We calculate the demand for heating at the household level by integrating the technological data on the heating needs of different types of buildings with the information available in Istat's Household Budget Survey. This new dataset is used to estimate a measure of energy poverty (EP) that is not conditioned by household preferences. The new measure identifies households suffering from EP as those that become "poor" according to Istat's relative poverty measure after purchasing a minimum basket of energy services. Given the high granularity of the information used, the proposed threshold could be used as part of Istat's revised absolute poverty measure. This also contributes to the monitoring and implementation of the policies that each EU member state should set up against EP as required under the Energy Union.
Published in 2021 in: Energy and Buildings, v. 233, Article 110692.
