Same but different: On the applicability of fuel poverty indicators across countries-Insights from France

In 2012, the Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator was proposed as an alternative way of measuring fuel poverty (Hills, 2012) [27]. Since its publication, the indicator has received considerable attention, not only in Great Britain, but also in other European countries. The applicability of the indicator is, however, highly contingent on detailed household and building data. This leads to the question of whether it is feasible to use the indicator in countries with less extensive available data. In this study, we test the applicability of the LIHC indicator in France, using an innovative approach to estimate energy requirements in locations with limited availability of physical building data. We show how this enables us to conveniently adapt the two most frequently used indicators to the French context (and possibly to other countries) and how to compare their results. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.