Fuel poverty is still with us

Fuel prices increased in the last two quarters of 2024/25 and will increase again in the first quarter of 2025/26 by 6.4 per cent. At the same time, all mitigations have ended and the winter fuel allowance has been restricted to pensioners on pension credit.

This paper presents a revised analysis of who will be affected by fuel poverty in January 2025, based on analysis of the ONS Living Costs and Food Survey. 

Although there is a clear association between fuel poverty and net income, with fuel poverty concentrated in the lower-income deciles, some richer households also spend more than 20 per cent of their income on fuel, and 26.3 per cent of households in fuel poverty are not income poor. 

Households with children are at a higher risk of poverty than other households. Large families and single parents are at the highest risk of fuel poverty.