A pensioner from Ramsey has told Manx Radio he's 'aghast' at how much he's paying for his heating each month in a sheltered housing complex.
It's because the facility is charged a commercial rate for its energy rather than residential.
Chanelle Sukhoo has been speaking to Eric Corkish and Ramsey Commissioner Luke Parker:
Hi I'm Chanel, one of the journalists at Meng's Radio. Welcome to the latest edition of Meng's Radio Newscast. Right, can I start with your name please? It's Eric Orgish. Right now Eric we're here to chat about some issues that you found in your sheltered housing regarding gas. Can you tell me about that? Yeah, basically we've been looking at the costs for it and we found out that basically in the two bedroom apartments which is what I mean, we're paying £47 a week for the gas which is for the heating and the single bedrooms are paying £43 a week and that's over £2,000 a year we're paying for gas and they're not massive properties and we've since discovered that it's not the same in old sheltered housing some people are paying a lot less than what we are and we've been told that one of the reasons is that it's classed as commercial and not residential so we're being charged a lot more for us than what we should be and I've been told it's 35% higher than what the northern housing think it should be. Just under £50 a week if we work that out that's over four weeks for a month you're paying less than £200 and it's sheltered housing this is the place that has your old and your vulnerable and your pension is correct? Yeah I mean one the reason that people move into there is it's sheltered housing you have a warden there and people have moved from other houses we move from the commissioners bungalow into their part of the reason why you don't have a garden or anything and you didn't tell that housing you were expected to be a fair rent and the heating should be fair with it but it's just isn't fair when we're paying just under £200 a month. But now your issue isn't with the actual housing committee now? No no we've we've spoken to the housing committee and they they've got a meeting on Wednesday night when this is going to come up again. The whole issue does look all around island energy is not thanks gas now island energy and the price they're charged for the gas in these sheltered housing units. Now as how long are you living in this sheltered housing for? We've been there now for three years that opened three years ago and we we've moved into there. Being a pensioner have you found yourself over the three years you know have you found it with the cost of living crisis you know bills are getting harder and harder to pay? Yeah basically I mean our rent is gone up and when we when we moved into there we were paying £20 a week for the gas for the heating and what you say now is just you're the £50 and it seems to be no matter what rise you get with the pension each year when your rent goes up and the heating goes up there's nothing left we're going backwards. Does it sometime you know sometimes are you left worried about you know what am I going to do the next week or what am I going to do the following month? Well being a fixed price that we're paying you know we can budget for it but the thing of it is with that we have no control over the cost of the heat if you're in your house and you've got a gas meter if you don't use the heat then you're not being charged for it because you've asked me that your gas bill isn't going and your boil is not going but all through the summer most of the people in these sheltered housing units they're not using the heating especially the one I'm involved in it may feel it's new and it's well insulated and we haven't had heating on all through the summer but we're still paying £50 a week for us. Any idea why it's classed as commercial or priced at a commercial rate instead of a residential rate because this is childhood residential housing. Yeah they claim that because you've got a community room and you've got hallways it's not purely residential but if you look at it's commercial when you're doing something commercially you're making a profit the shelter housing people don't make a profit on on their housing and it just seems to all revolve around that and we've asked the question I've emailed the new CEO of the gas company he hasn't bothered to answer you know and we cannot find out why it's on commercial and not residential. I understand you also went to a few of the other parishes to find out what their residents are paying in sheltered housing there. Yeah I mean we went I checked in Douglas and one of those is paying £31 a week and in Hong Kong it averages at about I think it was £34 I think she said obviously some are higher and some are lower it depends on the point you've got for the size of your apartment but it just seems way over the top I mean the bill in Ramsey for the gas for the three units in Ramsey was £220,000 that's what they paid and then it's worked out and we pay that bill divided by points for each apartment but nothing is going to happen until that base rate comes down and they're getting a bill really you should be looking at a bill if we're paying 35% more than what everybody else is paying that bill needs to come down to about 140,220 and the only way we can do that is if the gas will agree that it's residential and put us down on a proper rate. You're there for three years now what's what prompted you to speak out now? We've only just found out that that was the amount that we were paying for the gas and you compared to all the people I mean when we first went in there it was £20 a week for your gas it was reasonable you know and that was fully acceptable and then the prices went up obviously with the war in the Ukraine prices of gas now being then went up and it kept going up and you know we suddenly realized how much we're paying when we got the paperwork for this year but one of the other things that I mean maybe this might be Northern House and rather than the gas the gas went down at golden demands radio it went down 16.8 percent last month and our builders stayed the same now why they negotiated the fee and then are allowed to come below that we keep getting told that there was a deficit when gas went really high and there's an amount of money outstanding but I'd like to know how much that money is outstanding and why it is that when the gas went up we got all the increases when the gas has gone down we've got nothing so that's definitely a question that I'll put to the committee but in terms of the residents you know what's the feeling on the ground when you guys did discover that it is commercial charged at a commercial instead of residential and how did you make that discovery were you comparing bulls or how did you find come to you know find out I think it was the fact that people were talking about in the summer that they're still paying for gas now I know it's it's done so you don't have big prices one month and small prices next and when we realized what was really going on I mean we all had an idea what was happening but when we realized what was going on and we had a meeting last week with just a residence in in there and everybody's just aghast at the amount of money where happened to pay for heating you know and it was agreed that we would try and do something and this is why now I'm trying to sort something out I know that the northern house and have spoken to cura and they did speak to the office of pay trade and I've been over and seen both of them this week and I'm waiting for a report back from them to see what's going to happen but northern house and have a meeting tonight and I've handed in a request with 17 questions on it which I want the answers to right and what are you hoping will come out from this interview we need the gas prices to go down and not just by that 16 percent we need to be paying some that's realistic I mean to pay 200 pair of months for heating in what is the small apartment we're not talking of massive apartments like they're having king's court and all that they