Agenda item

Garrett McEntee, Technical Services Manager, Capital Improvement Team, Bryony Willett, Head of Housing Partnerships and Communities and Andrew Ford, Energy Advice Manager, presented the report and answered questions.

In the discussion the following points were made:

·         In 2014, a pilot was undertaken to assess the impact of providing additional heating during cooler periods in the summer months. The service was now looking at the communal heating policy including heating during the summer and whether certain estates with poor energy efficiency should receive additional heating hours and not pay extra for this service. Residents would be consulted on this.

·         Since 2010, improvements had been made which meant some communal heating boilers could now turn on and off in response to outside temperatures.

·         The plant room water sensors would be repositioned where necessary to give the optimum reading of water temperature. This work would be undertaken under the existing contract responsible for maintenance and repair. This contract cost £1.5m per year.

·         When system and plant upgrades took place, existing controllers could be changed to 3G routers where appropriate. This would improve the communication with plant rooms to provide a more responsive service.. Funding was in place to progress this work to some of the blocks with a history of poor performance.

·         Work would take place to improve the Trend Building Management System and increase training for in-house staff if further funding was obtained.

·         The council had a different approach to calculate charges to tenants and leaseholders for communal heating. Tenant services were charged on a pooled basis so all tenants in the same property size paid the same regardless of which estate they lived on. Legally the council could not pool leaseholder charges so they were calculated by taking the yearly fuel costs of the boiler house which serviced each leasehold property and dividing this by the number of properties that received heating from that boiler. In practice this meant there was almost always a difference between tenant and leaseholder charges for heating.

·         Tenant charges were based on gas usage in the previous year plus an estimate of the change in the cost of gas. Leaseholder charges were based on the actual cost of gas from two years ago plus an estimate of the increase in the cost of gas for the coming year. In the financial year 2014/15 these timing differences meant that on average tenants were paying more than leaseholders. These differences were expected to even out in the following years when leaseholders charges were adjusted to reflect the actual increase in the cost of gas whilst tenant charges would not increase because they paid more in the 2014/15 financial year.

·         This year to date, tenants had paid more than the actual cost by approximately £100 and if this was still the case at the end of the financial year, they would be given a rebate. If the amount was smaller, it would be rolled forward instead.

·         The council had a policy to put all service charges together on one account as this was the simplest way to charge tenants. Support was provided to those struggling to pay housing costs.

·         Refunds to those who had no heating for three or more consecutive days were put on the resident’s rent account.

·         Islington’s properties were generally smaller than the average property and residents used 25% less heating than the national average. If individual boilers were installed, it would cost approximately £800 to run a boiler, servicing would cost approximately £70 and call out charges/ repairs would be extra. The national average time heating was on per day was 9.5 hours, 5.5 months per year. Communal heating was usually on for 18 hours per day, 8 months a year. If tenants had communal heating on for 9.5 hours, 5.5 months a year, they would pay less for their communal heating than they would if they had an individual boiler, however, due to communal heating being on for 18 hours per day, 8 months per year, they paid a few percent more. Residents had been consulted on the timings for communal heating and had chosen for heating to be on for 18 hours per day.

·         Council properties generally had the highest energy efficiency, followed by social housing, owner occupied housing and then private rented housing.

·         Concern was raised that tenants had no incentive to use energy in an efficient way under a communal heating system and tenants paid more to heat buildings which were energy inefficient. Officers advised that many residents had controls to turn their heating off or down and that although this would not reduce in a reduction in their bill, if all tenants did this, it would.

·         The council was committed to improving energy efficiency within available resources and there was a need to prioritise energy efficiency measures.                   

·         The Department of Energy and Climate Change had looked at the costs associated with individual heat meters. Energy costs could reduce by 15-20% with a change in behaviour. The meters cost approximately £300, however this did not include the modifications to pipework which could be significant. Access to properties was required for installation, servicing and maintenance.

·         Concern was raised that some corridors were heated. Officers advised that this was in buildings where the heating system had not yet been upgraded and heat was being lost from uninsulated pipework.

·         A member of the public raised concern that the 2010 borough wide consultation results were not broken down by estates. Officers advised that that the next consultation could be broken down by estate.

·         A member of the public raised concern about Kings Square Estate having heating for 24 hours a day instead of the standard 18 hours. This would be investigated by officers.

·         A member of the public suggested that communal heat could use provided from biomass or renewable energy. An officer responded that the Bunhill Heat and Power Scheme - Phase 2 would capture heat from the Transport for London system. There were some biomass boilers but these were more expensive than gas. One or two boilers were being replaced each year.

·         A member of the public queried the legal basis for the way tenants and leaseholders were charged. The officer advised that legally leaseholders had to be charged on a block by block basis. The council had made a policy decision to charge tenants differently and there was no legislation governing tenant charges.

·         A member of the public raised concern about their energy usage not decreasing following insulation works and the installation of controls. Officers would look into this.

RESOLVED:

1) That the report be noted.

2) That officers provide a summary of the policy regarding heating rebates.

3) That officers provide a case study of energy costs in home with a good energy performance certificate and in a home with a poor energy performance certificate.

4) That officers provide a summary of the benefits and drawbacks to having individual heat meters and also the associated costs.

5) That officers provide details on whether the council had over or undercharged tenants and leaseholders for the last five years.

6) That officers report back on possible short term and long term improvements to communal heating that could be made and whether the charging policy could be changed.

7) That officers look into the resident’s concern about energy usage not decreasing after energy efficiency measures being installed and also the concern about heating on the Kings Square Estate being on 24 hours per day.