Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation.

Councillor Bibby introduced the report and explained that the Housing and Communities portfolio operated eight communal heating schemes within Flintshire, with 417 properties on communal heating systems.  The Council had recently renegotiated the fuel tariff to be charged for 2023/24 as the previous contracted ended in March 2023.

The rate changeable for gas was increasing by approximately 420% for the next 12 months.  To date, communal tenants had benefitted from the Council’s Industrial and Commercial Contract rate and had been protected from the energy price increases which other social tenants had been impacted by.  However, the increase in the tariff would now also impact on those tenants who lived in the properties on the communal heating systems.  When notifying tenants of their communal heating charges for 2022/23 notice was given of the likely increase in charges in 2023/24 to reflect global energy costs.

New communal heating charges were based on the prior year’s energy use which ensured an accurate assessment of costs and impacted on the heating reserve account.  In order to recover the projected heating charges in full, the Council needed to increase communal heating charges in line with tariff increases.

The Strategic Finance Manager – Housing and Assets said that the proposed recharges for 2023/24 were set out in the report and were effective from July.  Any delay in implementing the charges would mean that the cost to tenants would need to recovered in a shorter period of time which would be a detriment to those tenants as the weekly charge would be higher.  Support would be continued for those tenants who were eligible to apply for assistance.

Councillor Bibby provided details of the discussion that had taken place at Community and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee the previous week where the Committee requested that the proposed increases be spread over a longer period of time.  However, he explained that if that was to be implemented, there would be financial implications attached to it.  Officers did commit to undertake a piece of work to establish if the significant increases could be mitigated.  That work had been undertaken and there was no scope to spread the costs over a longer period of time.

RESOLVED:

That the proposed changes to the current heating charges at Council properties with communal heating schemes, as outlined in the report, be approved.