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Meeting: 10/03/2015 - Housing Scrutiny Committee (Item 50)

Public Questions

(See information below).

 

 

 

Minutes:

This item was chaired by Councillor Todd-Jones.

 

The Chair welcomed Mr Colin Dickens who addressed the Committee on the new Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations 2014 and handed round an information sheet to Members.

 

Mr Dickens explained that he had only learnt of the regulations in late February 2015. It was his understanding that all existing communal energy systems would have to be checked in the first instance to ensure all tenants paid the correct amount of money for their heating, lighting, hot water and gas services.  Individual monitors would have to be installed to measure the units used for each separate utility.

 

Mr Dickens acknowledged that this seemed a fair way for individuals to pay what they used. But the checks and installation would be disruptive, particularly to the more elderly and vulnerable tenants while this work was carried out.

 

Mr Dickens asked how much the work would cost and if there was any external funding that the City Council could apply for.

 

It was Mr Dickens understanding that the deadline for submissions was 30 April 2015.  

 

The Head of Estate and Facilities, Trevor Burdon, responded that he did not think that the regulations would too onerous for the City Council to undertake. The deadline for submission was the end of April 2015. A list of City Council properties that shared communal energy and hearing sources would be minimal. If any changes were required to those properties the deadline of completion and feasibility tests was 31 December 2016.

 

Mr Burdon explained that there were properties with communal boilers that could simply have flow meters added to the outlet of the boiler. This would measure the flow away from the boiler into the individual dwellings. A single gas bill was currently issued to the Council and an administrative procedure would have to be considered on how to break down the bill, but there was suffiecent time to investigate this.

 

Mr Dickens asked if a flow meter would have to be fitted into every single property in the sheltered housing scheme, as it was his understanding that a monitor would have to be fitted into each individual dwelling. He then went to ask how would the Council ensure that the billing system would be fair and how much disruption there would be when the work started.

 

Mr Burdon explained that the installation of a flow meter was not a complex procedure but there could be issues during installation. It was not possible to give a guarantee that disruption would be to a minimum, but based on the literature read would only affect a small number of properties.

 

Diana Minns, Tenant Representative, asked if those individuals in sheltered housing who paid an inclusive rent would then be billed. Would this become too complex to finalise a bill. Could the Council could put a case forward for exemption on those properties?

 

Mr Burdon explained that there was provision that if the cost of providing that information exceeds £70 a year then exemption could apply.

 

Diane Best, Tenant Representative, asked if the regulations did apply to gas, water and electricity, if so would tenants require three separate meters?

 

Mr Burdon responded that the legislation applied to any shared energy service.

 

Mr Dickens concluded that he believed that there could be five individual monitors on each property for gas, water, heating, electric and cooling systems.

 

The Chair thanked Mr Dickens for this comments and asked if a report could be supplied to the Committee for further details.