A Multidimensional Approach to Measuring Fuel Poverty

Abstract

In this study we suggest that a more careful and systematic understanding of fuel poverty can be developed through a multidimensional approach to the relationship between monetary poverty, residential energy efficiency, and heating restriction. Our objective is to provide new ways to better identify those who suffer the most from fuel poverty to optimize policy. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to measure poverty in three steps following Sen (1979): (i) combining poverty characteristics into an aggregate measure involving a fuel poverty index (FPI), (ii) identification and comparison of poor people according to existing and new definitions and (iii) testing the robustness of the fuel poverty composite indicator. Our results show that the usual measures reveal a gap that does not consider all the dimensions of fuel poverty, excluding those who are at or above a certain threshold, but who are nevertheless vulnerable. The multidimensional approach enables us to consider all the components of fuel poverty.

Policies for low-carbon and affordable home heating: A French outlook

“…The EIR has been criticized for missing truly fuel-poor households with low expenditure and unduly counting wealthy households with high energy expenditure (seeCharlier and Legendre, 2019). In a related paper, we test a broader set of indices and find trends that are qualitatively similar to those obtained with the EIR.…”

The Price Impact of Energy Vouchers

“…When the regulator moves first, it takes into account the firms' response when it determines the transfer path t = {t(θ)} θ∈Θ . The regulator then solves the problem (11) where p = p v (t) so that each voucher allocated to a consumer will have an impact on the market price as depicted in (9). Note that the regulator can always settle to the Nash equilibrium by allocating t n ; therefore, we obtain the following proposition.…”

“…We analyze the price impact of this policy under the assumption that it is pursued at minimum cost. 9 In this approach, we first state conditions on individual and aggregate energy demand elasticities that make the choice of vouchers consistent with the elimination of energy poverty. We then model a game between the energy suppliers and the regulator, where firms maximize profit under Cournot competition, while the regulator emits vouchers in quantities that ensure that no consumer spends more than a given share of her income on the targeted good.…”

Lump-sum vs. energy-efficiency subsidy recycling of carbon tax revenue in the residential sector: A French assessment

“…The French Observatoire national de la précarité énergétique (ONPE, 2016) proposes three indicators for identifying fuel-poor households: the energy-toincome ratio; the low-income, high cost, index; and stated heating comfort. While the first two are commonly used in other countries (Charlier and Legendre, 2019), the third is to our knowledge unique to France. We detail below how each is approximated in Res-IRF.…”