in the oilrich countries higher fuel prices have a positive effect on the living standard as a result of increasing aggregate demand in the oilimporting countries a fuel price increase can have a direct poverty effect through the consumption of energy and an indirect effect via higher prices for commodities whose production requires energy the poverty impact of an energy price increase may vary for different geographical locations and depending whether a household is connected to the utility infrastructure in urban households the share of energy consumption is usually higher compared to rural households if the utility infrastructure is insufficient households may not even be connected to central sources of energy