Policy: Energy Demand and Welfare in the UK

Fuel poverty is now widely recognised in the UK as a distinct form of social inequality and injustice, but exactly which energy-uses and services should be incorporated into conceptualisations of fuel poverty is rarely discussed explicitly. In this paper, we investigate how different energy-uses are portrayed as part of fuel poverty by national government and NGOs in the UK. We find that, to some degree, official definitions of fuel poverty in the UK include multiple energy-uses. However, this is not reflected in dominant policy and NGO discourses which predominantly frame fuel poverty as solely a lack of adequate space-heating. We conclude by discussing whether non-heating energy-uses and services should be more fully recognised and incorporated into fuel poverty discourses and policy measures, identifying two areas that warrant further research and debate.

Energy savings obligations (or white certificates) are increasingly used to reduce carbon emissions. While the energy savings obligations were originally intended as carbon reduction and not fuel poverty policies, due to recognition of the potential for regressive outcomes they often include provisions for vulnerable and low income customers. Intuitively, reducing carbon emissions and alleviating fuel poverty seem to be two sides of the same coin. There are, however, considerable tensions between the two when addressed through energy savings obligations, particularly arising from the potentially regressive impacts of rising energy prices resulting from such obligations, but also the complexity of targeting fuel poor households and the implications for deliverability. Despite those tensions, the UK government decided to use energy savings obligations, the Supplier Obligation, as the main policy for reducing fuel poverty. In light of the proposals, this paper provides an analysis of the main tensions between carbon reduction and fuel poverty alleviation within energy savings obligations, outlines the fuel poverty provisions of the British Supplier Obligation, assesses its rules for identifying the fuel poor, and provides a critical analysis of the planned policy changes. Based on this analysis, alternative approaches to targeting fuel poverty within future Supplier Obligations are proposed.

Millions of homes around the world suffer from "fuel poverty," commonly defined as the necessity to spend more than 10 percent of their income paying energy bills. This article first discusses how home energy efficiency schemes, such as those that pay to weatherize doors and windows, install insulation, and give free energy audits, can significantly reduce the prevalence of fuel poverty. It then examines the "Warm Front" program in England, which over the course of 2000e2013 saw 2.3 million "fuel poor" British homes receive energy efficiency upgrades to save them money and improve their overall health. Warm Front not only lessened the prevalence of fuel poverty; it cut greenhouse gas emissions, produced an average extra annual income of £1894.79 per participating household, and reported exceptional customer satisfaction with more than 90 percent of its customers praising the scheme. This study details the history, benefits, and challenges of the program, and it teases out six noteworthy lessons for energy analysts, planners, and policymakers.

Energy Research & Social Science

The concept of energy justice has brought philosophies of ethics and principles of social justice to bear on a range of contemporary energy issues. More inter-disciplinary and applied endeavours are now needed to take this field forward. One such application is to the issue of fuel poverty and the challenge of retrofitting inefficient housing stock. An energy justice perspective sees fuel poverty as a fundamentally socio-political injustice, not just one of uneven distribution. Starting from this premise, we highlight the multiple injustices faced by two groups who are regarded by policymakers as being particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty: disabled people and low-income families. In the UK, these groups are nominally prioritised within fuel poverty policy, but their complex situations are not always fully appreciated. Building on the theoretical foundations of energy justice, we present an inter-disciplinary dialogue that connects this approach with wider vulnerability research and domestic energy efficiency policy. Specifically, we discuss 'within group' heterogeneity (recognition justice), stakeholder engagement in policy and governance (procedural justice) and the overlap of multiple structural inequalities (distributional justice). In each section we illustrate the added value of combining justice and vulnerability conceptualisations by linking them to domestic energy efficiency schemes.

Nature Energy

Tens of millions of households across Europe struggle to afford adequate electricity and heating services and reliable transportation, while recent high fuel prices could lead to an increase in excess winter deaths. Tackling energy and transport poverty is thus of paramount policy importance. Here we document the drivers and lived experiences of energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom, based on public focus groups and expert interviews. We find a set of policies that resonate with both expert planners and members of the public, implying they have a level of political and social acceptability that other measures may be lacking, notably: mandatory landlord energy efficiency upgrades, increasing the extent of financial assistance to households, cheaper (or even free) bus and train fares and restarting and expanding bus services. We buttress these findings with further suggestions for energy and transport system redesign that better meets emerging principles of energy and soc...

