The retail energy market in the UK is highly politicised and since the turn of the millennium successive governments have pursued significant policies designed to ease the affordability of energy for certain groups. One of these policies, namely Winter Fuel Payments, represents both a...

The measurement of fuel poverty is critical for judgements about the significance of the problem and the design of policies to address it. Reducing fuel poverty has been a government objective in the UK for many years, and is generally seen through the lens of the government’s official fuel...

Liberalised retail energy markets present an apparent puzzle: when offered the chance to buy a homogeneous product at a lower price, many consumers appear to leave ‘money on the table'. We observe the decisions made by over 7,000 consumers in a collective switching exercise and find that...

The introduction of a price cap for consumers who have not switched to cheaper deals in the British energy market reflects increasing political concern about the higher prices paid by these consumers compared with their more active counterparts. In this paper, we demonstrate the variations in...