CIN 34: An assessment of fuel poverty in 2009 and scenarios to 2013

This Current Issues Note examines the current state of fuel poverty in London. It contends that the current, official, DECC measure for fuel poverty (using ‘full income’) underestimates the incidence of fuel poverty in the capital due to the inclusion of housing-related benefits as income under that measure. Using a ‘basic income’ measure (rather than ‘full income’) raises the incidence of fuel poverty in London households from 13.3 per cent to 18.6 per cent.

The paper sets out some simple modelled scenarios which suggest that the incidence of fuel poverty in London households varies between 16 per cent and 24 per cent over the period to 2013 (depending on different assumptions around income and fuel prices).