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Can the Green Deal be fair too? Exploring new possibilities for alleviating fuel poverty

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  • Guertler, Pedro

Abstract

Energy efficiency and social programmes have failed to stem the dramatic increase in the number of fuel poor households in recent years. As the 2016 deadline for eradicating fuel poverty nears, energy efficiency and fuel poverty programmes are undergoing significant changes. The ambitions for Britain's Green Deal, the overhaul of supplier obligations alongside the winding down of Warm Front, and the introduction of an incentive for renewable heat combine to form a sea change in how energy efficiency and fuel poverty objectives are financed and delivered. Green Deal Finance (GDF) eliminates the up-front capital cost of energy efficiency measures to the household by linking repayments to energy savings and spreading them over many years. This paper asks whether and how GDF could be beneficial to fuel poor households. Using scenarios modelled on the English House Condition Survey, it explores the extent to which fuel poverty could be reduced, allowing for repayments incurred by GDF. It examines how much further fuel poverty could be alleviated were the capital cost subsidised or repayments supported, and concludes that a flexible design for GDF is necessary if it is to contribute to alleviating fuel poverty.

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  • Guertler, Pedro, 2012. "Can the Green Deal be fair too? Exploring new possibilities for alleviating fuel poverty," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 91-97.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:49:y:2012:i:c:p:91-97
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2011.11.059
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hills, John, 2011. "Fuel poverty: the problem and its measurement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 39270, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    2. Paul Simshauser, 2022. "The 2022 energy crisis: horizontal and vertical impacts of policy interventions in Australia's national electricity market," Working Papers EPRG2216, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    3. Paul Simshauser, 2022. "Fuel Poverty and the 2022 Energy Crisis," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 55(4), pages 503-514, December.
    4. Kristian Fabbri, 2024. "Energy Poverty and Poor Buildings: A Brief Literature Review to Promote New Topics for Future Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Nadine Schreiner, 2015. "Auf der Suche nach Energiearmut: eine Potentialanalyse des Low-Income-High-Cost Indikators für Deutschland," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 811, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
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    13. Simshauser, Paul, 2023. "The 2022 energy crisis: Fuel poverty and the impact of policy interventions in Australia's National Electricity Market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    14. Fleance George Cocker, 2025. "Mixes of Policy Instruments for the Full Decarbonisation of Energy Systems: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-64, January.
    15. Simshauser, Paul, 2021. "Vulnerable households and fuel poverty: Measuring the efficiency of policy targeting in Queensland," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    16. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2015. "Fuel poverty, affordability, and energy justice in England: Policy insights from the Warm Front Program," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 361-371.
    17. Gooding, Luke & Gul, Mehreen S., 2017. "Achieving growth within the UK's Domestic Energy Efficiency Retrofitting Services sector, practitioner experiences and strategies moving forward," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 173-182.
    18. Simshauser, Paul & Miller, Wendy, 2023. "On the impact of targeted and universal electricity concessions policy on fuel poverty in the NEM's Queensland region," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1848-1857.
    19. Fabbri, Kristian, 2015. "Building and fuel poverty, an index to measure fuel poverty: An Italian case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 244-258.
    20. Marchand, Robert D. & Koh, S.C. Lenny & Morris, Jonathan C., 2015. "Delivering energy efficiency and carbon reduction schemes in England: Lessons from Green Deal Pioneer Places," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 96-106.
    21. Candice Howarth & Ben M. Roberts, 2018. "The Role of the UK Green Deal in Shaping Pro-Environmental Behaviours: Insights from Two Case Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-18, June.
    22. Zhang, Xiao-Bing & Xie, Lunyu & Zhang, Xinyi & Hu, Xian, 2020. "Energy Poverty and Household Energy Transition in Rural China," EfD Discussion Paper 20-15, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    23. Ahmed, Ahmed I. & McLeod, Robert S. & Gustin, Matej, 2021. "Forecasting underheating in dwellings to detect excess winter mortality risks using time series models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    24. Simshauser, P., 2023. "Fuel poverty in Queensland: horizontal and vertical impacts of the 2022 energy crisis," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2257, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

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