The Housing Fuel Poverty Index explained

For the purposes of Switchee’s Housing Fuel Poverty Index, fuel poverty is defined as homes that never reached a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius for any of the previous seven days. 18°C being the minimum indoor temperature before a risk to health occurs, according to Public Health England. Winter is defined as 1 October to 31 March.

The data represented in the video and in the downloadable data pack take into consideration the average HFPI percentage for that region for winter 2022 / 2023 (between 01/10/22 - 31/03/23). The live Housing Fuel Poverty Index data reflects the percentage of properties that didn't reach 18 degrees in the last week.

The Housing Fuel Poverty Index (powered by Switchee) is an aggregated metric spotlighting the prevalence of dangerously cold social homes in the UK. This index offers a comprehensive overview of fuel poverty and highlights the scale of the issue in the sector.

Switchee’s fuel poverty risk metric allows housing providers to identify homes where residents may be suffering fuel poverty, enabling them to provide support and prevent future disrepair issues. Switchee follows international health recommendations that everyone heat their home to at least 18°C out (PHE).

Fuel Poverty in England is measured using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) indicator. Under this 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.
- after heating their home, residents are left with a residual income below the poverty line. (source: Fuel poverty statistics)

Fuel poverty in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is currently calculated using 10% indicators, as opposed to the LILEE indicator in England, to determine the proportion of fuel poor in these nations. Under the 10% indicator, a household is considered to be fuel poor if it is required to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel, so as to maintain an adequate standard of warmth.

One in four UK households living in social housing was forced to go without heating at times last winter to reduce the cost of record high energy bills.

By creating one UK metric (which can be broken down by UK region; England, Scotland and Wales) derived from real-time data collected from thousands of social homes, we can better understand the scale of the problem and how to address it together as a sector.

The Housing Fuel Poverty Index is dynamic and responsive to external factors like fuel price fluctuations and weather variations, ensuring its relevance and impact.