Fuel Poverty Low Income High Cost Definition
Fuel poverty in England is now measured by the Low Income High Costs definition, which considers a household to be fuel poor if they have required fuel costs that are above average (the national median level) and; were they to spend that amount, they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line.
Table 7.1
| Fuel Poverty LIHC | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | Change 2018-19 |
| Leeds households | 57,429 | 34,657 | 36,926 | +22,772 |
| Leeds % of households | 16.8 | 10.3 | 11.1 | +6.5 |
| England households | 3,176,000 | 2,400,000 | 2,532,000 | +776,000 |
| England % of households | 13.4 | 10.3 | 11.0 | +3.1 |
| Source: Leeds Observatory Data Explorer, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, June 2021 | ||||
In 2019, the estimated number of households in fuel poverty in Leeds was 57,429. This means 16.8% of all Leeds households were fuel poor. Fuel poverty increased in Leeds by 22,772 households in the last year. Nationally, the number of households in fuel poverty was estimated at around 3.1 million, representing approximately 13.4% of all English households and has increased from 10.3% of households in 2018 – affecting 776,000 more households.