Elderly face court battle over heating

LONDON ELECTRICITY chiefs have rejected an attempt by an official watchdog to mediate between them and a group of pensioners who have no heating.

Instead, the company has threatened to seek a judicial review, a process that could take years and cost more than the GBP 46,000 it would take to remedy the problem.

The electricity company is demanding GBP 46,000 from the pensioners, whose average age is 75, to connect low-cost storage heating, because they say they need to build a new substation to cope with the demand. Watchdog Offer ruled yesterday the company should connect the pensioners anyway. But today London Electricity refused, saying it will seek a judicial review in the courts. Mitcham and Mor-den Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh has been battling for two years to get the 86 elderly residents connected. Today, Ms McDonagh said: "This is outrageous. It will cost them more to take it to a judicial review than it would just to pay the GBP 46,000 to build the substation." "Offer has ruled against them, the Minister for Energy has spoken out in favour of that decision in the Commons and they still have not backed down. The residents will be disappointed because they feel they have won their argument time and again." Offer was asked to intervene in the row at Mitcham Gardens Estate, south London, by 73-year-old resident Dolly Elnaugh, who is now in hospital after collapsing from the strain of the case. Each of the residents at the charity estate have won grants from the local council to install night storage heaters, but were told by London Electricity to share the cost of building the substation. In its report Offer said Mrs Elnaugh, who was a test case, should not have to pay. Offer's director of public affairs, Jan Luke, commented: "We have determined in favour of one and there would be no difference for the other residents because they are in the same circumstances." London Electricity has recently installed a heater in Mrs Elnaugh's home and agreed to fit 11 others, which is the maximum they claim the power supply will support. Spokesman Alex Parsons said: "We are waiting to see Offer's complete report and subject to the context of that we are strongly minded to seek a judicial review. We are trying to resolve this as quickly as we can and have the customers' interests at heart but there are industry regulations which say we must reclaim money for this work." British Gas and Help the Aged today announced a GBP 15 million action plan to cut the number of elderly people dying from the cold each winter. The two-year initiative will see the utility giant funding practical schemes to help vulnerable people keep warm.

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