Joining forces to fight fuel poverty

Council bosses have teamed up with a team of experts from Glasgow Caledonian University and Energy Action Scotland in a bid look again at fuel poverty .

They say looking fuel poverty as a complex social problem – and not just a lack of cash – can be used to drive tailored ‘people-first’ solutions.

Dr Keith Baker, of Glasgow Caledonian University’s Built Environment Asset Management Cent re, said: “Most countries that recognise the condition of fuel or energy poverty use definitions based on the ‘10 per cent of income’ definition formalised by Professor Brenda Boardman of Oxford University in 1991.

“However, this definition is limited by the use of a single, blunt threshold for household expenditure on energy costs, usually for heating, set against the modelled amount of energy needed to maintain the minimum indoor temperatures recommended by the World Health Organisation.

“This methodology has led to a focus on a building’s energy performance and the occupants’ household income which, serves to drive ‘fabric-first’ solutions.

“This way of tackling the problem prioritises the elimination of poor energy efficiency as a way of dealing with fuel poverty, at the expense of more holistic interventions that can better address the needs of fuel poor and otherwise vulnerable householders.

“This is illustrated by the proposals set out under Scottish Government ’s current Fuel Poverty Strategy and Warm Homes Bill.”

The research team argue that understanding fuel poverty in the Scottish context should include acknowledging that the energy spend gap between households in rural and island areas and those in Scotland’s towns and cities urban areas is greater than official statistics suggest.

Their study suggests fuel poverty could be tackled more effectively if the definition was broadened to take into account risk factors such as physical and mental health problems, debt and marital breakdown.