Barnsley supported housing tenants won’t be charged for December’s heating outage

During a full council meeting on February 2, Councillor Jake Lodge asked if residents of two independent living schemes in Worsbrough would receive any compensation, after their district heating system was ‘plagued by faults and failures’.

Councillor Lodge added that some resident’s accounts had been ‘wiped of credit’.

Councillor Robert Frost, cabinet spokesperson for regeneration and culture at BMBC said there had been “a number of issues throughout December with the district heating plant in two schemes in the Worsbrough ward.

“The schemes at Elms Court and Maltas Court have been experiencing heating outages intermittently throughout the period, affecting the homes connected to the system,” Coun frost added.

“It was agreed that while the issues were being resolved, tenants would not be charged for their heating.

“Both systems are now working, and tenants heating charges have been re started.”

Coun Frost added that Elm Court’s heating system has been replaced, while further plans to upgrade Matlas Court’s heating are in the works, and due to be completed by the summer.

He added that the scheme’s billing provider confirmed that as of January 25, all credits and balances were paused, and charges have now been ‘added back to people’s payment meters’.