A FUEL poverty calculation is not a valid basis for government policy, Social Care Minister Chris Robertshaw has said.
Mr Robertshaw was responding to a question from Kate Beecroft (LibVan, Douglas South), who asked what plans he had for defining the meaning of fuel poverty for residents of the Isle of Man.
The minister said he did not accept the wisdom of adopting the ‘narrow’ UK definition of household fuel poverty as a significant policy tool. He said an analysis of island household incomes was being carried out as a prelude to a deeper and more focused study.
‘It is our intention that from this beginning and over time a much more holistic and targeted approach will emerge,’ said Mr Robertshaw. ‘It is in such a context that household income and expenditure will be better understood.
‘I believe to focus now on a narrow isolated indicator such as the concept of fuel poverty would be to take a step backwards – it would perpetuate what is clearly a flawed approach.’
Mr Robertshaw provided the example of two separate households with similar incomes and fuel expenditure. ‘Both would produce the same score using the UK fuel poverty measure,’ he said. ‘Despite this, the first household pays a low rent, resulting in a comfortable lifestyle, whilst the second is subject to a high rent, such that it is placed in severe budgetary stress and a form of poverty. What use here the UK form of measurement?’
He added: ‘Outside of the relationship of fuel costs to income of a given household at a given moment must be the importance of the heat insulation characteristics of Manx homes, be they public or private properties, and this will remain a focus for my department.’
The UK definition of fuel poverty is: any household which spends more than 10 per cent of its income on fuel where the heating regime provides a temperature of 21ºC in the living area and 18ºC in the remaining rooms.