The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 defines a fuel poor person as one living on a lower income in a home which cannot be kept warm at reasonable cost.
The most widely accepted definition of a fuel poor household is one which needs to spend more than 10 per cent. of its net income to heat its home to an adequate standard of warmth (usually 21 degrees for the main living area, and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms).
There are no plans to review the definition of fuel poverty.
Fuel poverty is measured at household level rather than on a family basis.
The Department's latest estimates for fuel poverty are for 2007, available online at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/fuelpov_stats/fuelpov_stats.aspx
The following table provides the number of households in fuel poverty for each English region in 2006 and 2007:
Thousand Government office region 2006 2007 North East 179 206 East Midlands 236 272 East of England 224 253 London 254 309 North West 415 472 South East 291 333 South West 256 259 West Midlands 304 383 Yorkshire and the Humber 273 333 Total 2,432 2,819