Individuals are considered as fuel poor if they have required fuel costs that are above the median level and would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line if they were to spend that amount. The number of households in fuel poverty is of the same order of magnitude under the current official measure, where fuel poverty is defined by required fuel costs exceeding 10% of income. More than 7 million individuals in nearly 3 million households are affected in 2009 and the fuel poverty gap is £1.1 billion, defined as the amounts by which the assessed energy needs of fuel poor households exceed the threshold for reasonable costs (Hills, 2012). Current policies are estimated to reduce the fuel poverty gap by only 10%.