Residents of a south Dublin estate have hit out at their heating provider Kaizen Energy over a 140% overnight price increase.
Last month, tenants of Haliday House apartments in Cualanor in Dun Laoghaire were informed their heating prices were increasing from €0.233/kWh to €0.56/kWh, on top of a €1.08 daily standing charge. Kaizen Energy operates a community heating system in the estate and provides heating and hot water -but not natural gas - to the apartments.
Residents are unable to switch to other providers as Kaizen is the sole heating provider from the development. Tenants have blasted the situation as "grim" as they cannot avail of any cheaper options on the market.
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In contrast to the €0.56/kWh that Kaizen is charging its customers in Haliday House in Cualanor, Bord Gais' increased prices effective from October are €0.1461c/kWh with an annual standing charge of €169.4. One Haliday House resident, who does not want to be named, told Dublin Live that he is "extremely worried" about how he is going to afford the prices during the winter.
He said: "I don't want anything for free and I know prices are going up across the board. But I just want to be on par with what other customers are paying in the market.
"I also think there needs to be some regulation because there is nothing we can do. We just get an email saying this is the rate and we don't have the option to change providers. They have a monopoly over us which is never good in any market."
The resident said he and his wife were away for a lot of the past month but their heating bill is much more expensive than it was over the summer.
"I checked my bill yesterday and I was paying about €51 for the month from July 15 to August 15," he said. "Now for this month, my wife and I have travelled for work and been on holidays so we haven't been using the heat or hot water as much, but our bill is now €82.."
A spokesman for Kaizen Energy told Dublin Live that the company is "working closely" with management companies to minimise prices. He said: "Kaizen Energy are engaged to operate communal heating systems on behalf of owner management companies. These systems supply heating and hot water (not natural gas) to apartments.
"Communal heating systems purchase gas via commercial gas tariffs which historically have enabled these systems to supply energy at very affordable rates and compared favourably to domestic energy tariffs. Commercial gas prices are today, significantly higher than 18 months ago, which has unfortunately led to unavoidable increases in the heat tariff.
"We are working closely with the management companies to ensure that the impact of these costs on residents are minimised. We have also written to a number of government departments and charitable organisations to highlight the severity of this issue, appealing for their help to protect the customers, particularly those most vulnerable."
Dublin Live has contacted the property manager of Haliday House for comment.
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