Protest against cuts to communal heating

TENANTS in a tower block with communal heating – which does not fall under the energy price cap the government recently announced – have warned of a freezing winter if the council push through with plans to turn off their radiators for five hours a day in a bid to save money.

More than 4,000 residents living in blocks with communal heating face having their radiators turned off in the morning and evening after the council launched an emergency consultation in a bid to make drastic savings.

Under those plans, they will also shorten the length of time the heating is on by one month – but even then, bills will rise.

Their heating will now be reduced from 18 hours a day to 13 hours a day. Residents say they should have been asked at what times the heating would be turned off.

Louize Williams has three children aged 8 months, 18 months and six years old and lives in Michael Cliffe House in the Finsbury estate in Clerkenwell.

She said: “I’ve got three young children. They’re talking about bringing the heating times down and the only real option they’ve given me – because I can’t afford to pay these astronomical prices at all – is to have my heating cut down. I have a crawling baby, and another young child.

“The heating won’t go on until I’ve already taken them on the school run. It means we’re going to wake up, all of that, and be freezing cold or have my children wrapped up like snowmen. It’s impossible. So not only are we going to be cold but we’re literally going to be trapped in our houses in our coats and I can’t even fathom it. I mean, I can’t fathom waking up in the middle of the night to breastfeed my child and being too cold to do that.”

Jo Evans, a leaseholder on Finsbury estate, described her shock at opening a letter last Monday saying her heating charges would be going up five and a half times from £275 last year to £1,500 this year: an increase of £5 per week to £28 per week.

She said: “It’s not right. Nobody’s bills have gone up five times. And now since the cap and the freeze, the average price across the country is 68 per cent more – they’re asking us for 550 per cent more.”

Residents have warned that the elderly and the disabled will be hardest hit: one older lady on the estate is 106, while another is immobile. A disabled woman told how even in September she has needed to wear gloves in bed due to the cold, and was worried about how she will cope.

Islington has moved to calm fears over the price hikes, but admitted without government advice on how compensation will work for those with communal heating (known as “heat networks”) they can not say more yet except: be prepared for more pain.

A press officer said: “Currently [people on heat networks] pay £10.60 a week on average, though it varies according to property size. We await detail of the government support package and how we can apply it to calculate bills but we know that even with using less heat unfortunately they will increase – that’s why we’re acting now.”

Housing chief Councillor Una O’Halloran said: “We’ll start communal heating later this year, end the season earlier, and reduce heating hours each day. Without this, bills would increase significantly because of soaring gas prices. Even with this action, bills will have to increase, though by a smaller amount.

“We’re writing to tenants and leaseholders with communal heating systems, and asking them to let us know what they think about the changes. We’re sorry for the short notice – we have had to take urgent action to reduce the impact of soaring gas prices on our residents.”

A government press officer said: “Those households not on standard gas or electricity contracts, such as those living in park homes or on heat networks – and so outside the scheme – will be no worse off and will receive comparable support through a discretionary fund.”