15 March 2012 DECC

An independent report has been published advising the government how it could best tackle the problem of fuel poverty.

The latest official fuel poverty figures show 4m households in England in fuel poverty, compared to 1.2m in 2004.

Professor John Hills of the London School of Economics started his research in March last year looking at the definition of fuel poverty, targets, and the effectiveness of different policy interventions.

An interim report was published in October last year, setting out initial thoughts and the final set of recommendations were published on March 15th.

• Professor Hills is clear that fuel poverty is currently measured in a way that is both flawed and unhelpful
• Professor Hills has proposed a new way to define fuel poverty, separating the extent of the issue (the number of people affected) from its depth (how badly people are affected)
•  Professor Hills also shows how the impact of Government policies can be assessed against this new proposed definition, showing the positive impact current Government policies are having on tackling fuel poverty.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey said:

“Fuel poverty is a serious national problem and this government remains committed to doing all it can to tackle it and make sure that the help available reaches those who need it most.

“We were right to commission this independent review because we want to make our policies as effective as possible, and improving fuel poverty measurement is a key part of this. I am grateful to Professor Hills and his team for the quality of their work, we will now study the report in detail ahead of consulting on an alternative definition for fuel poverty in the summer.” 

Read the full press release at ther DECC website.