Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for South Swindon, Heidi Alexander and local Labour politicians in West Swindon have joined forces to push for more support for Freshbrook pensioners who have been left without Government support for increasing energy bills.
The pensioners who are residents at Windmill Court are facing increases of £100 a week as a result of increased energy costs.
Windmill Court is a complex of retirement flats owned by housing association, Stonewater, and is part of a district heating scheme, meaning the residents are not currently protected by the same Ofgem energy price cap as individual domestic consumers who get their energy directly from a supplier. This is because the rules for commercial and domestic customers are different
In a letter to the Energy Minister Amanda Solloway MP, Heidi Alexander, Cllr Sean Wilson and Repi Begum argue that these elderly residents should have been a priority for Government support, not an afterthought.
They have sought clarity on what financial support will be forthcoming as a result of the Government’s March budget for people who rely upon “heat networks” or district heating schemes to heat their homes.
Following a residents meeting at Windmill Court last Thursday, attended by Heidi Alexander and Cllr Sean Wilson they have also written to Stonewater, to ask whether the housing association could absorb any of the increased costs?
Commenting, Heidi Alexander said: “These eye watering increases in service charges – driven by increased energy costs – are simply unaffordable. And this is on top of an 11% rent increase.
“Many Windmill Court residents are solely dependent upon their state pensions for income and so they just don’t have the money in their bank accounts to be paying out an extra £100 a week.
“The fact that they are excluded from the Government’s energy price cap scheme seems to be the fundamental problem. I have no idea why Conservative Ministers didn’t think this would be a problem when they designed the scheme – these are some of the most vulnerable people in society.
“The fact that the housing association, Stonewater are also choosing to pass on the increased energy costs to their tenants in full is also quite astonishing. They should absorb some of the increase, if not the full amount. The repayment plans Stonewater are talking about – which simply spread the horrific cost over a longer time frame – just don’t cut it.
“It’s disgraceful that vulnerable older people who are the least able in society to shoulder the full burden of energy price hikes have been put in this situation. The Government and the housing association need to act. Just because these flats are on a district heating scheme shouldn’t mean that the residents who live there are forced into destitution.”
A spokesperson for Stonewater said “We absolutely stand with customers over these concerns.
“The parameters for social housing rents are set by government and supported housing is excluded from the 7% cap applied to other tenures. We do not make a penny of profit from service or energy charges and are committed to ensuring that no customer should ever be at risk of losing their home because of energy debt. We will always support anyone struggling to find workable solutions.”
