Governments and advocacy groups have drawn attention to the precarious position of those members of society who are unable to attain an adequate level of energy services, i.e. the fuel poor. Concerns have also arisen about the ability of fuel poor individuals to adapt to the hardship recently brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring empirically the link between fuel poverty and financial distress prior to and during the first wave the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis is based on the most recent longitudinal, nationally representative survey of the United Kingdom, Understanding Society (UKHLS, Wave 10, January 2018–February 2020). After correcting for the effects of potential endogeneity in the variables of interest, our results identify a statistically robust relationship between fuel poverty indicators and self-reported measures of current financial distress, with stronger effects for subjective indicators. The fuel poverty indicators however exert only a limited influence on an individual's expectation of their future financial situation. Our analysis of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic also confirms that fuel poverty contributed to financial distress. Our main findings are robust to a suite of specification and sensitivity checks. Our results lead to recommend assessing measures which target fuel poverty on the basis of their potential indirect effect on financial distress.

政府和宣传团体已经提请注意那些无法获得足够水平的能源服务的社会成员的不稳定地位，即燃料匮乏的人。人们还担心燃料匮乏的人适应最近由 COVID-19 大流行带来的困难的能力。本文通过实证探索第一波 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间燃料贫困与财务困境之间的联系，为文献做出了贡献。该分析基于最近对英国进行的具有全国代表性的纵向调查，理解社会（UKHLS，第 10 轮，2018 年 1 月至 2020 年 2 月）。在校正了感兴趣变量中潜在内生性的影响后，我们的结果确定了燃料贫困指标与自我报告的当前财务困境措施之间在统计上稳健的关系，对主观指标的影响更大。然而，燃料贫困指标对个人对其未来财务状况的预期影响有限。我们对第一波 COVID-19 大流行的分析也证实，燃料匮乏导致了财务困境。我们的主要发现对一套规范和敏感性检查是稳健的。我们的结果导致建议根据对财务困境的潜在间接影响评估针对燃料贫困的措施。然而，燃料贫困指标对个人对其未来财务状况的预期影响有限。我们对第一波 COVID-19 大流行的分析也证实，燃料匮乏导致了财务困境。我们的主要发现对一套规范和敏感性检查是稳健的。我们的结果导致建议根据对财务困境的潜在间接影响评估针对燃料贫困的措施。然而，燃料贫困指标对个人对其未来财务状况的预期影响有限。我们对第一波 COVID-19 大流行的分析也证实，燃料匮乏导致了财务困境。我们的主要发现对一套规范和敏感性检查是稳健的。我们的结果导致建议根据对财务困境的潜在间接影响评估针对燃料贫困的措施。