Scotland,according to the EU, is a deprived area, as is the North of England. So they passed a mega deal to upgrade rented property against the Winter chill. Nice one.!
Local authorities,being the largest renters of homes,immediately applied for these upgrades, for all of their rented property. The upgrades included......new bathroom showers and tiles,home electrical rewires, new kitchen units, cavity wall insulation and general structural repairs such as new door lintels,window sills, squaring up worn concrete steps,cleaning/repairing gutters and rain water downpipes. The real biggy was to install new gas central heating units and new gas boilers.
Now the same councils already got huge EU Grants from the EU, some years ago, to rewire and install electric central heating units which, in fact, were crap, as there was no fan to blow out the heat. They heated the wall which they were fixed too.
I use two propane gas heaters to keep my home roasting and as I buy the gas in advance, I never have a big bill!! I use them,as required, from October to February when it is cold in Scotland. I figured that all of this work was going to cause me a load of grief for absolutely no gain for me. Yes, the valuation of the housing stock would go up which merely helps the Councils. In addition,due to Health and Safety rules, I had to move my furniture to allow workers to drill, hammer and generally shout and swear at a moments notice. I have enough difficulty walking never mine humphing furniture.! So sod that!
I enquired and found that I could refuse,which I did. So the work commenced now and again.
Now the joke part...........
British Gas are the main contractors and suppliers of gas. So they look like big winners. Thy just sub contracted the work down the usual chain and they then bill Europe. So the outgoings reduce their taxation bill and they have future income guaranteed. Very nice one. BUT.....
British Gas have set up a central billing centre in Warington,England. They send out bills for Scotland where they trade as Scottish Gas. So a Scottish consumer will get a bill from England which will be very high indeed for a Winter quarter. Remember the boiler for hot water is heated by gas not electricity. Whereas we used to get two bills, now there will be one huge one. You could always juggle and get by.
However, Scotland has a completely separate legal system from the rest of the Uk. So a bill issued from England and ignored by a Scottish customer will cause all sorts of legal problems regarding recovery of the debt. British Gas will have to instruct an English solicitor,who in turn, will have to instruct a Scottish solicitor to take a Scottish consumer into a Scottish Court. Their centralisation will actually cost them millions in legal bills without any guarantee of recovery!!
Sure they can cut off the gas supply. Who needs central heating in the Summer? Ah but you say hot water. A kettle boils water too!! There are plenty of electric pump shower units. I got one fitted years ago. Washing machines heat water too.
In any case, the new boilers are hopeless.! Instead of being sensible and connecting the overflow pipe into the water outlet pipe, inside the flat, they have a separate overflow pipe going outside the flat. This will freeze in Winter and the whole gas system will crash!!! People will need to call out gas engineers to heat the frozen water in the overflow and reset the system. This, in a cold snap, could take a week or more !!! The Councils will get the call out bills. The tenant will freeze!
But back to finance...........
Most Council tenants are unemployed and living on benefits. The threat of Court action for debt means absolutely nothing to them. They have no job and can't get credit anywhere, even if they are credit worthy. So they are going to have a nice warm Winter and sod the gas bill.
I can see a huge rise in peeps moving over to propane heaters for Winter 2015/06 I can also see British Gas losing millions in unpaid bills and legal fees.
Local authorities,being the largest renters of homes,immediately applied for these upgrades, for all of their rented property. The upgrades included......new bathroom showers and tiles,home electrical rewires, new kitchen units, cavity wall insulation and general structural repairs such as new door lintels,window sills, squaring up worn concrete steps,cleaning/repairing gutters and rain water downpipes. The real biggy was to install new gas central heating units and new gas boilers.
Now the same councils already got huge EU Grants from the EU, some years ago, to rewire and install electric central heating units which, in fact, were crap, as there was no fan to blow out the heat. They heated the wall which they were fixed too.
I use two propane gas heaters to keep my home roasting and as I buy the gas in advance, I never have a big bill!! I use them,as required, from October to February when it is cold in Scotland. I figured that all of this work was going to cause me a load of grief for absolutely no gain for me. Yes, the valuation of the housing stock would go up which merely helps the Councils. In addition,due to Health and Safety rules, I had to move my furniture to allow workers to drill, hammer and generally shout and swear at a moments notice. I have enough difficulty walking never mine humphing furniture.! So sod that!
I enquired and found that I could refuse,which I did. So the work commenced now and again.
Now the joke part...........
British Gas are the main contractors and suppliers of gas. So they look like big winners. Thy just sub contracted the work down the usual chain and they then bill Europe. So the outgoings reduce their taxation bill and they have future income guaranteed. Very nice one. BUT.....
British Gas have set up a central billing centre in Warington,England. They send out bills for Scotland where they trade as Scottish Gas. So a Scottish consumer will get a bill from England which will be very high indeed for a Winter quarter. Remember the boiler for hot water is heated by gas not electricity. Whereas we used to get two bills, now there will be one huge one. You could always juggle and get by.
However, Scotland has a completely separate legal system from the rest of the Uk. So a bill issued from England and ignored by a Scottish customer will cause all sorts of legal problems regarding recovery of the debt. British Gas will have to instruct an English solicitor,who in turn, will have to instruct a Scottish solicitor to take a Scottish consumer into a Scottish Court. Their centralisation will actually cost them millions in legal bills without any guarantee of recovery!!
Sure they can cut off the gas supply. Who needs central heating in the Summer? Ah but you say hot water. A kettle boils water too!! There are plenty of electric pump shower units. I got one fitted years ago. Washing machines heat water too.
In any case, the new boilers are hopeless.! Instead of being sensible and connecting the overflow pipe into the water outlet pipe, inside the flat, they have a separate overflow pipe going outside the flat. This will freeze in Winter and the whole gas system will crash!!! People will need to call out gas engineers to heat the frozen water in the overflow and reset the system. This, in a cold snap, could take a week or more !!! The Councils will get the call out bills. The tenant will freeze!
But back to finance...........
Most Council tenants are unemployed and living on benefits. The threat of Court action for debt means absolutely nothing to them. They have no job and can't get credit anywhere, even if they are credit worthy. So they are going to have a nice warm Winter and sod the gas bill.
I can see a huge rise in peeps moving over to propane heaters for Winter 2015/06 I can also see British Gas losing millions in unpaid bills and legal fees.
No comments:
Post a Comment