Measuring fuel poverty in Italy: A comparison between different indicators

Fuel poverty is a cutting-edge topic in the broader framework of the human dimensions of energy use. Fuel poverty research activities couple the demand side with the supply side and scale up the "household scale" towards the "country scale". This paper contributes to the present-day discussion regarding suitable indicators to quantify the incidence of fuel poverty and, in particular, it considers an Italian case study. The Italian case is peculiar, in terms of climatic conditions (encompassing a very broad range of conditions), dwelling types (in terms of construction periods and urban areas), and the many socio-demographic dimensions present. So far, a comprehensive assessment of fuel poverty in Italy is elusive and, to cover this gap in knowledge, this paper proposes a comparison between different types of indicators. To this end, different indicators taken from the literature have been considered and a novel indicator, based on the "minimum thermal comfort" constraint, has been further developed. All the proposed measures of fuel poverty have been applied to the "Household Budget Survey" (reference year: 2015) and the results have been coupled with a segmentation of Italian households, previously proposed by the authors. Using this method, the "household scale" has been scaled up to consider the whole "country scale", in the process of identifying vulnerable households. The obtained results are of practical importance and provide a rational basis for policy-makers when planning strategies to tackle the incidence of fuel poverty in Italy.