<p>Fuel poverty is measured at a household level. The following table shows the number of households in fuel poverty, in the North East of England, over the last three years for which data are published.</p><p><table><thead><tr><td valign="top" /><td valign="top">Householdsin the North East ofEngland<br /></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" /><td valign="top">Numberof fuel poor households(thousand)<br /></td><td valign="top">Proportionof households that are fuel poor(percentage)<br /></td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td valign="top">2009<br /></td><td valign="top">169<br /></td><td valign="top">15<br /></td></tr><tr><td valign="top">2010<br /></td><td valign="top">162<br /></td><td valign="top">14<br /></td></tr><tr><td valign="top">2011<br /></td><td valign="top">142<br /></td><td valign="top">12<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>In July the Government announced its intention to adopt the new Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator of fuel poverty, based on the recommendations from Professor Hills' independent review. The above figures are based on this LIHC measure of fuel poverty.</p><p>Under the LIHC indicator a household is considered fuel poor if they have above average fuel costs and were they to spend that amount on fuel, they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line.</p><p>The latest year of available data is for 2011, and it is anticipated that figures for 2012 will be published in summer 2014. Tables are published as DECC statistics at the link:</p><p>https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trends-in-fuel-poverty-england-2003-to-2011</p>