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Creating sustainable communities and a fairer world

63. Households living in fuel poverty

Households living in fuel poverty with someone (a) aged 60 or over (b) aged under 16 (c) disabled/long-term sick, 1996 to 2006

63

Households in fuel poverty since:
1990
No data
2003
red
  • A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel to maintain an adequate level of warmth (usually defined as 21 degrees centigrade for the main living area, and 18 degrees centigrade for other occupied rooms). This broad definition of fuel costs also includes modelled spending on water heating, lights, appliances and cooking.
  • The number of ‘households containing someone  over 60’ which were ‘fuel poor’ has decreased by 55 per cent between 1996 and 2006. However there was an increase of 62 per cent between 2005 and 2006. Higher fuel prices were primarily responsible for this increase.
  • The number of ‘households containing someone under 16’ which were fuel poor has decreased by 68 per cent between 1996 and 2006. There was a increase of 110 per cent between 2005 and 2006.
  • The number of ‘Households containing someone with a long-term sickness or disability’ which were fuel poor decreased by 20 per cent between 1996 and 2006. However in the intervening years, after a reduction, there was an increase of 51 per cent between 2005 and 2006.
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Updated: 30 July 2009