KEY POINTS:
About a quarter of households in the major centres are suffering from "fuel poverty" as the cost of heating a home escalates.
A national Fuel Poverty workshop heard yesterday that a large proportion of New Zealand homes are so cold they are putting people's health at risk, and it will only get worse as the cost of heating fuels continues to rise.
The elderly and low-income earners are hurting the most.
Study findings presented by Kay Saville-Smith, from the Centre for Research Evaluation and Social Assessment, showed an average Kiwi living room temperature on a winter evening was 17.82C, when it was recommended that it be 21C.
About 22 per cent of living rooms were colder than 16C, where a person's respiratory function is impaired and strain is put on the heart.
Fuel poverty exists where a household needs to spend 10 per cent or more of its income to heat a home to the recommended levels.
Ms Saville-Smith said people on lower incomes tended to manage fuel poverty by "significantly under-heating their homes".
"We spend money to stay colder in New Zealand."
People who tried and failed to heat their homes adequately often gave up.
"The reality is they can't afford to keep it warm. Why would they bother?"
Dr Bob Lloyd, director of the energy studies programme at Otago University, said his study of households in the major centres showed about 24 per cent were suffering fuel poverty.
The figures ranged from about 18 per cent in Auckland to 46 per cent in Dunedin, where it was colder and incomes were lower.
Yet New Zealanders spent only about a third of what they should to bring their homes up to the recommended temperatures, Dr Lloyd said.
The Government is now recognising the need to address fuel poverty and a three-year study by the Ministry of Social Development will kick off next month to explore the extent of it and how to respond.
A workshop speaker from the United Kingdom, David Green of National Energy Action, told the Herald the fuel poverty problem was well recognised in his country, affecting about three million households, and the Government was treating it seriously.
"I get the impression it has become a lot more talked about and severe [in New Zealand]," Mr Green said.
"But I have always thought that in New Zealand there is a huge potential to improve the energy efficiency of the housing stock ... particularly for low-income households."
People in both the Britain and New Zealand were now less likely to accept living in a cold home and having to "put on an extra jumper", and were demanding properly built and insulated dwellings.
Click here for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority eeca.govt.nz.
