ABSTRACT
The general perception of life in Britain is that we have increasing affluence, higher standards of living and access to more energy-using equipment. At the same time, the furore that greeted the imposition of value added tax (VAT) demonstrated that many households consider they spend too much on fuel already and could not afford extra expenditure. This paper looks briefly at the background to these two scenarios to see whether both could be true and, in particular: are standards of warmth rising equally for all income groups, or only for the better off?
