Council Announces Cheaper Heating And Water Bills
2,000 properties on housing estates across Wandsworth will have bills reduced by 10% in April
Lower energy bills for homes served by communal hot water and heating systems are the result of the council’s ability to purchase its gas supplies in advance at very competitive rates.
The ten per cent reduction will apply for 12 months from April when new contracts come into effect.
The council’s energy procurement record has led to significant cost savings for tenants and leaseholders in these properties over the past eight years. An example is that bills for a one bedroom property are now 45 per cent lower than in 2009 while those residing in homes with two bedrooms have seen their bills fall by 51 per cent.
These reductions have been achieved at the same time as costs for other domestic users have increased by around 20 per cent.
Thousands more tenants and leaseholders in Wandsworth are also benefiting from more energy efficient homes which has also helped drive down bills and carbon emissions.
A prolonged and comprehensive programme of improved cavity wall insulation, combined with new double glazed windows, plus investment worth £9m over the past four years on installing the latest generation of boilers and heating systems has also helped to significantly reduce energy usage.
Housing spokesman Cllr Paul Ellis (pictured above) said: This is great news for the thousands of people living on our estates whose central heating and hot water is provided by a communal boiler system.
“By planning ahead and purchasing our gas supplies at very good rates we have been able to deliver significant savings on our residents’ fuel bills for at least as far ahead as April 2018.
“And our ongoing work to make all our homes much more fuel and heat efficient means residents simply don’t need to use as much gas. That’s good for family finances and for the environment too.”
The council states that it spends around £50m a year on improving and maintaining its housing stock, and that a large portion of this money is used to make estate homes more energy efficient.
February 2, 2017