A household is considered to be fuel poor if it has higher than typical energy costs to provide an indoor environment that does not adversely affect their health and wellbeing (21c in living room and 18c in the rest of the house), and would as a result be left with a disposable income below the poverty line if it spent the required money to meet those costs.

Fuel poverty is important as it can either cause or contribute to health issues in vulnerable groups.

The following uses data from the new Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Low Income – Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) measure, which is defined as:

Under the LILEE indicator, a household is considered to be fuel poor if:
  • they are living in a property with a fuel poverty energy efficiency rating of band D or below (bands A-C are deemed to not be in poverty due to higher energy efficiency), and
  • when they spend the required amount to heat their home, they are left with a residual income below the official poverty line
Key points:
Current Estimate – County Durham: 14.7% of households (35,200 households) (2021) (NE: 14%; England: 13.1%)
 
  • The latest data release (for 2021) estimated that 14.7% of households (35,200 estimated households) in County Durham were experiencing fuel poverty, a fall from 15.5% in 2019, (NE: 14%; England: 13.1%),
  • The county is ranked as having the 51st highest proportion of households experiencing fuel poverty out of 154 upper tier county authorities in England in the dataset.  Within the North East County Durham is ranked 4th highest,
Interactive Map: Fuel Poverty by Sub-county Area
Fuel Poverty Dashboard

The following dashboard provides further detail on this dataset, with key messages and links to data below it.  Click on the arrow in the bottom right corner of the dashboard to view it full screen.  Below that is analysis of the historic Low income/High Cost (LIHC) measure.

 

Links to Data: