Advice for OAP heating

Terrylw1

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

I guess she's also entitled to knock over fires without realising it and burn the place down by accident, too, then.

Yes, she is entitled to have an accident.

What if the grandchildren did it? Throw then in a young offenders?

Richie-from-the-Boro

morphy_richards,

WRVS
Age UK
or any of your local charities
you can even ask the local authority if they can offer support

For myself I'd get age UK in to see what help they can offer. They have 'on tap' agencies and charities you and I don't even know exist, they may even negotiate a much better outcome on behalf of the householder with BG .. .. try them !

Pincher

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Put in surface run pipework, customer complains it make the front of house look hideous.

Ask before putting in pipework, old lady smiles and doesn't understand. Nobody wants to get blamed, so nobody says yes to surface run. Regulation forbids underfloor pipe run, so cannot reconnect front room fireplace.

Not leave a heater, old lady says I'm cold, what do I do.

Leave a heater, customer complains it's too expensive on electricity.

I had a conversation with a gardener recently, who has just given up gardening because of all kinds of non-sense. He seems to be spending all his time in the bath. I think he is depressed.

Cardew

morphy_richards wrote: »

To re-state. The BG engineer cut off her front room gas supply and left her with a completely unacceptable astronomically expensive alternative. I'm biased against BG anyway, I have to admit, but if an engineer from a company comes around and cuts off an essential service and leaves you with a replacement that is many more times more expensive to run and much more profitable to them at the needless expense of the customer then this is ... just wrong and needs to be addressed.

Without going into the specifics of this case, if any gas registered fitter visits a property and finds that any gas appliance/pipe etc is unsafe, he is legally bound to take action; and that might well mean cutting off the gas supply.

It is then the customer's problem to get the situation remedied.

It seems to me that as a goodwill gesture the gas fitter arranged to have two electrical heaters delivered as a temporary measure until such time as the customer decided what was to happen about the gas supply.

undaunted

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

I think you've got too much time on your hands, Richie, and have been watching too much daytime TV that has set your imagination alight.

I note that, rather than address the points I made in my post (which are entirely valid and logical), you have simply preferred to attempt a character assassination. That explains everything we need to know about you and your techniques, which I have to say are somewhat on the creepy side.

As you might recall, the main point I made was that if the old dear can't look after herself properly and is knocking over fires by accident without realising it, and also has a house that is too large for her (cf. using only 2 rooms of a 3 storey property) then maybe she should look at going into a care home where she will get the support, safety and facilities she needs.

To be fair there would possibly be a degree of sense in your posts IF the assumptions you make were proven true but there has been nothing posted that shows this is so. Eg Was she in when the fire was knocked over, did she knock it over without realising or was it one of those animals, doe she have other means of support available than a care home (and it appears she does)etc?

As for "Richie", I think he's directly quoted your own posts rather than put a personal view on them. If you don't like the way they portray you that is surely therefore a matter for you rather than him to think about!

undaunted

morphy_richards wrote: »

Thanks for all your help so far everyone. To add a little more context to the situation, my neigbour and her husband bought this small property in London some 30 years ago. Although it is over 3 floors it is not a big property.

When she bought it it was completely run down. The roof and floors were none existent and she and her husband spent the next 20 years completely refurbishing it on an extremely modest income with both of them working more than one job to earn the money to refurbish it and the husband doing most of the work as he had carpentry skills.

An owner of a factory next door took interest in the property and persecuted the couple for ten years or more, including taking them to court until they uncovered details of some terrible crime forcing the factory owner to flee abroad but not before the husband had died.

The lady in question has invested blood, sweat and tears in this property. She has every right to and fully deserves to enjoy as much time as she can there, where, although she gets confused she is still sharp and she takes in injured and sick animals and nurses them back to health.

I'm dismayed at the suggestion that she be bumped out to let someone else move in. I wonder how those suggesting such an idea would feel about it when they get to a similar position in their lives and furthermore it would be a complete betrayal of the trust she has shown me.

Furthermore, she lived through WW2 and is a living part of our heritage as are many others like her and to go even further in a way she represents our own future because the way we treat her and those like her also dictates what will happen to ourselves and our children when we get to the same position.

To summarise those helpful suggestions, possibly reinstating the gas supply with help from an energy trust grant (how does this work?) or storage heaters. I imagine a storage heater is something like a central heating radiator. Is this right?

:T I for one applaud both this old lady and you for your concern for her.

The grants system operated by various suppliers is run by Charis on their behalf & would basically involve an application for assistance with the costs of getting her gas supply put to rights if you want to look into this further see

http://www.charisgrants.com/

undaunted

Pincher wrote: »

I agree with not running gas pipes under the floorboards, because of the risk of leaking. This is why my mother's new fireplace is a radiator with a fan that has flame effect. Running the gas pipe along the front wall and then straight into the gas heater is a very sound idea.

I'm not a gas engineer but whilst I can see a logic to your argument but in addition to being less sightly isn't there also a danger of pipes being a possible trip hazard to a vulnerable old lady?

undaunted

Pincher wrote: »

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Not leave a heater, old lady says I'm cold, what do I do.

Leave a heater, customer complains it's too expensive on electricity.

These heaters are meant to to offer a stop gap measure whilst the problem is addressed not be left as a long term and obviously expensive solution. If the old lady doesn't understand & they are ERA members the supplier has an agreed duty to help her, if necessary by contacting Social Services or some other appropriate person / body to offer her the most appropriate assistance.

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/30/308.html

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/SocAction/Publications/Documents1/6886-8804.pdf

Terrylw1

undaunted wrote: »

These heaters are meant to to offer a stop gap measure whilst the problem is addressed not be left as a long term and obviously expensive solution. If the old lady doesn't understand & they are ERA members the supplier has an agreed duty to help her, if necessary by contacting Social Services or some other appropriate persobn / body to offer her the most appropriate assistance.

http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/publication/finish/30/308.html

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/SocAction/Publications/Documents1/6886-8804.pdf

If she becomes registered on the Priority Service Register, she is entitled to Fred advice per the Standard Licence Conditions (SLC) which are worth more than the ERA code so its worth the OP exploring what protection each can afford.

I say that mostly because I know suppliers willingly breach the ERA billing code had there is no comeback other than a later complaint to the ombudsman. It seems ERA doesn't enforce professional standards. At least with the SLC, breaches can be reported to Ofgem so another level of protection.

spiro

The PSR is about the parties dealing with the customer knowing they have an 'issue' (health, hearing etc) and gives them some extra 'rights' which in this case would have been covered by providing electric heaters FOC. I'm sorry but it is not the suppliers responsibility to fix the issue that is down to the customer.