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Church sees energy bill quadruple over new fridges

Jo Burn
BBC News, Ramsgate
Patrick Barlow
BBC News, South East
Jo Burn/BBC A black and white fridge with food inside. The fridge has multi-coloured stickers with names of foods and prices on them, such as "meat pizza - £3.15".Jo Burn/BBC
A church has seen its energy bill quadruple after installing new fridges

A Kent church says it is in thousands of pounds of debt after its electricity bills quadrupled following the installation of new fridges.

St George's Church in Church Road, Ramsgate said its bills rose to nearly £2,000 a month after the new chillers were installed to support the Social Enterprise Kent supermarket based in the church hall.

Church warden Mark Ogden criticised energy supplier Scottish Power for not doing enough to solve the problem.

A Scottish Power spokesperson said it had taken "all reasonable steps to help". They added the energy ombudsman had found the church was aware of the pricing changes, and it did not need to take further action.

The church, which also provides meals for homeless people every week, has launched a campaign to raise £10,000 to tackle its arrears.

Mr Ogden said: "We ended up with massive arrears which we are now trying to pay off month by month so we can move forward."

Jo Burn/BBC St George's Church warden Mark Ogden, a bald man wearing glasses, a black coat and a black and white scarf. He is stood next to green boxes filled with fruit and vegetables inside the church hall.Jo Burn/BBC
Mark Ogden, St George's Church warden, said the church ended up with "massive arrears"

Mr Ogden said: "It's put our reserves at serious threat. We need those for all of our future projects, we need a cushion."

He said the church's energy bill quadrupled to nearly £2,000 in December 2023 after Social Enterprise Supermarket installed the chillers.

He said at first the church "couldn't understand why" their bills increased and wondered if they had a faulty meter or whether their power was being stolen.

Jo Burn/BBC Social Enterprise Kent food projects manager Natasha Hart, wearing a purple jumper and black gilet, stood in front of green boxes of vegetables in the social supermarket. The supermarket in the background includes a man looking at produce, fridges and more boxes of food.Jo Burn/BBC
Natasha Hart, Social Enterprise Kent food projects manager, said the big energy bills were "disappointing"

Natasha Hart, Social Enterprise Kent food projects manager, said it was working with the church to clear the debt but said the large energy bill was "disappointing".

Both the church and the social supermarket accepted the fridges would have caused bills to rise but said they could have been supported better by Scottish Power.

A Scottish Power spokesperson said: "We took all reasonable steps to help in this situation, including checking the usage, meters and billing – all of which were correct.

"The Ombudsman also found that the customer was aware of the pricing changes and confirmed we need not take further action."

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