The contemporary landscape of fuel poverty research

Fuel poverty research can be understood as the study of issues associated with the plight of households and individuals who cannot, due to a combination of a low income, an energy inefficient home and high fuel costs, heat their home to an adequate level and who may therefore experience a range of negative consequences including poorer physical and mental health and wellbeing, poorer life chances and financial exclusion.1,2 The problem of fuel poverty continues to grow, as an increasing number of households struggle to afford to consistently heat their homes to the minimum temperature required to maintain health. The consequences of this are severe, and the winter of 2014/2015 saw excess winter deaths reach their highest winter levels since 1999/2000 in the UK.3 Evidence suggests that around a fifth of these 43,500 deaths were attributable to cold homes and were therefore entirely preventable.4 Similar patterns were recorded in other European countries including Portugal, Hungary and Spain.5