FPRN bulletin – 6th April 2023


6 April 2023

Welcome to our email bulletin.

The FPRN email bulletin is a semi-regular email highlighting a handpicked selection of recently published research and other knowledge outputs in the area of fuel/energy poverty from around the world. The aim is to share this emerging knowledge more widely and to help generate discussion across the network.

If you have any issues accessing the below articles, or you have articles, research or other information we could share, please contact newsletter@fuelpovertyresearch.net

Keeping the lights on: The case for an energy social tariff (pdf)
Age UK (2023)
 Report  Open Access 

This policy report makes the case for an energy social tariff by exploring the challenging decisions an increasing number of older people are forced to make. Following this, the report sets out the fundamental design features of an energy social tariff and how to implement it by 2024.

Domestic Heating Transitions: A Literature Review (pdf)
Lindsey McCarthy (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This literature review identifies the extent of existing academic and policy literature on domestic heating transitions, and explores the methods, theories and concepts applied within that literature.

Healthy housing, cold homes, and complaints in the social rented sector (Spotify)
Phil Brown; Danielle Butler; Richard Blakeway (2023)
 Podcast  Open Access 

This is a new podcast from the Healthy Housing Initiative. In this first episode guests include Phil Brown, Danielle Butler and Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway. The episode covers a range of topics including the impact of cold homes and fuel poverty on health and the importance of complaints, culture and professionalism in the social rented sector.

Fleeting energy protections: State and utility level policy responses to energy poverty in the United States during COVID-19 (ScienceDirect)
Dominic J. Bednar; Tony G. Reames (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper explores energy protection responses during the initial months of COVID-19 in the United States. The authors find differences in residential consumer energy protections among low-income and highly energy burdened households and that protections were unevenly deployed across the country.

Disconnected during disruption: Energy insecurity of Indigenous Australian prepay customers during the COVID-19 pandemic (ScienceDirect)
Bradley Riley; Lee V. White; Sally Wilson; Michael Klerck; Vanessa Napaltjari-Davis; Simon Quilty; Thomas Longden; Norman Frank Jupurrurla; Morgan Harrington (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper explores the impact of COVID-19 on energy insecurity of indigenous Australians. The research found that the pandemic increased levels of self-disconnection and energy insecurity for those on prepay meters. The authors discuss implications for energy policy to mitigate compounding impacts of energy insecurity including during times of crisis.

The effect of energy poverty on mental health, cardiovascular disease and respiratory health: a longitudinal analysis (website)
Rebecca Bentley; Lyrian Daniel; Yuxi Li; Emma Baker; Ang Li (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper uses a longitudinal sample of adult Australians collected annually since 2000 to estimate the relationship between exposure to energy poverty and mental health and to estimate the relationship between energy poverty and various health conditions. The authors find that when people can no longer afford to warm their homes, their mental health declines significantly and their odds of reporting depression/anxiety or hypertension increases. The data supports the need for improving housing quality and performance to reduce exposure to energy poverty and associated health implications.
Inclusive innovation in just transitions: The case of smart local energy systems in the UK (ScienceDirect)
Adrian Smith; Gerardo A. Torres Contreras; Marie-Claire Brisbois; Max Lacey-Barnacle; Benjamin K. Sovacool (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper explores levels of inclusion in smart local energy systems in the UK. The authors find that inclusion operates at low levels due to the prevalence of a liberal-individualist approach to justice in the electricity regime and discuss how other approaches might deliver improved inclusion outcomes.

Keep out the cold: An analysis of potential gaps in fuel poverty policies in Ireland (ScienceDirect)
Arya Pillai; Miguel Angel Tovar Reaños; John Curtis (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

The authors present analysis of fuel poverty data in Ireland from 2008-2020. They find a range of important outcomes for how fuel poverty is impacting vulnerable cohorts, but also how there are gaps in policy responses and forward considerations on how to address this.

Also, check out our special issue of the journal People, Policy and Place on Decarbonisation and Energy Poverty.

This email newsletter is produced by the Fuel Poverty Research Network. For more news and events visit our website.