Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

The Director of Community Services introduced the report which outlined and sought approval of the proposed heating charges to the communal HRA properties in 2013/14, the treatment of amounts not recovered and the proposed changes to the way the Council recovered any deficits or surpluses to the heating account in future years.

Two options for heating charge increases for 2013/14 were outlined in the report, which were based on actual costs to the Council in 2012/13 and estimated for 2013/14.  The data had been obtained from the North Wales energy advice centre to compare tenants heating charges with the average local private household.  The data showed that the average price of a 2 bed flat in similar condition to council stock should expect to pay between £518 and £691 per annum for heating bills, based on current prices.  The data also showed that although Flintshire tenants in communal properties were seeing large increases in their heating compared to previous years the costs were lower than other tenants who paid their own bills directly to the energy company.

RESOLVED:

That the following be approved:

• Implementation of Option 2 for heating increases in 2013/14, as described in the report
• That the resultant under recovery occurring from the delayed October implementation date is met via the HRA in year
• That there is no recovery for 2010/11 and 2011/12 for Castle Heights and the Walks in Flint and the costs met from the HRA
• The proposed changes to the way the Council recovers any deficits or surpluses to the heating account in future years