Energy bills shock for families as homes fail to live up to eco promise (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Bills shock for families as West Bowling eco-friendly homes project fails to live up to promise
7:00am Monday 4th February 2013 in News
Exclusive By Kathie Griffiths, T&A Reporter
Sonny and Raquel Tanday outside their home in Pavilion Gardens, West Bowling
People living in a multi-million pound ‘homes of the future’ project in Bradford are up in arms over the sky-high electricity bills they have racked up.
The Pavilion Gardens complex in West Bowling was heralded as being the most environmentally-friendly in Yorkshire when it was completed in July 2011 at a cost of £5.6m shared between Bradford Council and the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency.
Twelve of the 45 super-insulated homes were the first in the region to be built to the highest level of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes and have innovations such as heating provided by a communal bio-mass boiler.
The remainder were constructed to a slightly lower energy efficiency level, but were also equipped with air heat pumps, solar panels and rainwater harvesters.
Residents were promised the homes – the first to be built by the Council for 30 years – would be cheap to run, but a little more than 18 months later, it is having to pledge to reimburse people who have high electricity usage as a major investigation continues with the company that built them into what has gone wrong.
Raquel and Sunny Tanday, both 23, and the parents of two young children, say their power bills come to about £500 a quarter since December 2011.
Their energy provider E-on says a standard average bill, based on national annual average consumption of 16,500 kWh for gas and 3,300 KWh for electricity, paid by fixed monthly direct debit, would be £1,261.
The couple, who have complained to E-on and to their landlord Yorkshire Housing, which manages the scheme on behalf of the Council, said the huge bills have taken a toll on family life.
“When we moved in here we thought it was going to be our dream house. They are lovely houses on a nice street, but they are not what we expected them to be in terms of power-saving and cheap to run,” said Mrs Tanday.
“We moved in here to be a family, but it’s just tearing us apart because the big bills are making us argue all the time. There are people in the street who already want to move out because it’s just too expensive to live here.”
David Shepherd, the Council’s assistant director of housing, said “The Council understands that many Pavilion Gardens residents are experiencing problems with energy usage and billing. We appreciate that it is a serious problem and we are working with residents, the building contractor, the energy company and our managing agents, Yorkshire Housing, to find a solution.
“We are confident that when these problems have been resolved, residents at Pavilion Gardens will benefit from lower bills in the future. We want to reassure residents that they will be reimbursed for any usage above the standard charge for their household.”
The Council stressed that it will charge the original building contractor for any costs incurred in reimbursing residents.
The Council has invited residents to a meeting tomorrow at Lowerfield Primary School in Fenby Avenue, from 6pm, to discuss the problems.
Case study
Raquel and Sunny Tanday got the keys to their house in July 2011, but did not move in until December that year.
On January 6, 2012, they got their first E-on energy bill for £187, which they paid – despite thinking it was on the high-side.
Three months later their next bill was for £745.25. Startled by the amount the couple asked E-on to check the amount, only to be told there had been a mistake and it should have been £949 – they paid £300 towards it straight away.
On April 13, they got another bill from E-on saying they still owed £596 so they paid off another £190.
On July 11, another bill came demanding £715, and by October they owed £723, which they had to borrow to pay it all to get a clean slate.
Last month another E-on bill came through the door for £520.
Comments(30)
Cooperlane2
says...
8:37am Mon 4 Feb 13
My betting is the air source heat pumps gobbling up the leccy.
wobbley-bob
says...
8:58am Mon 4 Feb 13
Cooperlane2 wrote:Yep, and those stupid central heating boilers that are the size of a wardrobe.
Wasn't there a big puff piece about these homes in the T&A only a week or so ago?
My betting is the air source heat pumps gobbling up the leccy.
BTW, Pavilion Gardens is nowhere near West Bowling, it's off Fenby Avenue.
birday
says...
9:07am Mon 4 Feb 13
.
If you want to be warm all the time then people are either going to have to work extra hard to pay for it or wrap up warm and turn off or limit the gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, tv, computer games etc. You can have what you can afford!
Cooperlane2
says...
9:18am Mon 4 Feb 13
doneBD4
says...
9:31am Mon 4 Feb 13
You know nothing will be dealt with.
Oh yeah the bio-mass boiler stopped working again on sunday.
collos25
says...
9:49am Mon 4 Feb 13
I in a previous role worked for the renewable engery industry and believe me there are very few people in this land who understand what its all about.I live in a properly constucted building its -12 outside and the heating is off why its because the house is built properly and uses the low cost technology available .I live in Germany and we are behind Sweden and Norway which leaves the UK in a complete mess as far as building standards go.
When they first built these houses those of us who understood the problems were shouted down in favour of those who thought they new best really they just believed the money grabbing sales people.Perhaps in future they will listen to proper engineers instead of snake oil salesmen.
Outraged English Subject
says...
10:14am Mon 4 Feb 13
Apollo
says...
10:42am Mon 4 Feb 13
scanipoos
says...
11:41am Mon 4 Feb 13
Shipleyvegas
says...
12:08pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Tosh2011
says...
12:42pm Mon 4 Feb 13
I built a 4 bedroom house in 2005 and used basic low cost technology product to give me a heating bill of £300 per year. The build cost was £75k the council spent £5.6 million to build 45 homes.
Not so simple
says...
1:14pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Certain other writers on here suggested I was barmy and that my suggestions and concerns were ill founded becaus they had read reports that claimed otherwise. How wrong are these reports...totally biased and not trustworthy.
