Families on Tile Hill estate boiling mad over heating bills

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Temperatures are running high on a Coventry housing estate where families are being hit with excessive heating bills.


Siobain McMenamin is pictured with other residents, MP Geoffrey Robinson and Coun Ed Ruane

Residents of more than 70 affordable homes off Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill, which are owned by the Accord Group, say they are facing huge debts because of expensive heating bills from the controversial Nibe boilers.

They are calling for the housing association to rip them out of their homes after three years of misery.

A local councillor and city MP Geoffrey Robinson have joined the fight after their plight was recently aired on TV.

The affected families say they moved into the houses – which were billed as energy efficient – on the promise bills would amount to about £500 a year. Instead they are being charged upwards of £100 a month.

The housing group has promised to remove the boilers from all four and five-bedroomed homes on the estate.

But residents say the boilers should be replaced in all homes as they have been elsewhere in the country.

Some 15,000 Nibe boilers have been removed by housing groups nationwide because of similar problems.

Councillor Ed Ruane, Coventry City Council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “My mouth simply dropped when I heard about it.

“It’s an absolute scandal and a scandal that’s been going on for so long – three years.

“People are moving out of the estate because the bills are too high and those that stay are being saddled with huge amounts of debt.”

Resident Siobhan McNenamin, 31, who lives in a three-bed home in Robert Mountford Way, has racked up debts of £1,700 and says her heating bills keep rising.

The mum-of-three said: “It’s meant I’ve been unable to afford my rent sometimes and my mum and dad who are pensioners are having to help me out with their savings.

“I had hoped to buy in future but I’m worried my credit rating will affect that.

“They’re meant to be affordable houses. I just want Accord to listen.”

Coun Ruane will meet Accord Group representatives this week.

Accord Group officials say they are already doing what they can to help their tenants.

Alan Yates, director of regeneration for the Accord Group, said they had already committed to removing the boilers from larger properties and had now appointed a special energy consultant to calculate the average heating bill for each house type.

He added: “On Monday, 29 April, we held an open surgery on the estate where we asked tenants to provide us with copies of their energy bills from the last 12 months.

“We are now reviewing the bills, alongside our consultant’s report, and will make a decision on the planned action for the smaller properties when our investigation is complete.

“In addition, we have also set up a hardship fund for those who are worst affected.”

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Building standards to blame for high bills - Kevin McCloud



POOR building methods and eco-ignorance are to blame for high energy bills on new estates, according to Kevin McCloud.

The Grand Designs presenter was a guest on prime time TV programme The One Show when it featured city families fed up at the cost of heating their homes.

And according to McCloud the boilers, manufactured by Nibe, work far better in super-air tight buildings in places such as Scandinavia, rather than in British-built properties.

He said: "For decades people in Scandinavia have been really used to treating their homes like machines and for decades people there have been building them like machines whereas here we tend to build to a pretty poor standard of construction."

The show saw veteran news presenter Angela Rippon visit the Canley estate where residents are seeing energy bills run into hundreds of pounds every month thanks to supposed energy-efficient boilers.

She spoke to sobbing parents who claimed they were unable to heat their homes for their children thanks to the cost of their energy bills.

But boiler manufacturer Nibe insisted there was nothing wrong with the system or the majority of the 15,000 boilers fitted nationwide.

Spokesman Adam Pearson told Ms Rippon: "We've got thousands of these units installed throughout the country with the majority of them running very efficiently and effectively."

One Show presenter Matt Baker read out a statement from housing association Accord in which the company confirmed it had set up a hardship fund for their residents.

"Accord group appointed a special consultant to calculate the average heating bill each house should have.

"They will review this against the average running cost for their home and establish a hardship fund to assist those with bills that haven't matched up."

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Victory for neighbours on Tile Hill estate in campaign to have boilers removed

Neighbours on a Coventry housing estate are celebrating victory in a campaign to have expensive boilers removed by their landlords.

The Telegraph highlighted the plight of residents off Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill, who complained of extortionate heating bills due to controversial NIBE boilers.

Their case was taken up by leading Labour councillor Ed Ruane and Coventry North West Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson.

Only last October, their housing association landlords, the Accord Group, insisted its investigations showed the boilers were sound – despite other housing associations taking steps to remove NIBE boilers elsewhere in the country.

Accord were prepared to replace the boilers in four and five bedroomed properties, but not others.

Dozens of residents in smaller properties complained of three years of misery since moving in – with some racking up huge debts.

Some say they resorted to switching off heating and hot water throughout the cold winter months.

Others were forced to use pre-payment meters, rather than less expensive direct debits.

Coun Ruane said the housing association bosses Alan Yates and Jas Bains yesterday confirmed in a meeting they will remove the NIBE boilers at any tenants’ request – regardless of the size of their property, where heating bills were higher than expected.

They will be replaced with gas central heating.

He said he had also be given an assurance a compensation scheme will include payments spanning three years, not just the last 12 months.

Coun Ruane said the housing association had committed to sending out letters shortly to all local residents confirming the decision.

He said: “It is fantastic that Accord are taking this action. They had responses from more than 30 of the residents, which is over a third of the estate who had identified problems.

“It’s good too that the local media have helped by identifying this as a story. I believe this was a factor in this positive response.”

The affected families had complained they had moved into their homes because they had been advertised as energy efficient.

Mum-of-three Sharon Price, of Alan Marshall Close, said: “It is amazing news. It is exactly what we wanted. It’s all thanks to Ed Ruane for his actions, and the local media.”

She said she had racked up £3,000 of debt to British Gas within 18 months of moving into her three bedroom home – when the energy efficiency advice was that her bills should be £500 a year – and said she was forced into having no heating or hot water from last October to April this year.