Hundreds of council tenants will benefit from a 25 per cent reduction in their energy bills and access to a hardship fund of £300,000 to protect them from the full impact of spiralling wholesale gas costs.
The extra help for 1,500 households receiving their heat and hot water from a council-owned communal boiler system will apply to bills from April 2023.
The support package, which adds up to £1m, was announced in a Cabinet report agreed by councillors last night (Tuesday, 14 March).
It comes on top of the broader and extensive council help available to families struggling to make ends meet because of the cost-of-living crisis.
Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning, said:
We appreciate this is a very difficult time for many of our residents, including our heat network customers.
That is why we are protecting them from the full increase in gas prices by discounting the amount that they will pay for heating and hot water this year by 25% of the total amount.
We recognise that even this will mean a substantial increase in service charges, and that some of our tenants will find this and other increases difficult to manage. So, we are also setting up a £300,000 fund to support all tenants who are at risk of falling into arrears.
We are all aware of the increase in gas prices in the last financial year and the impact that has had on utility prices. Like several other local authorities, we procure our gas via a framework and have a fixed tariff, set in April. This protected us from volatility last year, but what we pay for gas will increase substantially from April 2023.
The amount that we have put aside to protect residents from the increase in charges is £1million. I am pleased that our borough is doing everything we can to help our tenants, while also ensuring our housing budget is protected so that we can fund the improvements we need going forward.”
In other new measures announced, heat meters will be retrofitted to council homes on a communal boiler system that don’t have them as required by government regulations. It will mean tenants paying for the energy they use rather than a flat charge and could help some keep their heat charges lower.
For tenants moving to metered tariff, the new charges will be introduced in July 2023 following an extensive engagement exercise so that they can understand what the change means for them in practice.
For residents struggling to make ends meet, please visit www.haringey.gov.uk/HereToHelp to see the range of support and advice available including, the Haringey Support Fund and extended free school meal entitlement.
