Standing Charges / No Service

JKDAY

Hi guys,

I consistently have no heating and hot water at home. Its a HIU unit so not gas, not electricity but apparently "heat". If the service is down, and I have no access to it, should I still be made to pay the standing charge? The thing also still uses units of energy even though out of service. I pay 25p per day standing charge / 7.5p per kwh and I do not have the option to move anywhere as its with my housing association. I'm currently going backwards and forwards with them. Last night / this morning = no heating and hot water but still being charged 50p standing charge and 7.5 x 2. This might not seem a lot however it goes down regularly so all adds up. They do not want to credit my bill for these times and I have a huge bill which is not all usage. I have complained to Housing Ombudsman about the intermittent service and have been waiting since December for someone to look into it, i sent chaser today. I don't know what to do anymore and I'm really stressed about it. Any advise appreciated, thanks

JJ_Egan

SC is for the infrastructure that supplies the property .
Who supplies the energy/ bills you .

lstar337

So it is a communal heat source?

IMHO, no you should not be charged SC for the days that it is non-functional, but that is just my opinion.

JKDAY

Yes its a communal heat source. I have had a lot of problems with my specific unit and interface and there's a lot of issues with the main pump room which takes about 4 blocks out of service

JJ_Egan

But who is the SC from ??

JKDAY

The SC is from the housing association themselves, who bulk buy the "heat" to distribute into all flats. They bill us for the sc and kwh and my bill is a lot of money despite not being able to use the service for a portion of it. They said that they have answered all my questions and will not assist me any further, so I have escalated onto the 2nd stage complaints team and the CEO. Not sure which way this will go as I don't know my rights and ombudsman taking way too long to help me. .

t0rt0ise

I think you need to be careful about racking up a debt with them. If they chose to they could make things difficult claiming that you were in debt. I would never get into debt with my HA for anything. Even when I was disputing the service charge, I still paid it as requested until they'd sorted it out and reduced the sum.

footyguy

JKDAY wrote: »

Hi guys,

I consistently have no heating and hot water at home. Its a HIU unit so not gas, not electricity but apparently "heat". If the service is down, and I have no access to it, should I still be made to pay the standing charge? The thing also still uses units of energy even though out of service. I pay 25p per day standing charge / 7.5p per kwh and I do not have the option to move anywhere as its with my housing association. I'm currently going backwards and forwards with them. Last night / this morning = no heating and hot water but still being charged 50p standing charge and 7.5 x 2. This might not seem a lot however it goes down regularly so all adds up. They do not want to credit my bill for these times and I have a huge bill which is not all usage. I have complained to Housing Ombudsman about the intermittent service and have been waiting since December for someone to look into it, i sent chaser today. I don't know what to do anymore and I'm really stressed about it. Any advise appreciated, thanks

Presumably it's not just you but the whole development that is without heat or hot water?

If so, best to join forces and make a 'super complaint' to the appropriate authority (your managing agent?)

Not sure if it is the managing agent, but if so and you get no success, perhaps consider if the right to manage applies.

I suggest a small group of you start off at the CAB, or perhaps with a charity like Shelter.

JKDAY

When the pump room goes down which is at least 4 times per year then yes the whole development goes 2 days without heating and hot water. Last year, it was just my flat that went down 2 x per week every week for 5 months. I called CAB today and they said it would be housing ombudsman to deal with and I've been waiting for them to reply since December. They just keep saying they are really busy and will look at it when they can but 5 months later they still haven't, I did chase them again today.