3A.11 The number of houses with central heating increased during the 1970s and
1980s. In 2002, 91 per cent of households had central heating and the ease with
which people can now heat their homes at the flick of a switch means that
people can affordably heat more rooms than they actually require and can heat
them to a consistently higher temperature than at any time over the last thirty
years. This is not the case, however, for the fuel poor, who struggle to keep
warm at affordable costs. More information on the profile of the fuel poor is
given in the annex on who are the fuel poor. Changes in the weather also
influence heating demand. It takes around 50 per cent more energy to heat a
house to 18 degrees (the average temperature in 2000) than to heat it to 13
degrees (the average in 1970). Chart 4 shows how internal and external
temperatures have changed since 1970.
Source: BRE
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