Bills for E-on's district heating network, please help!

mark7144

Hello,

I've just moved into a new build which uses E-on's district heating system for hot water. Every apartment owner must pay £28 service charge each month to use their hot water.

The problem is my actual usage is tiny as I removed my water based central heating system and therefore only use hot water for showers.

So each month I'm charged a couple of pounds for hot water usage but with the addition of a £28 service charge.

I do respect that E-on's district heating offering is great for most people but it's just terrible value for me.

Do I have any options? Can I go to an ombudsmen of some sort and argue that I should have a service charge proportionate to my usage as I'm wasting so much money on this system?

chanz4

Its in the contract you signed when you moved in, so no

wakeupalarm

You could re-install the water based central heating system or move home.

mark7144

I've just edited my first post... it's worst than I thought.

Latest bill I paid £1.13 for usage and £28 for service charge.

mark7144

wakeupalarm wrote: »

You could re-install the water based central heating system or move home.

Or remove their boiler and put my own one in.

If I stop paying, they'll cut off my district heat so wouldn't matter.

Richie-from-the-Boro

mark7144 wrote: »

Hello,

I've just moved into a new build which uses E-on's district heating system for hot water. Every apartment owner must pay £27 service charge each month to use their hot water.

The problem is my actual usage is tiny as I removed my water based central heating system and therefore only use hot water for showers.

So each month I'm charged under £5 for hot water usage but with the addition of a £26 service charge.

I do respect that E-on's district heating offering is great for most people but it's just terrible value for me.

Do I have any options? Can I go to an ombudsmen of some sort and argue that I should have a service charge proportionate to my usage as I'm wasting so much money on this system?

Clearly as a new 'off plan' purchaser you should read your contractual agreements before embarking. If you are a private sole owner contact a solicitor and ask the questions. Even where a get out clause exists they will almost certainly want to completely cap and cut off the supply, at a cost to you. I'm surprised they agreed to a reduction to £5 / hot water & a [£7pw] £26 SC. I'm assuming they have done this because the in-flow of pre-heated water is metered.

mark7144

Hello Richie,

Appreciate your thoughts. I really had no choice but to accept the contract as I was never going to let the energy supplier agreement get in the way of the property purchase as I fell in love with the place and it was a bargain - it's gone up £20k in value within a year.

Admittedly, I never imagined I would end up paying £1 for usage and £27 for service charge though. Even though I signed the energy agreement at point of sale, I still think there might be a chance to get out of this at some point.

Richie-from-the-Boro

The actual way it works might help you understand. Some local greenie in the Local Authority persuaded a committee to borrow mi££ions and set up a DHS. They would get a lump of a grant from central GOV and the carbon trading etc.

So the deal was done and the contracts signed, the actual cost of letting any one individual leave means his % of income is lost and the mega-monthly repayments towards the mi££ions borrowed continue to have to me made by the remaining subscribers. Assuming a payback over 30 or so years this is quite an undertaking. Your issue then is with the managing agents of the building who make the service charge and the Local Authority who instituted the DHS, documentation and any agreements back and forth will cost your a couple of hundred then, even if they agree to let you go there will be a guesstimate of £4-500 to have your supply capped.

If you manage all that you will need a~n~other brand new boiler and hot water system & a set of radiators as the DHS ones will all be centre feed type.

Is your pre-heated water metered ?

mark7144

Thanks for the info there.

Yes, the heat for the water is metered. Last month I used 6 kwH.

Well, I already have the new central heating system, if you can call it that. It's basically just split type air conditioning which is more economical than a radiator system.

So if I were to manage to cancel, I'd have to remove their boiler and put in my own electric boiler.

Nada666

So you've already pocketed £20k. That covers 61 years of the standing charges. How terrible for you.

mark7144

I can't imagine ever selling the place so that 20k is not really going to materialise itself in my day to day life.

I don't think your post is very fair though. This forum is not for people on minimum wage, it's for everyone regardless of profession and living situation. I just want to be as economical as possible.