Energy and Buildings

Energy poverty, as a social and political issue, is at different stages of development across Europe. Originating in the UK, it is reaching the political agenda in other European countries, driven by a range of concurrent issues including: economic recession and inequality, low carbon energy transitions, and changing consumption demands. This article presents analysis of three national approaches to energy poverty in Europe; England, Ireland and France. In comparing these cases, we show how each defines and measures energy poverty differently and how this affects the selection and functioning of different policy solutions. We draw on the conceptual separation of multiple streams theory (politics, problems and policy) to assess the shape of energy poverty on the political agenda of each nation. We consider the political context of each nation and show how energy poverty overlaps with other agendas such as: welfare reform, energy market liberalisation and climate change. We review each country's approach to defining the problem of energy poverty focusing on how the issue is delineated and measured. In each case, we show how there has been recourse to two broad types of policy solution: subsidising energy costs and improving the efficiency of the housing stock. Our analysis reveals interesting similarities (e.g. in the use of affordability and efficiency policies) and differences (e.g. in the versatility of definitions) in addressing the significant levels of inequality in access to energy services among the populations of three Western European countries.

Energy for Sustainable Development, 2020

In this short communication piece, we draw attention to the discussion on policies for reducing energy poverty in European Union member states. We urgently need a policy approach able to support the transition from the current rising levels of energy poverty to a sustainable community with a greener and healthier future. Analysing energy prices, the policy framework and household income, we conduct a preliminary investigation of energy poverty from a macro-level perspective and associated policy interventions in the EU. Obtained from a nonclassical fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, our results clearly show that energy poverty is a product of substantial interdependence that may be summarised in two paths: (PP1) low or median household income and energy-policy focus, and (PP2) high energy prices and energy-policy focus. Surprisingly, our findings indicate that an energy-policy focus is found in EU member states with the highest levels of energy poverty. One step further, we also offer an insight into the absence of energy poverty, where social policy seems to play the key role. Taken together, we argue that member states facing above-average energy poverty are captured in an energypoverty trap, whereby the existing energy-policy focus does not yield the desired results and the social policy is often too costly to implement due to the problem's magnitude. Our main concern is that prioritising any of the policies may slow down the transition to a sustainable energy society. We, therefore, call on scientists to not only further examine the energy-poverty phenomenon but to also participate in creating effective policies.

Access to affordable energy is a core dimension of energy justice, with recent work examining the relation between energy use and well-being in these terms. However, there has been relatively little examination of exactly which energy uses should be considered basic necessities within a given cultural context and so of concern for energy justice. We examine the inclusion of energy-using necessities within the outcomes of deliberative workshops within members of the public focused on defining a minimum-standard of living in the UK and repeated biannually over a six year period. Our secondary analysis shows that energy uses deemed to be necessities are diverse and plural, enabling access to multiple valued energy services, and that their profile has to some degree shifted from 2008 to 2014. The reasoning involved is multidimensional, ranging across questions of health, social participation, opportunity and practicality. We argue that public deliberations about necessities can be taken as legitimate grounding for defining minimum standards and therefore the scope of ‘doing justice’ in fuel poverty policy. However we set this in tension with how change over time reveals the escalation of norms of energy dependency in a society that on climate justice grounds must radically reduce carbon emissions.

This article describes the fuel poverty and household energy situation in England as of early 2008, while also briefly covering the international context. It was compiled from a literature review conducted by the authors. An English household is said to be in fuel poverty if it would need to spend more than one tenth of net income on fuel to keep warm and provide hot water and power. The level of fuel poverty is thus determined by fuel prices, incomes, occupancy levels and thermal efficiency of homes. Fuel poverty causes health and mortality problems, especially amongst the elderly. Social, economic and environmental benefits result from alleviating fuel poverty. A variety of energy efficiency measures are used to reduce fuel poverty and increase the energy efficiency of homes, including installing thermal insulation and efficient heating systems. Fuel poverty is of interest to various government departments, and policy is enshrined in the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy. The main energy efficiency grant schemes in England are Decent Homes, Warm Front and the Energy Efficiency Commitment. Targets for the eradication of fuel poverty are unlikely to be met. Dealing with the ‘fuel rich’ is a strongly related but somewhat different issue, with the focus being on reducing carbon emissions.

Fuel Poverty, namely the inability for a household to maintain the home at an adequate level of warmth and at a reasonable cost, has only recently been formally accepted and adopted by the English government. The definition itself has grown from initial work in the late 1970‟s and the seminal research of Brenda Boardman in the late 1980‟s and early 1990‟s. It wasn‟t until the Labour party were elected in 1997 that the term was acceptable parlance within government and only in 2000 was any legislation introduced to tackle this social issue. Many of the drivers of fuel poverty, particularly the energy inefficiency of the English housing stock find their roots in social attitudes and policy failings dating back to the industrial revolution, with potential issues highlighted to government in 1946. We consider the development of the concept of fuel poverty and its drivers in order to explore whether the current prevalence of fuel poverty in England was an inevitable side-effect of our historical public health and housing legacy or a result of government social policy inaction. Our analysis of the extant literature shows that a combination of both of these factors is likely to have resulted in the current fuel poverty picture, however government inaction has served to unnecessarily exacerbate the current figures in England.