I repeat...time will tell as these efficiency reports are based on biased and sometimes exaggerated claims to win over investment and grants to whitewash the public do gooders to jump on the band wagon.
Same could be applied here.
Does anyone remember the wind turbines that were installed on the high rise tower blocks along Manchester Road?....these were ground breaking and revolutionary and would save tons of money, yeah right! Another ill thought, poorly thought of nonsensical ideas planted in the heads of those in charge of the modernistaions of those blocks which later sold the same idea to the residents and tenants....sound familiar!
The Hoffster
says...
1:17pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Apollo wrote:Bradford Council = on a par with the Afghan and Somalian councils.
Bradford Council = Not fit For Purpose.
Corruption ? - surely not.
wobbley-bob
says...
1:58pm Mon 4 Feb 13
The Hoffster wrote:Shut up Cade.
Apollo wrote:Bradford Council = on a par with the Afghan and Somalian councils.
Bradford Council = Not fit For Purpose.
Corruption ? - surely not.
seen it all before
says...
2:03pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Well done Bradford Council conned again.
porkfat
says...
2:07pm Mon 4 Feb 13
vikksy
says...
3:12pm Mon 4 Feb 13
justjustice
says...
3:16pm Mon 4 Feb 13
I cannot remember which supplier it was, but they said people could ring in their meter readings so they can be billed properly; one man did this giving reading every 2-4 weeks, they still billed him on average usage!
As for solar panels, the ones on the market right now for consumer use are lucky to be 20% efficient! The research ones and industrial ones are at max 45% efficient, so still not that efficient at all.
The reasoning behind this is that there is more profit in fossil fuels; can you imagine the lost profits and tax revenue if most people paid 10% of what they do now if renewable were given the same funding for R&D that oil exploration and drilling is given!! There would be no fuel poverty within a couple of decades, anywhere in the world!
If people only knew how much capitalism is holding us back technologically, socially, environmentally.
Yorkshire Lass
says...
3:27pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Sachlima
says...
4:24pm Mon 4 Feb 13
The Hoffster
says...
4:30pm Mon 4 Feb 13
wobbley-bob wrote:Oi you !!
The Hoffster wrote:Shut up Cade.
Apollo wrote:Bradford Council = on a par with the Afghan and Somalian councils.
Bradford Council = Not fit For Purpose.
Corruption ? - surely not.
BTW, nice pic of 'multiculturalism Bradford' in the article :D
MontyLeMar
says...
5:27pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Might be that somebody forgot to tell the tenants that they had to pay a proportion of the development costs on top running costs for the first 5 years.
Wasn't it round this site that we had a report of flooding last year when the rain water recycling system stopped working? Sounds an absolute nightmare and even worse for people who do not have a lot of money in the first place.
wobbley-bob
says...
5:44pm Mon 4 Feb 13
The Hoffster wrote:Sure it is,.....But at least he won't be making her cover her face up, like some do. ;)
wobbley-bob wrote:Oi you !!
The Hoffster wrote:Shut up Cade.
Apollo wrote:Bradford Council = on a par with the Afghan and Somalian councils.
Bradford Council = Not fit For Purpose.
Corruption ? - surely not.
BTW, nice pic of 'multiculturalism Bradford' in the article :D
The_light
says...
7:21pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Brooky21
says...
8:01pm Mon 4 Feb 13
wobbley-bob
says...
9:46pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Back of the net with that one Brooky.
alfucham
says...
2:28am Tue 5 Feb 13
Germans usually get things right.Who else could be so ultimately destroyed by 1945 and some 60 odd years on own most of Britains power companies and food companies.
Aldi is as good as anywhere and I reckon to save my elderly parents enough by shopping their for them to get them a couple of holidays a year.
What can we expect from this dumb council with a retired bus driver as leader following a CBE Bin man.Corrupted Bradford Enormously and took £50 grand a year for the priviledge.
Thank god they found Richard the Turd.Thats the way to do it.Off with their heads.Yorkist style.
Oh where art thou Brad forde, my kingdom for a horse and a few rupees in the back pocket.Gadzunks.
HItler was right.We lost the peace and in Bradford lost the plot
alfucham
says...
2:34am Tue 5 Feb 13
alfucham wrote:Dont forget to vote in May.
Complete idiots Bradford council who listen to noone and love the sound of their own voice. Germans usually get things right.Who else could be so ultimately destroyed by 1945 and some 60 odd years on own most of Britains power companies and food companies. Aldi is as good as anywhere and I reckon to save my elderly parents enough by shopping their for them to get them a couple of holidays a year. What can we expect from this dumb council with a retired bus driver as leader following a CBE Bin man.Corrupted Bradford Enormously and took £50 grand a year for the priviledge. Thank god they found Richard the Turd.Thats the way to do it.Off with their heads.Yorkist style. Oh where art thou Brad forde, my kingdom for a horse and a few rupees in the back pocket.Gadzunks. HItler was right.We lost the peace and in Bradford lost the plot
I"m goona put meself up for all the seats going.
Then perhaps I should shoot a few others to ensure a few Bye Elections.
Only in Bradford could such an utter and complete Eddie Balls up
OutOfBradford
says...
2:54pm Tue 5 Feb 13
I'd swap that for £500 per quarter thanks very much. Quite moaning and pay for what you have used!
Blotto says...
7:32am Mon 4 Feb 13