are designed for older people and this will be priced for older people we're paying a fair rent we're fair rates but we should not be being ripped off just so we can have heat in the premises and you know a lot of the times when government talks about your old and your vulnerable people they always say you need to protect your vulnerable people so when you see and compare these prices to what government is saying you know does it are you hopeful that you know from this interview someone will listen and you will start to see that changes well we feel very let down certainly by the two MHKs in Ramsey I'd be a male on both and they're they want to do anything isn't there now I have spoken to another couple of MHKs didn't get very far with them there's a couple of MLCs involved and they do seem to be taking this serious you know and hopefully we'll get the back and of them but what I would love to see is our gas reduced by some amount I mean we don't expect our price gas we want to pay the same as everybody else and just sure the 50 pound a week is not what people are paying if you're in a commissioner's house or flat in other places you've got your own boiler and if you don't use it then you don't pay for us but we are paying every week just sure the 50 pound and it needs to be altered because people getting very angry about it um I think from my side I've got everything is there anything you'd like to add or you'd like to say anything that we perhaps didn't mention only that we really do need the gas company to contact us you know they they just don't seem to be I've heard people say that when they bring the gas company and the talking to somebody in Scotland well I've sent a message to the new CEO I haven't even had acknowledgement that he has got that you know and we just really do feel like we're being ripped off and something needs to be done you can't allow it to go on that people are paying that amount of money but they're heating compared to what other people are paying how many residents live in live where you live and would you say you represent most of them or majority of them through this interview yeah there's well there's 37 apartments and I think it's about 45 46 people because some are married or two people yes I do represent them all from this meeting last week you know it was designed that we need to do something we've done the talk and to the gas and cura and the office of fair trade and now I think we need to go public with it now I know there's a meeting tonight and hopefully some of the questions we've got will be answered and hopefully I'll be able to get in to see the housing manager tomorrow or Friday and see what they've got and hopefully then the office of fair trade and we'll have done some research and do it and we'll see where we go from here but we're not given up we cannot you know we're pensioners you have to be 65 before you go in there and most pensions have their pensions to live on and that is it you know and you move into a place like this part where you're freeing up all the housing for younger people who need council houses and now we're sitting in there we'd be met the same where we were we wouldn't be paying the same amount now and he'd be in your own house still can I start with your name and your title yeah my name's Luke Parker I'm Lee member for Ramsey Tan commissioners for housing right and just to confirm you're speaking as lead member for Ramsey Tan commissioners lead member for housing yes I am yeah right now we've had a resident raise some concerns they live in sheltered housing and they had some concerns around their gospel and when they questioned it they found out that they're actually being charged on a commercial rate and not a residential rate is this something that Ramsey commissioners have heard about it is something that Ramsey commissioners have heard about but it's more for Ramsey Northern district housing and as farmers I'm aware they have submitted letters and asked for information regarding two manks energy regarding the discrepancy between commercial and residential rates is it something that that happens quite often in terms of you know this the businesses or these these these these these buildings being seen as commercial instead of residential as farmers aware I'm not it all it's down to my energy and the day the the main discrepancy is it's a residential complex so it should be done on a residential rate why there's a commercial charge is it's them for them to explain why and to question the reasonings now I do know within sheltered housing accommodation if you do have your own boiler your gas boiler you are charged as a domestic as a residential but if it is a commercial heated property or premises it is done on a commercial rate right and in terms of so has has any residents brought this to your attention this these sort of concerns and what's your view on it so it has been brought to my attention and obviously my view is the the main question is why why is it charged as a commercial premises considering it is purely residential and not only that it's sheltered housing it's some it's vulnerable people at the same time or people that need assistance and yet we're not providing assistance to those who need assistance so where it is it is a bit weird why the building is put as it is and it's down to Mike's energy to where to look into this further and see see why now I understand it's to the committee to you know work that out with Isle of Man energy Ramsey Commissioners is there any way that they could maybe support all the support the committee in any way um as Toronto Commission is it's not we don't have sheltered housing in Sheldon housing is his own entity it's his own body so as Commission is it's not something that we would intervene but by all means we can support the committee by looking further into this and to ask the questions why but as around the town commission it's we have our own properties residential properties but we don't look after sheltered housing as a as a commission right and when you hear that some of these residents are walking out about around about 50 pounds a week which amounts to about 200 200 pounds a month and these are your vulnerable in childhood housing you know what goes through your mind yes it's very steep um obviously all I can speak on is it's within housing and the way housing is structured and it's all done on pointing system and those points are divided up equally and it's there's heating charges against those pointing systems and obviously within the northern area there's obviously mixed complexes there's like Mayfield which is brand new so that will potentially have a higher pointing system so they'll be charged at a higher rate for that nice new bigger complex bigger apartment compared to other sheltered housing which will be more older and a little bit smaller so they'll be charged a little bit less and rightly so in it in a way but again it's it's at disadvantage to those within that and again the billing itself needs to be looked into as into why there is a commercial charge on residential property anything else you'd like to add or you'd like to say within within this topic I think we've covered the bulk of the the points but the main thing is to to raise a question to Mike's energy to look into this further and see where where this was written whether there's a contract drawn up or whether there's some type of agreement where it was um and for them to look into those contracts or agreements and also for government because obviously if we're charged here in Ramsey at these rates what's happening out around the island and it could be something government needs to tackle and look into further to help our vulnerable and elderly people as well thank you for making it to the end of the Manxeradian newscast you are obviously someone with exquisite taste may I politely suggest you might want to subscribe to this and a wide range of Manx radio podcasts at your favorite podcast provider so our best bits will magically appear on your smartphone thank you you [BLANK_AUDIO]
