Heating bills hiked 18 per cent for council tenants
Article published: Wednesday, September 21st 2011
Manchester City Council is to raise heating bills for up to 2,000 of its council tenants by 18 per cent this winter. Increased for the second time this year, the increase comes as energy suppliers hike their charges to the council by £278,000, twice the amount anticipated.
While earlier price rises were set in March, the new charge is due to higher than expected costs to the council’s ‘commercial gas contract’. Used by the council for communal heating systems, utility companies hiked the contract by 50 per cent this year rather than the previously expected 25 per cent.
The new charges, set to come into effect next month, will affect tenants living in large scale district heating systems such as Grove Village in Longsight, tower blocks and sheltered housing. While supplied with heating by the council, residents in Eastlands Homes housing association will not be affected as their tenancy agreement only permits one rise per year.
Speaking at last week’s council executive meeting, lead member for neighbourhood services councillor Paul Andrews said, “I don’t want an increase, unfortunately we have to.”
Options for passing on the full increase to residents, which would have meant a 38 per cent fuel hike, were ruled out in favour of a “compromise” of 18 per cent in line with the level other providers are raising their charges.
The other option of the council swallowing the entire increase in charges was also discarded on the grounds that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), though which the fees are paid, would have to bear the full costs in the future. While the HRA – the bulk of which consists of council tenants’ own rates – is currently nationally collected and redistributed, government ‘self-financing’ schemes will see local authorities keep and distribute their own rates in a move that is likely to place a greater burden of costs in areas such as Manchester.
Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Shannon questioned the decision however, asking whether HRA reserves set aside to pay for interest on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts could be used to pay for the increase. Council officials disagreed, saying that as government grants used to help pay for the initial stages of the 30-year PFI contracts are set to phase out the council would need to set aside money in the reserves to pay future interest on the contracts over the next three decades.
Richard Goulding
More: Council, Manchester, News
Comments
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So the real story is that heating bills for these people are to be increased by less than half of the full cost.
So who is paying for this subsidy?
Yes, that’s right.
Other taxpayers, most of whom are having to bear the full brunt of energy price increases.
Comment by simon on September 22, 2011 at 8:11 pm -
no the real story,is its the poorer who bear the brunt of greed and profit again.im sick to death of reading moaning tories on these comments,saying the taxpayer pays for this and that for the poor this government has cost the taxpayer billions already. why didnt they stay in a cheap hotel to help the country out.and not drink themselves into a stuper on taxpayers money.or dine out in top restaurants on tax payers money.they do this every day on taxpayers money.stop whining you fat fools.
Comment by john on October 5, 2011 at 3:59 pm -
Simon: Crude Oil has fell back to pre-crash (2008) prices and will soon be below 2007 prices, but bills are 150% more and rising again 15% this year in an Energy Company ‘free market’ collusion. Natural Gas prices after spiking in the 2008 crash have fallen to **half** the price they were in 2007, before the global spike in prices. All this extra profit that the shareholders are drinking champagne on – is causing a huge strain on households/small business/local government etc. I think I understand your point of view in your comments I have read in this paper (I don’t agree, but I understand) – a glance at the Guardian and especially the ‘jobs’ section reveals the middle-class gravy train. The majority of Guardian readers create no new wealth in the country, generally taking jobs that either directly or indirectly use the taxes of the lower classes who produced the real/actual wealth – but maybe you could take a look at the Financial Times once in a while, and see how much they are laughing at all the dogsbodies below them – while they fleece us all for every penny and gamble with our money. If you’re going to notice how most Left-Wingers take your money and have a modest income via tax/government funded jobs/grants then at least have the decency to take a peek at the Lifestyle section of the Financial Times and have a look at how the Tories are living in luxury – on your money, by ripping you off in our ‘free market’.
CM
Comment by CM on October 6, 2011 at 9:42 am -
[…] bills for communal heaters on “commercial contracts” will go down by 10 per cent following an 18 per cent hike last […]
Pingback by » Social tenants hit by rent hikes - MULE on February 22, 2012 at 3:41 pm
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