TENANTS fighting “unfair” district heating scheme charges claim housing bosses pulled the plug on talks because the group was planning to stage a protest rally on the same day.
Wyndford Tenants Union is calling on energy giant SSE to scrap a daily standing charge associated with the communal heating scheme run by Cube in Maryhill, saying it is plunging tenants into fuel debt.
It is also calling for a re-think on a decision by the energy provider to introduce quarterly billing, saying tenants on benefits or a limited income struggle to budget for the bills.
SSE and Cube agreed to meet with the tenant’s union, which is led by Nick Durie, at 4pm yesterday.
READ MORE: Glasgow has case for drug rooms
However, Mr Durie claims the housing group pulled out of the talks because the director of Cube, David Mackenzie was unhappy that the union was planning to stage a public rally after the meeting to “show strength of feeling” amongst tenants.
Nick Durie said: “We’re not here to help the boss of our landlord save face in front of his business relationships but to secure a workable settlement.
“I must stress, however, we want to get around the table and secure a deal.
“It does seem very heavy handed however to insist that any negotiation be essentially conducted in private as surely we can’t agree to anything that’s unacceptable to our neighbours.”
A Cube spokeswoman said: “The fact is we did agree to meet representatives of the tenants’ union and would be more than happy to speak to them going forward.
“The other important point is that standing charges and quarterly billing issues are a matter for the energy company.
“That said, we’ve been in touch with every single tenant involved and offered all the support we can in the circumstances.
“Once a meeting has been rescheduled by the lead, SSE, Cube will attend.”
A spokesman for SSE said: ‘SSE was happy to attend the cancelled meeting with Wyndford Tenants Association and will attend the meeting once it’s been rescheduled.”
The Evening Times told how dozens of tenants were hit with £274 reconnection charges after being disconnected from the scheme in December for running up debts.
The £27million project was launched in 2012 with the aim of improving the energy efficiency of around 2000 homes in the Wyndford area.
It involves a central boiler supplying all homes with heating and hot water and has won awards for helping tenants save up to 40 per cent on energy bills.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel