Last week, on behalf of short changed council tenants, sole Green Councillor Caroline Russell asked at the meeting of the Full Council why Islington Labour were overcharging council tenants for their energy bills.1
Outrage has been building over the council’s energy bills system, which results in council tenants paying hundreds more pounds than leaseholders and their private tenants in council housing and over billed council tenants not getting their money back.
For many tenants, who are struggling to get by, being charged more than the actual cost of their communal energy usage strains threadbare budgets even more.
Beyond this council tenants and leaseholders on different estates get very different levels of service. Some systems give access to hot water and heat 24 hours a day, others get heat for just 18 hours a day.
Finally it’s been revealed that the council has likely overcharged tenants for the last financial year. Rather than returning the payments, the council may hold onto this overpaid money to hedge against future energy price rises.
Cllr Caroline Russell said “I have been meeting concerned and angry residents on these issues for months now and we’re hoping that the council will act upon our concerns. I hear time and time again from residents in my ward of Highbury East and across Islington that the current situation simply isn’t good enough.
“Whilst in theory sharing out energy costs is a progressive way of dealing with energy bills, in reality the practice is seen as unfair. Some council tenants find themselves getting a second class service while at the same time paying hundreds of pounds more than people who own their homes.
“Equally, with this service there is no incentive for energy conservation. One household using their heating conservatively would be lumbered with the same cost of someone using heating liberally.”
“The council should be striving to ensure that tenants pay a much closer rate to the cost of energy they use. To ensure this the council should be making urgent efforts to install insulation into homes that are not energy efficient, to minimise the cost of subsidising poorly insulated homes.
“Any surplus money brought in through bills should be returned to tenants rather than held onto by the council. At the full council meeting last Thursday, Cllr James Murray suggested that there may be a refund but this would not be decided until the end of the financial year.”
References
1. At full council on February 26th 2015 Caroline Russell asked
“Will the Council review its decision to hold on to overpayments made by tenants with communal heating systems this year and repay the money immediately?”
The response can be found here at 31:06:
http://bambuser.com/v/5312490