Thinking though the practical challenges of measuring Fuel Poverty

The UK Government’s review of its 2021 Fuel Poverty Strategy closed in April and while we wait for the outcomes, it’s helpful to reflect on what has and hasn’t changed in our understanding of the issue over the last decade. One question the consultation asked was how fuel poverty should be measured.  The collaboration between a housing association, Clarion, with an early career researcher, Tijn Croon (supported in part by funding from the Fuel Poverty Research Network), tested some of the practical challenges. It looked at the inventive solutions practitioners are trying out  to quantify fuel poverty and understand the impact it has on the residents who experience it. Kathy Ellis, Group Strategy, Policy and Evidence Lead at Clarion, reflects these challenges.

Having started looking at fuel poverty measurement and analysis in earnest back in 2013-14, it was great to work with Tijn and, as part of the ReDwell consortium, to see what others are doing in this space, both here and across Europe. The academic rigour he added to the experimental thinking we were trying out, and the data analysis he was able to conduct – and articulate to non-specialists – was invaluable.

Woman Saving Enegy Insulating Home Putting Draught Excluder Tape On Window

In 2013, when employed as Customer Insight Manager at Affinity Sutton (now Clarion), I was asked a seemingly simple question by a colleague, “How many of our residents are fuel poor?”  I didn’t have an answer.

So we set off on a journey to define what we meant by fuel poverty (disagreeing with the definition at the time of 10% of income spent on energy) and to understand it better in the context of the people on low incomes we house. Looking at the types of information our systems held, and reflecting on John Hills’ 2011 report (which suggested a household should be defined as being in fuel poverty when their energy costs were above the median while leaving them with a residual household income below the poverty line), we landed on a formula to estimate the scale and depth of fuel poverty among our residents. We then mapped this across our homes.

Without access to income or energy use data, we used proxy variables available in our housing management systems to estimate the occurrence and intensity of fuel poverty. For example, receipt of Housing Benefit indicated low income, and Energy Performance Certificate bands below C suggested higher energy costs. 

To understand the likely depth of fuel poverty, we then added ‘points’ for household characteristics that are known to contribute to higher energy use in the home such as the presence of young children, the elderly, disabled people and the unemployed.  Various teams found this dual approach informative, and the Asset team started to use the mapping to direct large scale energy efficiency works to areas where households were most in need – where this combination of data points suggested both low incomes and the highest bills.

In 2014, the UK redefined Fuel Poverty to a Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILLE) metric aligned more closely to the way we had devised our indictor. But despite this, and our indicator proving to be a revealing signpost for fuel poverty amongst our residents, it was underutilised. This was partly due to concerns regarding data reliability and data sharing, but also our growing recognition that addressing energy efficiency measures at the expense of other fuel poverty drivers – such as high energy prices and low incomes – was not enough.  

In 2021 the UK Government published the national Fuel Poverty Strategy and it felt timely to revisit this thinking.  So when Tijn arrived in 2022, looking to investigate exactly the question of which households were most in need, it was fantastic to have a critical friend to assess the work we had done already and, more importantly, to help move our thinking forward. His background and understanding helped us set our experience in a wider context and allowed us to feed into learning from the housing sector and academic research. By working alongside and with us, Tijn saw the operational realities that we balance against our theoretical ideas. It was helpful to have an external independent view of how we navigate making changes to people’s homes while they live there. He quickly understood the challenges, suggesting ways to overcome issues, such as accessing good quality external datasets, and cleansing our own data.

One of the lasting benefits from Tijn joining us at Clarion was how he was able to bring together groups of colleagues who might usually work separately. His expertise in the complexities of fuel poverty coupled with his enthusiasm to share and grow knowledge collectively, meant we were able to draw colleagues in from teams across the business. Groups with interests as diverse as data analysis, resident engagement, financial advice, sustainability, development, regeneration and research were all mobilised around his project, driven by his passion to better understand and address fuel poverty.

Man Climbing Into Loft To  Insulate House Roof

This extended way beyond those directly involved in the project. The Fuel Poverty Research Network funding enabled Tijn to extend his research to other housing associations, holding focus groups with housing associations in France, England, and the Netherlands. The successful interventions  from these are summarised in an academic paper,  and a very accessible White Paper for the European Federation of Living. Building new connections across as large organisation as Clarion, into the wider English social housing sector and beyond to Europe may not have been one of his initial objectives, but it was certainly a valuable consequence of Tijn’s time with us.

From Clarion’s deep understanding of our residents’ need for targeted support we’d devised and piloted a speculative indicator.  Tijn helped us overcome the familiar ongoing challenges of data, validating the robustness of our approach.  His learning from other housing associations extended our range of possible interventions and his inclusive way of communication, blending practical and theoretical insights, demonstrated to internal and external stakeholders that tackling fuel poverty is a critical element of everyone’s work.

Workers building solar panel system on rooftop of house. Two men installers in helmets installing photovoltaic solar module outdoors. Alternative, green and renewable energy generation concept.

Kathy Ellis is Group Strategy, Policy and Evidence Lead at Clarion.