The number of households experiencing fuel poverty is thought to have risen by at least 600,000 in the UK because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The concentration of fuel poor households in poor quality, energy inefficient accommodation that they have little power to improve means they are particularly negatively affected by the retreat into the home brought about by successive lockdowns and restrictions. For many such households, the home is not the place of sanctuary that it needs to be at a time like this. However, our empirical research into the lived experiences of fuel poverty reveals additional consequences for fuel poor households, chiefly associated with restricted access to third spaces and other disruptions to their usual coping strategies. Based on our evidence, we highlight three key considerations for policy on fuel poverty in the era of Covid-19: the need to rapidly upgrade the energy performance of the existing housing stock; the need to address the additional financial hardship faced by fuel poor households; and the need to prioritise access to third spaces and high-quality public spaces while restrictions last. This paper develops the concept of energy poverty by considering the role of spaces outside the home as part of the overall experience of energy poverty and the range of ways in which policy makers can mitigate its impacts.

中文翻译：

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寒冷的安慰：Covid-19、封锁和燃料匮乏家庭的应对策略

由于持续的 Covid-19 大流行，英国经历燃料匮乏的家庭数量据信增加了至少 60 万。燃料匮乏的家庭集中在质量差、能源效率低的住所中，他们几乎没有能力改善，这意味着他们特别容易受到连续封锁和限制带来的撤退的负面影响。对于许多这样的家庭来说，家并不是在这样的时刻所需要的避难所。然而，我们对燃料匮乏生活经历的实证研究揭示了燃料匮乏家庭的额外后果，主要与进入第三空间的限制以及对其通常应对策略的其他干扰有关。根据我们的证据，我们强调了 Covid-19 时代燃料贫困政策的三个关键考虑因素：需要快速升级现有住房的能源性能；需要解决燃料匮乏家庭面临的额外经济困难；以及在限制持续期间优先考虑进入第三空间和高质量公共空间的需要。本文通过考虑家庭以外的空间作为能源贫困整体经历的一部分的作用以及政策制定者可以减轻其影响的一系列方式，提出了能源贫困的概念。