Fuel poverty new social evil

…Looking at modern Britain you could legitimately add fuel poverty to the original list.

The rough and ready definition of fuel poverty is of someone who spends more than 10% of their income on keeping themselves warm.

While fuel poverty has of course always been around, it emerged as a serious social concern in the mid-1970s, born out of the oil crisis.

By 1986, household gas and electricity disconnections due to debt ran at a peak of 160,000 a year.

The latest figures suggest there are currently over two million households across the UK that cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost.

BBC