What counts as energy poverty?
Energy poverty appears on 107 recent papers, almost all in economics, but only 12 energy-poverty papers carry a measurement or index keyword. The measures in use (spending shares, inability to heat, multidimensional indices) classify different households as poor. How much do the findings depend on the measure chosen?
What prompted this
Since October 2025, 135 papers carry an energy-poverty, fuel-poverty or energy-affordability keyword (123 in economics journals): "energy poverty" on 107, "energy affordability" on 24, "fuel poverty" on 5. Only 12 also carry a measurement, index, indicator or multidimensional keyword (multidimensional energy poverty index 4, energy poverty indicators 4), although the topic's conclusions rest on how the poor are counted.
Questions
- In the same household survey, how much do the common measures (10% spending share, twice the median share, low-income-high-cost, self-reported inability to keep warm, multidimensional indices) overlap?
- Do the papers' main results (effects of digital finance, green credit or energy prices on energy poverty) survive a change of measure?
- Which measure best predicts outcomes that matter (cold-related health problems, arrears, disconnections)?
Data that could help
Household surveys with energy spending, income and self-reported comfort (EU-SILC, the UK's English Housing Survey, China's CFPS), and health and arrears records.
Next step
Compute five common energy poverty measures in one survey and tabulate how many households each classifies as poor and how many all of them agree on.