Feature: Disabled tenant’s despair over Lambeth Labour’s heating charge hike

Denise, a Lambeth tenant who lives in Dyke’s Court, a block specifically for disabled people, only received four weeks’ notice that she would have to find an additional £243.60 per month to pay her water and heating charges.

In March, the Labour-run council announced that people living in homes with a communal boiler would see gigantic hikes to their heating bills from April.

The average heating cost for tenants on a communal supply has risen by 350 percent. There are around 3,500 homes in Lambeth that rely on hot water and heating through a communal boiler.

Labour’s initial advice to anyone who was unable to pay was to “end your tenancy”. They have since apologised and described the wording as “unacceptable.”

Denise has suffered two strokes and lives with a long-term chronic condition, so she is unable to work and has to rely on limited disability benefits to get by. However, Denise’s benefits have not increased with rises in the cost-of-living.

Denise said, “I'm not doing too well, I've been very ill and the stress of all this isn't helping. I'm currently £300 in arrears, which is the first time I have ever been in arrears in 25 years as a Lambeth tenant. It is very upsetting.”

“How have these costs been calculated for vulnerable people like me? I live alone and I’m being charged the same as a family of four. As the heating is communal, I can’t even try and save money by turning it off.”

“The only way I can find this extra money is to take it out of my food budget.” Denise has already exhausted the small amount of savings that she had.

Over the weekend, the council sent Denise two emails and four text messages chasing her arrears, which has added to her stress.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Matthew Bryant first raised the alarm in a Council Cabinet meeting back in January, calling for the council to consider specific mitigation, for example spreading the increase over a number of years.

Cllr Donna Harris, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, then wrote an open letter to the council’s Director of Housing expressing “concerns about the council’s impending heating charge hike”. “It’s deplorable that residents must pay whatever figure the council demands, regardless of their usage”, she said.

She urged the council to adopt the Liberal Democrats’ six-point plan, which includes an Emergency Fund funded by the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to support vulnerable residents facing an impending hike in heating charges, to ensure that residents have a warm, safe space to call home.

Last Thursday, Cllr Ben Curtis again challenged the Labour administration during the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Lambeth Labour admitted that the sudden rise in service charges “has provided a shock, and has understandably upset, many people affected by it.”

Cllr Curtis said, “Lambeth’s approach has been short sighted, lacking in preparation and lacking in humanity. A series of poor decisions at council level has left thousands of residents across our borough unable to pay their new sky-high bills.

“They’ve finally accepted some culpability, but it’s still all talk and no walk. Energy prices are falling day by day, but yet residents are still paying extortionately high amounts with zero oversight of the process.”

Local Lambeth leaseholders are now in the process of taking Lambeth to a tribunal over the consultation of energy contracts.