Fuel poverty in industrialized countries: Definition, measures and policy implications a review

Energy poverty currently affects a significant number of European households, representing a growing problem in the EU. But fuel poverty is not an easily understood phenomenon and requires a well-structured definition, which takes into account all relevant issues, and a corresponding measure based on available data to develop the most appropriate policies. The aim of our research is to present the existing approaches to fuel poverty, which are often used in the formulation of policy, presenting the advantages and disadvantages particularly regarding policy interventions. Some of the approaches are broad, and do not propose any quantitative measure of fuel poverty, while others are more precise and result in quantitative indicators. As a main result, we show that two main families of policy tools can be developed: affordability policy - reducing the proportion of income households need to spend on energy - and efficiency policy - retrofitting dwellings to make them more energy efficient. • Many different approaches to fuel poverty exist. • Existing definitions are useful to define energy policies. • Two main families of policy tools exist: affordability policy and efficiency policy.