Does anyone else have a DC renting a property on one of Camden's Heat Networks?

[drizzlee]

My DC is flat-sharing in Camden, in an ex-council property which has it's heating supplied by one of Camden's heat networks. Under the terms of the tenancy agreement, he and his flatmates reimburse the landlord for the heating service charge he pays to Camden Leaseholder Services. I'm wondering if anyone else here has DC's with a similar arrangement?

It's well documented that Heat Networks buy energy at commercial prices, not capped by the Government as domestic prices are. As my DC's bill was so high (and he has no control over it because his property is not metered), I started delving into the detail of how the service charge is calculated. Has anyone else been down this interesting rabbit hole? (I appreciate it's a bit niche 😁).

I don't but there is a new development near me that has a similar arrangement. From what I understand from fb energy cost are very high and it breaks down a lot.

You could try contacting

[email protected]

Camden are quite bad at returning emails but you never know. My only worry would be if the landlord is subletting and the council finds out, but if you’re sure it’s legitimate it’ll do no harm.

Thanks @Camdenish , unfortunately they won't talk to their leaseholders' private tenants.

Do you think the landlord is charging the DC more than they’re being charged by Camden? I suppose it’s a possibility but my money would be on Camden charging the leaseholders a lot! Can’t the DC just ask to see the breakdown of the bill? If I was paying someone else’s bill in this way I’d want to see it! It could be that the landlord is getting them to pay all the service charge rather than just the heating and hot water element. Or it could be it’s correct.

It is a long time since I’ve had communal heating and hot water ( ours was brilliant, I think it all depends on the type).

"Do you think the landlord is charging the DC more than they’re being charged by Camden?"

That's only part of it.

It's complicated ... In March 2023, Camden estimated the charge for the year Apr 1st 2023-24, which leaseholders had to pay upfront - that was the bill that was passed on to DC, and it was significantly over-estimated because it used a pessimistic forecast, and energy prices subsequently came down. At the year end, Camden will credit an adjustment to leaseholders' accounts. That should also be passed on to DC, but it's not clear whether it will be. The landlord's not the easiest person to deal with, so we've been trying to gather "evidence" from online sources in case he needs convincing.

Furthermore, having delved into information on Camden's website (a rainy day task if ever there was one 🙂), it seems the upcoming estimated charge for 2024-25 will be maintained at high 2023-24 prices to help mitigate a shortfall in Camden's "heating pool" budget. The shortfall was caused by them using all their reserves in 2022-23 (well before my DC moved in) to apply a "cost of living" credit to leaseholders' heating accounts. In short, they reduced the 2022-23 charge by "borrowing" from the future. Now that energy costs are coming down, it's payback time. So my DC (who has only lived there a few months) will be paying over the odds again.

It's all a bit murky. I'm not looking for solutions here, just wondering if any other Mumsnetters are impacted by the same niche issue.