fuel Poverty • Domestic building heritage “In this country the principal faults of the past have been to neglect heat insulation in the construction of the house and to limit space heating to one or two rooms…In cold weather the British home is the smallest in the civilised world.” Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1948, p.50 Household age by sector and ownership type (DCLG, 2012. p.53)

  5. Drivers of Fuel Poverty • Historical preferences for open fires and fresh air • Homes primarily heated by solid fuels • Evolving thermal expectations • 1880: 4°C in bedroom, 12°C – 20°C in lounge (Rudge, 2011) • 1987: 18°C in bedroom, 21°C in living areas (WHO, 1984)

  6. Health effects “Energy is a critical, yet hugely neglected, determinant of human health…Energy is as important as any vaccine or medicine.” (Horton, 2007, p. 921) • Degree drop in temperature corresponds to 3500 Excess Winter Deaths (Laake & Sveere, 1996) • Marmot review (2011) identifies increased: • Circulatory diseases • Respiratory problems • Diabetes complications • Duodenal ulcers • Osteoarthritis knee pain • Hip fractures • Mental Health Issues

  7. Social Impacts • Predominantly anecdotal evidence (Thomson, Petticrew & Morrison, 2001) • Increased risk of adolescent: • Truancy from school • Expulsion/exclusion from school • Trouble with the police (Liddell and Morris, 2010) • Notable Reductions in: • Anti-social behaviour • Dysfunctional families • Teenage pregnancy (Cornwall Council, 2011)

  8. The Current Approach • A fuel poor household is “…one which needs to spend more than 10% of its income on all fuel use and to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth” (DEFRA & DTI, 2001, p6) • Fuel poverty ratio: Modelled Fuel Costs (i.e. Modelled consumption x price) Income • Uses modelled energy needs • Combination of income, energy requirements and costs • Official National Statistic

  9. The Current Approach Fuel Poverty and Real Fuel Prices Source Annual Report on Fuel Poverty 2012 (DECC, 2012c)

  10. 80% of fuel poverty expenditure is not spent on the fuel poor

  11. Comparing current approaches

  12. Measuring Fuel Poverty • Literature contends that fuel poverty is distinct from general poverty (Boardman, 1991. Hills, 2012.) • Lack of extant literature to quantify whether current measure captures this

  13. Methodology

  14. Conclusions • A SPT lens • enables a broader range of influences to be considered • Moves away from the dominant thin account of the social world currently utilised • Capturing quantitative and qualitative data on the front line of fuel poverty • Aims to minimise socio-political dominance of fuel poverty measurement

  15. Contributions • First model of Fuel Poverty built on a SPT framework • More accurate, broader range of influences, whilst statistically and methodologically robust • Enable a more accurate picture of Fuel Poverty • Enable policy makers to understand spatial distribution, extent and depth of fuel poverty • Improve accountability of government interventions and policies towards WHECA 2016 deadline • Provide a Composite Indicator on OECD guidelines for future development for international comparison • Adapt & develop existing stakeholder mapping for application in a social issue research context

  16. “I know that some will see this question of definition as a distraction from the core task of designing and delivering effective policies helping those in fuel poverty. But I am clear that unless we properly understand the problem, we cannot design effective solutions.” Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Climate Change, September 2012

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