Wembley Matters has been trying to draw attention to the huge bills facing residents attached to District Heating Networks as they are classified as uncapped commercial rates.
Good to see this MP calling for government action.
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Leasehold reform is again lost in Parliamentary process and yet if enacted would establish consumer rights (district heating, flammable cladding, defective new build quality.....)for all living in Growth Area housing the only infrastructure colony zones. This remembering that councils and housing associations are buying for sale block leases to create affordable rent modern homes and therefore also need to effectively hold builders and block owners to account.
ReplyDeleteWhere electricity is produced alongside heat (CHP, Combined Heat and Power), heat network pricing should also take account of the effect of rising electricity prices on network finances. The price of electricity has increased massively which means that the revenues coming in from power exports have also risen. So CHP heat networks don’t have to raise the heat price as much as others."
ReplyDeleteThe revenue from electricity sales, despite being part of the argument for (CHP) district heating, seems to be quite a shady area, with little transparency about where the money goes. When we raised this with Ofgem, they said they didn't know and hadn't considered it. If operators are putting up prices in long with the rising price of gas without taking this into account, there is something very fishy going on.
Fuel Poverty Action has a lot about related issues on our website, Fuelpovertyaction.org.uk which can be found under the Resources tab, under "research" and "consultations", which may be useful to people concerned with this issue.