Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

104 tenants ask for their gas to be permanently shut off because of soaring costs

Langstane Housing Association's  Fraser Court. Photo Kenny Elrick
Langstane Housing Association's Fraser Court. Photo Kenny Elrick

There are at least 104 social housing tenants in the north-east who have been forced to shut off their gas heating because they can’t afford spiralling bills.

The boss of Langstane Housing Association has warned residents have been capping their gas in a desperate attempt to save cash.

Some are instead relying on electric meters which are actually more expensive to run.

The housing association, which has thousands of residents in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray, said 104 so far have asked their energy supplier to cut off gas.

Langstane Housing Association chief executive, Helen Gauld, said people living without fuel was “not acceptable in this day and age”.

The housing association’s chief executive Helen Gauld said: “More and more we are finding tenants are coming to us to request their systems are capped – that basically means it stops the gas getting into their property.

“It is purely down to affordability.

“It is really worrying how people are so worried about energy costs.

“This is actually living without fuel.

“If we go through a winter with people not having any heating types available to them that is not acceptable in this day and age.”

Energy price cap effects

The disturbing news comes as the watchdog Ofgem confirmed energy prices for British households will rise by 80% by October, with further rises expected as a result of the energy cap in January and April.

The increase means the average UK household will pay £3,549 a year for energy, up from £1,971.

In comparison, the average annual bill in October 2021 was just £1,400 a year.

Ms Gauld further highlighted that households with an income of £30,000 a year are now facing fuel poverty.

She estimates that 80,000 households in Aberdeen will soon be forced to spend more than 10% of their household income on fuel.

Fuel poverty

Those who are increasingly faced with having to shut off their gas entirely often use electric heaters on a meter in order so they can use heat to meet their meagre budget.

She said: “Quite often those people who have electric metres in their properties are actually paying more for their fuel and energy than you and I.”

The housing association has a number of ways it supports tenants including a welfare advisor who supports 72 tenants with their benefits, which includes difficulty in paying bills, but increasingly they are limited in how much they can help.

“We have staff who help out tenants get the best deal – there are no best deals at this moment in time,” she said.

“They are not able to switch provider if their tariffs are too high.”

Energy crisis: See how your fuel bills are set to rocket across the north and north-east

Where possible the group, which is a registered charity, has been able to access some cash from the Housing Association Charitable Trust Energy Fund to provide energy vouchers, the Fairer Aberdeen Fund which is allocated by Aberdeen City Council and the Arnold Clark Community Fund, which was founded by the billioniare family owners of the car dealership, albeit it is currently closed to applications.

These funds have been tapped to help residents with top ups and food vouchers but this is “a drop in the ocean”, she said.

She added: “We are applying to the Scottish Government’s fuel insecurity fund which opens on Monday but there is a limited £2m available and given the current economic crisis, we think this fund will be oversubscribed within a very short period of time.

“It is a perfect storm at this moment in time.”

Langstane in the community

Langstane was founded in 1977 and mainly supports 4,215 people, most of whom live on their own, although they also support a number of families.

She said joblessness was also an issue due to the increasingly poor economic climate.

“We find a higher propertion of our tenants are not working at this time,” she said.

“That’s not through choice. But there are no jobs you can get yourself settled employment.”

Langstane’s Muggiemoss Court. Picture by KATH FLANNERY

She said government support should be targeted at “those who need it most”.

“Even those on a £30,000 income would be deemed to be in fuel poverty. That is 80,000 housholds in Aberdeen. Even people who are working are really struggling now to budget in the future.

“If the predictions are right, if you are in a social housing tenancy with very little means to increase your income these are very worrying times for you.

“We are seeing a rise in mental ill health.

“That has always been a concern for us but it is certainly increasing.”

Conversation