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J. PARAVANTIS
FUEL POVERTY: SOCIOECONOMIC AND POLITICAL
ASPECTS OF THE HUMAN DIMENSION
OF THE GLOBAL RECESSION
John A. Paravantis
Abstract
This paper compiles and presents the results of three empirical research works on fuel
poverty in Athens, Greece: an initial work reporting on the results of a survey of 598
households; a follow-up work focusing on the indoor environmental quality in 50 low
and very low income households during the winter; and a more in-depth effort to ana-
lyze the indoor temperature measurements of these low and very low income houses.
The average indoor temperature, the area and the number of rooms in the household,
the number of family members, the building age and the average household income
were used to cluster homes into a richer, an average and a severely handicapped poorest
group. It was confirmed that fuel poor households are in an energy trap that is difficult
to escape from and may create a fuel poverty societal gap not unlike the digital divide.
The paper concludes with important policy considerations, urging politicians to consid-
er the triple injustice faced by low income households that are fuel poor: although these
households emit the least, they pay the most and they benefit the least from policy in-
terventions. Energy efficiency is clearly the target future efforts should be directed at.
Key words:
fuel poverty, low-income households, energy consumption, indoor temper-
ature
I. Introduction
Achieving proper indoor temperatures in residences is necessary to protect human
health, satisfy thermal comfort, and improve quality of life. Very low or very high in-
door temperatures have been found to increase seasonal morbidity and mortality
and constrain the social attainment of households.
1
Unfortunately, about 15 to 25%
of the low-income population in Southern Europe and Ireland cannot afford to pay
for heating,
2
with these figures likely to have increased significantly because of the
1. S. Bouzarovski, Energy poverty in the EU: A review of the evidence. DG Regio workshop on
Cohesion
policy investing in energy efficiency in buildings
, Brussels, 2011.
2. P. Böhnke,
First European quality of life survey: Life satisfaction, happiness and sense of belonging
.
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin, 2013.