The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on water poverty in Scotland: A lived-experience analysis

Heather K. Anderson, A. Bradley Duthie, Craig W. McDougall, Richard S. Quilliam and Heather Price

Utilities Policy, 2025, vol. 96, issue C

Abstract: During the ongoing ‘cost-of-living (CoL) crisis’, households have faced increased household expenses, including water bills, which will hinder efforts towards tackling water poverty. Using a quota-based online panel survey (n = 726), we aimed to quantify the impact of the CoL crisis on water poverty in Scotland. Using lived experience rather than the typical income-based approach, we found that age and household income were significant predictors of water poverty, with younger respondents being more likely to struggle, contrary to conventional wisdom. We argue for the involvement of people with lived experience, government financial support and better targeting of that support.

Keywords: Water poverty; Affordability; Lived experience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957178725000980
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:juipol:v:96:y:2025:i:c:s0957178725000980

DOI: 10.1016/j.jup.2025.101983

Access Statistics for this article

Utilities Policy is currently edited by Beecher, Janice

More articles in Utilities Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().