Energy is a basic human need that is closely linked to human health and well-being. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) incorporate energy targets, proposing the goal of ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all [1]. However, for a variety of reasons, many households are facing energy poverty through under-use and over-burdened energy. As reported, about 759 million people worldwide lack access to electricity in 2019. By the end of 2020, more than 25 million people in developing countries in Asia and Africa could lose the ability to afford a basic package of electricity services [2]. Additionally, the European Commission reports that more than 34 million people in the EU experience energy poverty to various degrees [3]. Addressing energy poverty is a global public policy challenge due to the complexity, diversity and invisibility of its manifestations, and the damage it can do to human well-being and physical and mental health.

The earliest research on energy poverty dates back to the 1980s, when Bradshaw and Hutton (1983) described it as the inability to obtain adequate warmth in the home and proposed three policies to alleviate energy poverty by increasing income to cover energy costs [4]. Subsequently, Boardman (1991) described energy-poor households from the perspective of energy expenditure as ‘disproportionate expenditure’, with households identified as energy-poor if they spent more than 10% of their income on access to energy services [5]. Since then, more research has been carried out on the definition [6,7,8], influencing factors [9,10] and consequences [11,12] of energy poverty.

As housing and energy are closely linked, the housing factor becomes an important perspective in examining energy poverty. Decent, warm, comfortable homes require basic energy services, including space heating and cooling, lighting, water heating, cooking and electricity [13]. On the one hand, the necessary energy needs of a household are highly correlated with the housing characteristics, such as the energy efficiency [14,15,16], building envelope [17,18] and thermal insulation [19,20]. In general, inefficient energy systems [21] and insulation can increase the energy costs of a household to some extent. When households cannot afford high energy costs, they choose to reduce their energy consumption. When household energy consumption falls below the amount of energy required to maintain basic decent living conditions, energy poverty occurs. On the other hand, when housing costs account for a high share of household income, this affects the ability of households to pay their energy bills and households are forced to reduce their energy expenditure, resulting in a situation of the under-consumption of energy [22]. Furthermore, conversely, unfavorable housing conditions and poor housing quality are often associated with energy poverty, for example, energy-poor households may often experience damp houses and mold on the walls and floors [23].

In China, as urbanization continues, more and more residents are beginning to cluster in cities and some low-income households are facing housing affordability and energy affordability challenges. In urban areas, some older neighborhoods have poor energy infrastructure (e.g., electricity, gas and heating) and also suffer from inefficient buildings, increasing the risk of household energy poverty. In rural areas, a large number of houses are detached and poorly insulated, making it difficult for some households to maintain comfortable thermal conditions in their homes. At the same time, due to low income and poor basic energy facilities, some households have difficulty accessing modern energy services and rely heavily on inefficient traditional energy sources. Since housing and energy issues are related to the standard of living, health and well-being of occupants, both housing and energy poverty are pressing livelihood issues to be addressed.