A GLASGOW housing provider is taking tenants to court for refusing to consent to a £5million communal heating scheme it claims will lead to a 26 per cent reduction in fuel bills.

The New Gorbals Housing Association was given a £5million grant from Ofgem to fit a gas fired district scheme which will provide heat and “instantaneous” hot water to more than 300 tenants in four high rise blocks.

Although SSE is involved in the project, unlike a similar scheme in the Wyndford area of Maryhill, which has attracted criticism for standing charge levels, the housing group will be responsible for the supply and billing of tenants.

Around 150 homes have already been connected to the pay-as-you-go system, which will replace storage heaters, but according to the housing association a small number of dissenters have delayed work to the remaining homes because essential works are required to upgrade the water supply.

Read more: Tenants hit with £274 re-connection fees after been left without heating

If those tenants do not give permission for the upgrade, they will be left without hot and cold water, which is illegal.

The housing group said it has been forced to initiate court proceedings against six households. It was given permission by a sheriff to enter three homes to carry out the works and three further cases are to be heard in court on May 15. It said all tenants affected had been offered alternative accommodation while the work is being carried out.

Tenants have been told they can keep the existing electric storage heaters if they do not wish to be part of the district scheme and will benefit from instant hot water and an upgraded water supply.

The housing association say delays to the completion of the project, at Waddell Court and Commercial Court, have cost them £320,000 and heaped continued works and disruption on those who have agreed to the system, which has been delayed by almost two years. It said tenants have been offered temporary accommodation while the work is ongoing.

It has been running similar but less sophisticated scheme (it does not provide instant hot water) at its high rise blocks at Caledonia Road since 2000 and say it has reduced fuel costs

They say costs with the new scheme will be 7p per kwh against the current 9.5p night and 19.5p day rate, which will reduce to around 16.5p if tenants cancel their white meter.

Read more: Ofgem asked to probe Wyndford heating disconnections

Around 210,000 households across the UK are connected to district heat networks and the government believe this could rise to 8 million by 2030, representing around 14% of the UK’s total demand for heat.

A report by Which in 2015 issued a number of recommendations to the government including improved regulation of the market to ensure that consumers are getting a fair deal.

Some tenants in the New Gorbals remain concerned the new system will not deliver the anticipated cost benefits.

Alan Ward, who stays at 39 Waddell Court, and is refusing to give workers access, said: “This started off as a voluntary thing and now it is compulsory.

“They can’t really guarantee it will lead to cheaper bills. I believe it is going to put us into fuel poverty.

“If they can offer me another, property, they can have my house.”

Mr Ward said concerns have also been expressed about the risk of asbestos displacement during the drilling works. The housing association said none of the areas of the building containing historic use of asbestos are accessible by tenants and all the necessary precautions had been taken.

Mario Vendetti, who lives in the same block, said his family had not been offered temporary accommodation while the works are being carried out and says he was told it was reserved for ‘vulnerable tenants.”

A spokesman for New Gorbal Housing Association said: “We understand that some of our tenants are worried about the cost of the new heating system.

“We can assure them that it will cost less and be more convenient to run than the current electric storage heaters.

“Unlike the Wheatley Group system at Wynford, Maryhill, there will be no utility company involved in the supply or billing for the heat, and we have legally committed to charging tenants only what it costs us to bulk purchase the gas and administer the billing.

“Currently, that results in a 26% reduction in the costs per unit for electric storage heaters.

“We would prefer not to inconvenience tenants and we regret that we have had to go through the courts to force access to a small number of flats.

“However, that is essential for the provision of new water supplies, and to connect the new heating to all of the homes above and below the households who are refusing access.

“We hope that, eventually, all of our tenants will agree that the new system is more affordable and easier to control”.

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