A group of pensioners are turning the heat on their landlord after they say they each face a £200 bill every month to pay for heating they neither want nor need.
Social housing provider Riverside has said that it is taking steps to resolve the heating issues, but the residents of Manisty House, in Benwell, say it's cold comfort when they were sweltering in temperatures of over 40C last summer because the radiators in the communal areas are never switched off.
The residents are also complaining about the lights in the same areas, which they say are always on, leading to much higher bills than are necessary.
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Janet Crane, 65, has lived with her husband Peter, 73, in one of the 37 flats in the sheltered accommodation for the past four years and said that the pensioners were calling on Riverside to only heat and light the block when it is needed, instead of 24/7.
"At the moment we are paying more than £700 for our rent and service charge every month and around £200 of that is a communal energy charge to pay for this heating and lighting to be on all the time," she said. "We also have to pay for our private energy inside the flat, but that is only about £100 a month as we don't use our heating much at all. That means we are paying twice as much to heat the communal areas than we are our our flat. It's ridiculous!"
"This week, it's been nearly 30C in the hallway and in the hot weather last summer, the temperatures topped 40C, with the radiators blasting away all the time, even in a heatwave. It's a complete waste of money and energy. The lights in the stairwells and corridors are never switched off, even though most residents are inside their own flats by 9pm as it's only over-55s living here.
"We want the lights to all be controlled by sensors so they are only on when they need to be and we want the heating to be turned off when it's warm," she said. "I don't think either of those things are unreasonable. We all know energy costs have gone up massively over the past year, but I think asking pensioners to pay another £200 for energy that doesn't need to be used in the first place is crazy. We've raised it many times with our Riverside representative and are just told there is no point complaining because Riverside will do nothing about it. Riverside are charging all 37 flats in Manisty House £200 per month - that's £7,400 in total. You can't breathe in the corridors because it’s so hot"
Lee Buss-Blair, of Riverside, said: “With the cost of living crisis and inflation at over 10% unfortunately affecting everyone, this year's service charge setting process has been one of the most difficult we have ever experienced. The huge rise in inflation means our costs, particularly for utilities, have increased significantly. We know it also means that household costs – on everything from food to energy – have increased too.
“Service charge increases are a direct result of the cost of rising costs, one of which is energy. Riverside has been on fixed tariff charges for some time which has now ended, and the costs are considerably more which we are having to pass onto our customers. We recognise that any cost increase presents an additional financial challenge at an unwelcome time and have consulted customers throughout to gather their opinions and insight.
“At Manisty House, our retirement living service in Newcastle, we appreciate the impact of rising costs on our customers. “We are providing additional support to customers through our hardship fund, Helping Hands. This fund is designed to aid customers experiencing significant financial hardship and prevent customers from struggling in a crisis."
Mr Buss-Blair said that the housing provider had also identified households eligible for the Government’s Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding and is supporting them to access this.
“At Riverside, the wellbeing and safety of our customers is our main priority. At Manisty House most lighting remains on 24/7 in communal areas such as stairwells to ensure customer safety when moving around the building," he said. “We are listening to our customers’ feedback and suggestions to reduce energy usage at Manisty House, and as we have discussed with them, have looked into the possibility of installing sensor lights throughout the building. At present, this would require a full investment programme and considerable time to carry out effectively but is something we are continuing to investigate.
“We have, however, began the process of replacing lighting where possible with individual sensor lights which are not on 24/7. We are aware of reports of heating concerns in communal spaces. We are working to address this through assessing relocating the temperature control panel and issuing a consultant to check the system is working efficiently and will act on any recommendations shared. Staff are also onsite regularly and are monitoring the situation.”
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