Residents of an Angus building are paying “through the nose” to heat badly-insulated rooms, it has been claimed.
Manor Court in Forfar is a Hillcrest property, run by the housing association to support 34 households.
Resident Anne Christie (61) contacted The Courier to voice her frustration with sky-high heating bills and a perceived lack of insulation.
“I’ve paid in about £50 in the last 13 days and that’s just to properly heat one room,” she said.
“There’s no insulation in the ceiling and an electrician who was in to fix something last month said heat will just escape, and everyone else in the building must be having the same problem.
“I was told by the people at Hillcrest that I would be on a preferential rate for electricity, but I’ve found out I’m on 21.6p per unit (against a UK average of 15-17p per kiloWatt hour) and I’m paying through the nose.
“I didn’t get a choice of heating supplier when I moved in. I felt very threatened.”
A Hillcrest spokeswoman said: “As part of our planned maintenance programme, we have replaced a number of older storage and panel systems with modernised versions.
The systems are fitted in a way that allows tenants to change tariffs if they wish.
“When discussing individual cases, we communicate and work directly with the person to try and find the best solution for the tenant concerned which is what we’re doing in this instance.”
Ms Christie’s concerns come against escalating fears for those on fixed incomes choosing whether to “heat or eat”.
The UK Government made a pledge to force suppliers to place customers on their lowest tariffs.
However, the area’s MP said this does not cover those who are on pre-payment meters or cannot choose between suppliers.
Mike Weir said: “It seems clear that, at best, the energy companies will be obliged to offer consumers the lowest tariff within the type of tariff they currently have but will not oblige them to offer a lower tariff within a different type.”
The SNP’s energy spokesman was commenting after a question raised the matter at Energy and Climate Change questions on Thursday.
“Pre-payment meter tariffs tend to be higher than other types of tariff and it is often the most vulnerable who are on such meters,” he said.