Fuel Poverty

What is Fuel Poverty?

A household is fuel poor if it cannot afford keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost. The Fuel Poverty in Wales, 2004 report presents the fuel poverty statistics calculated for Wales using the 2004/2005 'Living in Wales' survey.   The Living in Wales Survey is a continuous survey for Wales commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government.  

It shows that in Wales as a whole:

• 134,000 households were estimated to be fuel poor in Wales in 2004 under the full income definition. This is 11% of all households.
• Vulnerable households account for 86% of the fuel poor (115,000 households) with vulnerable households containing someone aged 60+ years making up the largest proportion.
• Nearly 40,000 households (3% of all households) are required to spend more than 15% of their income on fuel.

Households that are particularly likely to be fuel poor are those living in private rented accommodation, single person households, households in which the oldest person is over pension age and economically inactive households.

Dwelling characteristics that have the greatest influence on the fuel poverty status of the occupying household are older dwellings of solid wall construction, large semi-detached and detached dwellings and dwellings with non central heating or electric storage radiators.

Approximately 226,000 households have moved out of fuel poverty since 1998; this is likely due to a combination of rising incomes, decreasing fuel prices and improvements in energy efficiency over this time.

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council sees the provision of affordable warmth as an important issue and has agreed to produce an Affordable Warmth Action Plan for the county. For the Affordable Warmth Action Plan to be effective it needs involvement and commitment from a wide range of partners across the county borough.