Homeowners on a former council estate have hit out after the quest for their local council to hit their Net Zero target could see them forced to pay £66,00 towards a new heating system.
The £185million scheme by Westminster City Council aims to modernise the current system in the former council estate in Pimlico, which contains 60-year-old pipes.
The newly proposed eco-friendly heating system will look to replace three gas boilers in the building which are prone to leaks and require frequent repairs and will cost around £185 million.
But residents could be forced to foot the bill of the low carbon “heat network” in order for Westminster Council to hit its Net Zero targets.
This Net Zero project is expected to cost an owner of a one-bedroom flat £40,000 with residents in a four-bedroom home required to stump up as much as £66,000.
Westminster City Council argued that the system currently in place on the estate is one of the oldest of its kind which was once powered by Battersea Power Station across the river.
The ailing heating system currently supplies 3,000 homes including a library and schools with the revamp allowing the local authority to hit its target of being Net Zero by 2030.
However, residents in the building are up in arms over this decision with one owner, Ernest Strafford, calling the scheme a “joke”.
He said: “Why would I do this if I could get myself off the system altogether and put in something that didn’t have any leaks or problems for £5,000?”
Residents also criticised the high amount this scheme will cost which could make their properties impossible to sell, reports The Times.
There have been a number of other initiatives to help tackle the estate’s escalating problems caused by the ageing system which saw a burst hot water piper in a local community centre to close last week which also affected a local car park that stank of sewage.
A centralised heat pump in the Thames was proposed as an alternative which would cost £211 million.
Another alternative looked at the possibility of installing individual electric water boilers in the homes which would cost residents between £1,500 and £5,000.
This was dismissed by the local authority though as this initiative involved “high energy costs and low carbon savings”.
Westminster Council highlighted that by replacing these ageing pipes residents will reap the savings in the long run with homeowners also being protected from high energy spikes in the global energy prices.
Another organsiation that argued in favour of the Net Zero target overhaul included Hemiko, the company behind the South Westminster Area Network (SWAN) which stated the new heat network was the cheapest solution.
“Heat networks are the cheapest way to provide low carbon heating, providing a reliable and efficient way to heat homes and businesses,” said Hemiko’s chief executive Toby Heysham.
Labour’s net zero policy is for the UK to have a complete zero-carbon electricity system by 2030.
