(Title Image: © Copyright Jaggery and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-2.0)
Following a report published last year on a scandal involving home energy efficiency work carried out in Caerau, Bridgend Council’s Cabinet are to be provided with another update tomorrow (pdf).
Since the last round of reports and meetings, Bridgend Council has discussed the issue with the relevant partners involved in the delivery of energy efficiency programmes in Caerau.
BCBC’s position is that while they were only directly responsible for administering work on around 25 homes, a solution will ideally be found so that all of the homes involved can have repairs and remedial work carried out to correct poor workmanship. The total cost of this has been estimated at up to or just over £1million.
Following those discussions, several problems have emerged:
1. The energy companies involved have washed their hands of it. They were only responsible for “buying back” carbon savings from the UK Government by paying for energy efficiency work to be carried out in areas with high fuel poverty (like Caerau). Therefore, they don’t believe they have any liability for poor workmanship by contractors.
2. It’s unclear whether the Welsh Government will intervene. The Welsh Government have said Arbed was administered by the local authority. BCBC countered that they were only directly responsible for a small number of properties. Following a meeting between BCBC, the energy regulator OFGEM and the Welsh Government it was made clear there are few avenues open to get funding for rectifying poor work (as most of the old schemes have closed) and that newer energy efficiency schemes have much stricter checks and balances.
3. Warranty and insurance difficulties. Many of the contractors involved have gone out of business. While householders would normally have been able to go back to the contractor and demand that poor workmanship is corrected, that can’t happen here. The report says that some of the homes involved may have been given certificates showing who carried out the work and possible insurance/warranty, but it’s unclear whether this will have expired.
In conclusion, no long-term solution has been found yet.
The Welsh Government have agreed to approach the UK Government so that Whitehall understands issues with historic energy efficiency schemes and to request their intervention. Welsh Government officials are also expected to raise the matter with Ministers to see if there’s any appetite to pay for repair work on homes involved in the Arbed scheme.
There’s no update yet on the Public Services Ombudsman investigation, trigged in part due to the involvement of former Cabinet member, Cllr. Phil White (Lab, Caerau).
Bridgend town centre district heat scheme takes a big step forward
Work to create a district heat system in Bridgend town centre is very close to starting, with formal arrangements set to be put before the Cabinet (pdf).
The proposal will see a generator installed at Bridgend Life Centre, with pipes delivering hot water to buildings in the town centre. Initially, the network will be focused on the Sunnyside area and the Civic Offices, but this may expand to include schools, hospitals and other town centre buildings in the future.
A special purpose vehicle/SPV (council-owned company) called “Bridgend Heat & Power Ltd” will be set up to operate independently of the council, comply with certain rules and to open the possibility for private sector investment.
In terms of costs, just under £3.4million will be provided to Bridgend Heat & Power, with around £2.3million coming from BCBC themselves in the form of capital funding and a £1.82million loan (repaid over 40 years).
