The ongoing cost of living crisis means that more UK households than ever are impacted by fuel poverty. Fuel poverty can have a detrimental impact on health and wellbeing.
Who Is Impacted By Fuel Poverty?
Although many different categories of residents can be in fuel poverty, generally the more likely people are –
- Residents in older dwellings
- Residents in private rented properties
- Single parents
- People on low income
These residents are likely to have higher fuel cost and properties that are not energy efficient. Blackburn currently has more than 10,000 households living in fuel poverty.
Single parent households are most likely to be fuel poor (19%) and couples over 60 have the largest average gap (£393)
Households where the household reference person is unemployed are three times more likely to be in fuel poverty than the national average.
Tenure
Households living in privately rented accommodation are most likely to be fuel poor (17.7% ) though households who own their home have the largest average gap (£385)
Owner occupiers that own their home outright are less likely to be fuel poor (7.6%) than those with
a mortgage (9.1%).
The majority of fuel poor households are owner occupied (51.3%)
Blackburn with Darwen has 61,300 properties. Blackburn with Darwen has areas of predominantly terraced properties and over half the housing stock falls into the lowest council tax band A. Such housing is mainly found in the urban towns of Blackburn and Darwen. In contrast, areas to the north of the borough and the villages located in the countryside to the south are significantly more affluent.