Cost of living crisis: fuel poverty
UK households are facing a cost of living crisis largely attributable to soaring energy prices as a result of factors including the energy pricing structure and the war in Ukraine.
Research team
- Jonathan Bradshaw
- Antonia Keung
- Carolyn Snell
The research project
Our research focuses on measuring and estimating the impact of high energy costs on fuel poverty in UK households as well as evaluating the effectiveness of some of the Government’s mitigations.
Impact
We have been commissioned to investigate if the social tariffs approach can be effectively used to provide a more targeted support which is evidenced to be more progressive and more cost-effective in the longer term.
Our research findings unveiled the sheer scale of fuel poverty caused by the soaring energy price. The research has been widely cited in both the national and international news media.
Our findings have been used to inform Parliament and campaign groups such as Child Poverty Action Group about the crisis of fuel poverty. Furthermore, our latest findings on the feasibility as well as the effectiveness of using social tariffs to alleviate the crisis provide the evidence base to potentially inform and influence Government formulation of a new support scheme for next year.
Findings
(Image credit: Carolyn Snell)
Report
Rising Fuel Poverty - Rising Fuel Poverty (PDF 
, 396kb)
Additional information
Funders
Research England Policy Support Fund
Fair by Design
Policy Pathways to Justice in Energy Efficiency
Read about Dr Carolyn Snell's previous fuel poverty project.