Housing estate's energy bills to drop

People living on a housing development should see their heating bills cut by up to 31% this year, despite council bosses imposing three new charges.

Residents on the Byker Estate pleaded for a reprieve from Newcastle City Council last year amid complaints some households were being hit with "ridiculous" costs.

It is connected to a local authority-managed district heat network (DHN) which supplies homes with heating and hot water, but its properties are not metered and people are charged a flat monthly rate regardless of how much energy they use.

The Labour-run council said it did not benefit financially and it was pleased bills would fall.

The network is not subject to the energy price cap, which has been a source of frustration for the likes of pensioner Roberta Davidson.

She appeared before councillors in December after her bills jumped from £108 to £213 per month.

She questioned why charges imposed on homeowners by the council were substantially more than those being paid by the estate's social housing tenants, whose energy bills are set by Karbon Homes.

Council bosses have now revealed their proposed DHN charges for 2025/26 and say households will see overall reductions of between 9% and 31%, depending on the size of their property.

That is despite the authority adding extra fees to bills starting from next month, which will total an average of £233, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

They are a £2,000 administration fee split across all 159 private homeowners on the estate, a 5% fund to finance major repairs and a 5% contingency which the council says will help "smooth out" unexpected fluctuations in energy prices or unexpected repair costs.

Due to a fall in gas prices, a council report confirms the amount households are charged for energy use will fall to £18.92 per year per sqm from as high as £49 for some residents.

But their infrastructure charge covering costs such as staffing and maintenance will be set at £366.32 per year in 2025/26, having previously been between £217.30 and £376.30.

Byker councillor Nick Hartley, of the Green Party, said the overall reduction in bills "goes to show the power of residents campaigning".

The council previously refused to use public funds to subsidise the bills.

A spokesman said: "As a council, we do not benefit in any way financially from the heat networks and charge residents only for their usage.

"The new charges will allow us to ensure that the full costs of running the network are covered by those attached to it and are not subsidised by other residents in the city.

"We are very pleased to be able to tell residents that their bills will reduce for the 12 months from April 2025.

"However, until all costs are reconciled in the following year (approximately June 2026), we need to be clear that the final cost does remain subject to how the network actually operates during 2025/26."

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