Fuel Poverty

Fuel poverty, with its roots in the quality of housing stock and the cost of fuel, is a recognized social problem that affects the poor. According to Brenda Boardman, an influential author on fuel poverty research in the United Kingdom (UK), fuel poverty occurs when a household has adequate energy services for 10 percent of its income. In a simple sense, a household is said to be fuel poor if it needs to spend more than 10 percent of its income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory heating regime (usually 21 degrees C or about 70 degrees F for the main living area, and 18 degrees C and about 65 degrees F for other occupied rooms). While fuel poverty seems to be a major issue ...