industry news
NHF supports campaign to install smart meters in more homes
The National Housing Federation (NHF) is supporting a national campaign to encourage more social landlords and tenants to have smart meters installed in their homes. Smart meters are the new generation of gas
and electricity meters, replacing traditional meters in homes across Great Britain. They send automatic meter readings directly to the energy supplier and have a display showing how much energy is being used and how much it costs. The Government wants every household to
be offered a smart meter by 2020. Although it is not compulsory for smart meters to be installed in homes, the campaign seeks to highlight the benefits to having a smart meter. A series of training and information events
have been organised for HAs in August and September. Run in partnership with National Energy Action, the events in Birmingham, Bristol, London and Manchester are designed to provide landlords with all the information they need to understand smart meters and how to get these messages out to their tenants.
How do smart meters work?
The meters send readings directly to the energy supplier via a secure national network used solely for smart meters (similar to car remote keys). Tenants will only pay for the energy they use and because they can see how much energy they are using, it is easier to identify where they can become more energy efficient and reduce their bills. They will bring an end to estimated bills, so
tenants will only pay for the energy they use. Smart meters do not cost tenants anything and will be installed without charge by their energy supplier.
Prepay meters
As the smart meters technology also works with prepay meters, it will make it much easier
Council fined £2,300 by Ombudsman
A south east council broke the law through its homelessness service’s “aggressive gatekeeping” of a vulnerable man, a watchdog has found. The Local Government Ombudsman
ordered Eastbourne Borough Council in Sussex to pay £2,300 after concluding that council staff failed to follow the law and the council’s own policies when handling the man’s homelessness application. The ombudsman said Eastbourne Council
turned ‘Mr X’ away on 25 June 2014, despite the fact he had mental health problems and had been sectioned in the past. “I am very concerned officers noted Mr X
was not adequately dressed and did not appear to know where his medication was, but decided he was fine to sleep on the streets,” the ombudsman reported.
Delays
for tenants to top up their credit. Depending on their supplier, tenants should be able to top up directly online or through a smartphone app. There will be no more keys, cards or inconvenient visits to the shop. It will also make switching between
payment methods (e.g. direct debit or prepay) much easier as an installer will no longer have to visit the property and change the meter.
“The Government wants every household to be offered a smart meter by 2020. Although it is not compulsory for smart meters to be installed in homes, the campaign seeks to highlight the benefits to having a smart meter”
Man jailed for illegal gas work
A Darlington man has been jailed for carrying out illegal gas work on social housing properties on three separate occasions. Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard Neil
Simon McKimm carried out gas work including servicing boilers. McKimm used the alias of a legitimate gas engineer to deceive his customers. An investigation by the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) found that Neil McKimm repeatedly falsely pretended to be a legitimate Gas Safe engineer and falsely signed official records in the name of a legitimate gas engineer.
Neil Simon McKimm (trading as Macs
Plumbing Services and under an alias as Robert Welsh), of West Moorland Street, Darlington, was found guilty of breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Regulations 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and was sentenced to prison for 18 months. HSE inspector Paul Wilson said after the
hearing: “Gas work must be carried out by properly registered Gas Safe engineers and the HSE will robustly pursue those that break the law.”
www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM July 2016 | 23
The council had delayed making inquiries about Mr X’s homelessness situation until August, after 63-year-old Mr X was evicted from his home. The council eventually accepted a duty to house Mr X in September, but in the meantime he was sleeping rough and lost his possessions after his eviction. “The list of failures identified indicates to
me the council did aggressively ‘gatekeep’ Mr X’s homelessness application with a view to avoid providing him with interim accommodation,” the ombudsman said. Councils should make enquiries as soon
as they have reason to believe an applicant may be homeless or threatened with homelessness. The ombudsman said Mr X’s suffering could have been avoided had Eastbourne Council placed him in temporary accommodation earlier.
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