Abstract
Local delivery of support to householders to reduce the exposure to, and impacts of, fuel poverty is attracting increasing policymaker interest, but there is a dearth of empirical research that describes and evaluates local support schemes. Community organisations are viewed as having great potential to aid this delivery, but research on how this could be achieved is scarce. The research presented in this paper responds to these needs through an exploratory study of the delivery of home energy advice visits in the UK. Data were collected through interviews and supporting documents from twelve projects and analysis examined the inter-relationships between the process, delivered outputs and impacts of each project. The research findings suggest that long-term local professional initiatives appear to be most effective at reaching and providing support to fuel poor households across a local area. Community organisations appear to have some potential to fill gaps in local provision and can assist professional initiatives, particularly through signposting, but a lack of volunteer capacity ultimately constrains their impact. Issues identified for further study include: how local support services can be resourced and delivered nationwide; trade-offs between pursuing climate change and fuel poverty agendas; a need for more robust evidence of impacts.
Highlights
Despite more than a decade of Governmental initiatives, including commitments by Scotland, and England and Wales to eradicate fuel poverty in all households by 2016, the unaffordability of adequate domestic energy services for significant sections of the population is still a significant social problem in the UK and in many countries across the world [1]
A key finding is that long-term, professional projects, either run by or in partnership with local authorities appear be best suited to coordinating local support services for fuel poor householders
Their strengths lie in reaching large numbers of households through marketing and referral networks, delivery of financial support, behavioural advice, small-scale energy efficiency measures, and their referral of vulnerable households to other local support services
Summary
Despite more than a decade of Governmental initiatives, including commitments by Scotland, and England and Wales to eradicate fuel poverty in all households by 2016, the unaffordability of adequate domestic energy services for significant sections of the population is still a significant social problem in the UK and in many countries across the world [1]. Fuel poverty has traditionally been framed as relating to three causes: poor energy efficiency of dwellings; high fuel prices; low incomes [5]. With action on the first of these causes being more likely to provide an enduring solution [5], long-term strategies to eliminate fuel poverty in the UK have focussed upon greatly improving energy efficiency within the housing stock [6,7,8]. The recently published fuel poverty strategy for England takes this approach and sets out a headline goal that “as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C by 2030” [8]. A focus on pursuing energy efficiency creates a synergy with the agenda of reducing the carbon emissions of housing [9], which has been reflected in fuel poverty research, policy and practice for some years [10,11]
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