A-Infos (en) Britain, Anarchist Federation Nottingham Sparrow - 2nd November, 2008 - Outrage as Leicester Council hikes district heating prices by 76% - who or what is to blame?

In Leicester, tenants’ are rightly up in arms about being tied into a domestic 
heating scheme whose prices are poised to almost double during this month, an 
increase that was announced last month by the city council. ---- District 
heating is used by some city councils to supply hot water and heating to city 
centre housing estates and large buildings (council offices, hospitals, courts, 
prisons, shopping centres) through hot water pipes running underground. In the 
East Midlands, both Nottingham and Leicester City Councils run district heating 
schemes which are promoted as ‘green’ alternatives to individual domestic 
households burning fossil fuels. Their greenness is debatable since some of 
these cogeneration (or combined-heat-power CHP) systems are associated with 
municipal incinerators (as in Nottingham), although others take heat produced as 
a by-product of small gas-fired electricity generators (as in Leicester).

But quite apart from the nasty pollution caused by incineration that is used to 
produce the heat in Nottingham’s scheme that has resulted in huge protest from 
Nottingham Against Incineration & Landfill, there seems to be a big problem with 
district heating in general. This is because they are run between the council 
and private contractors who are out make a profit and also involve negotiation 
with privatised gas and electricity companies. Not so different from most fuel 
companies these days, you might say? But when you live in a housing estate where 
your heating comes from district heating you can’t just ‘compare the market’ or 
shop around for a cheaper deal (if any exists) since you have no choice at all. 
Plus you have to buy electricity on top, and gas for cooking if you have a gas 
cooker, and as you can guess many low income households are already paying 
rip-off card meter rates.

  Nottingham’s 14.4 mega-watt district heating system is run by contractor 
Dalkia, with incineration handled by Waste Management Group, a scheme that is 
already known to run at a massive cost to the council. Now the council in 
Leicester, whose proud aim from the 1990s has been to produce the UK’s first 
city-wide CHP scheme by linking up generators and building new ones, has 
announced an unbelievable increase in bills from 10th November. Making an excuse 
that it was forced to pass on price increases of gas and electricity, the weekly 
cost of heating and hot water is to rise by £8.58 to £15.10 for a one-bedroom 
flat, and by £14.67 to £25.82 for a three-bedroom house. This will seriously 
affect some of the poorest people in the city. In a BBC report, St Matthew's 
Tenants' Association chair Jean Williams said: "Most of the people on this 
estate are taking the lowest-paid jobs and Leicester City Council have failed us 
badly." Residents had presented a 369-name petition to the city council and were 
planning to compile a letter to Gordon Brown which they wanted their MP to 
deliver to Downing Street by hand. Tenants also say the system is unreliable and 
they pay regardless of whether they use energy. To add to the outrage the 
British National Party is trying to use the price hike to stir up racial hatred 
by making out it’s only the white working class that is being affected by 
concentrating on one area of the city.

Rather than the ludicrous idea of blaming non-white neighbours as the fascists 
propose, or expect too much from petitioning politicians, it seems obvious that 
working class tenants of all shades should take to the streets of Leicester if 
the council won’t listen. The idea that it’s all just part of a general increase 
in fuel prices must be challenged, not least because because it has already been 
suggested that Leicester Energy Limited failed to produce a city-wide scheme 
before now because it was unable to agree on a power sales contract with the 
local regional electricity company during the period of privatisation 
(Powergen/E-on). They might also like to look at how much of the price rise 
could be due to the council’s pricing of new tenders to expand district heating 
as well as repair boilers and radiators, which interestingly are dated 21st 
November. Nottingham city tenants should keep a close eye on their council too 
in case they try something similar, especially now the local state is out of 
pocket due to its investments in Icelandic banks!
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