Fuel poverty , energy poverty , poverty measurement
Abstract:
Fuel poverty may become an increasingly severe problem in developed
countries in cases when real prices for fossil fuels increase at high rates or when real
energy prices increase due to policies for greenhouse gas abatement. Fuel poverty
measurement consists of two largely independent parts, firstly, the definition of an
adequate fuel poverty line, and secondly, the application of techniques to measure fuel
poverty given some poverty line. This paper reviews options for the definition of fuel
poverty lines as well as techniques for fuel poverty measurement. Based on household
data from Germany, figures that would result from different fuel poverty lines are
derived. Different fuel poverty lines partly yield highly different results with respect to
which households are identified as fuel poor. Thus, the choice of the fuel poverty line
matters decisively for the resulting fuel poverty assessment. Options for fuel poverty
measurement and subgroup comparison in order to identify most vulnerable types of
households are discussed in the light of the literature and based on applications to
German household data.
Das Dokument wird vom Publikationsserver der Universitätsbibliothek Mannheim bereitgestellt.