Renters living in a 215-apartment three-build complex in Trafford say they are being charged 'astronomical' energy bills that they are tied into - with one resident saying they have had to 'stop taking medication' in order to be able to pay their bills.
Overlooking the Bridgewater Canal on the site of a former pressure gauge factory, the futuristic Budenberg building in Altrincham takes its inspiration from ocean liners and promises to be a bit different to other apartment blocks in the city-region, describing its design as 'deliberately dramatic' and its penthouses as 'indulgent' in marketing literature.
But a different kind of pressure is building there today. Tenants, most paying more than £1,200 a month in rent, say they are being forced to pay six times more on energy bills than they were just three months ago. One tenant was billed more than £3,100 over a 92-day period between November and February for their water, heating and electricity, despite the support with energy bills the government has put in place.
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Tenants at Budenberg, which is owned by Urban Splash but run by property management company Xenia, say they are ‘tied’ into a heat network from energy provider Switch2, where heating, water and electricity services for all units in the three-build heating all come from one system.
They say this means they are now having to pay ‘eye-watering’ bills without any choice of an alternative - and it’s crippling them financially as the cost of living crisis continues to impact households.
The M.E.N spoke to a number of tenants, all of whom asked to remain anonymous, about the situation at Budenberg.
'We cannot cancel and go with anyone else - and our bills are the same as our rent'
One tenant, who moved into the property with their family within the last six months, said they had seen their bills go up four times from around £150 in October to £650 in February. This was despite them saying they had made a deliberate effort to reduce their energy and water usage in the last month.
“The situation is really crazy,” the tenant said. “Switch2 has a monopoly over us - they are responsible for providing our water, heating and electricity and we have no choice but to accept it. There is no alternative for us, we cannot just cancel and go with someone else.
“We were hoping to stay here for a long time but we are already thinking that when our year contract ends, we will have to leave because of this. It is too expensive, we just cannot afford it. Our bills are now almost the same price as our rent.”
The tenant said they have repeatedly tried to get a better understanding of the situation with Switch2 but claimed they were either sent automatic responses or nothing at all.
They added: “I have a friend who lives nearby our building and they have a similar setup but only have to pay £200 in energy bills, whilst we’re paying more than £600. Some residents have even had bills of more than £2,000 - which is just ridiculous.
“Another tenant said their electricity was cut off after they did not pay the bill for one month. I’m pretty sure they have no legal right to do that.
“Switch2 is not communicating with us despite repeated attempts. We want to know how they have come to these prices.”
'There's a lot of desperation and anger here'
Having recently moved to the UK, the tenant said they chose to live at Budenberg because the apartments were spacious, contemporary and stylish, with good transport links.
"We have been made to feel very insecure and here," they added. "The sky-rocketing bills and poor management makes it totally unliveable.
"There is a lot of desperation and anger here at the moment towards both the UK government and the heat network provider. We feel our bills are unreasonable and unaffordable. I don't think many of us can afford this, some residents have mentioned being in debt because of this."
At the end of last year, the energy provider began installing a number of ‘smart meters’ into the Budenberg building as part of a ‘metering project’. On January 9, Switch2 introduced an increased heat and electricity tariff to residents. The tariff saw heat per kWh go from £0.15539 to £0.33235 and electricity from £0.10838 to £0.58622 per Kwh.
'I'm living in one room but the bills are still unaffordable'
Another resident, who is in their 50s and lives alone, said they moved into a penthouse at Budenberg expecting their utility bills to be a 'lot less than they were' due to the integrated automated heating system in the building.
"I was expecting lower bills than I would have had from electric heating in other apartment complexes so I could enjoy a large, warm apartment both for myself and entertaining," they explained. "With the current situation, I am living in one room but the bills are still unaffordable."
The resident, who pays a little over £1,300 a month in rent, said their utility bills went from £180 in December to £1224 in February - almost seven times more. They described the situation as ‘spiralling out of control’.
“The new meter suggests far higher rates of usage than the old one despite me turning down my thermostat,” they said. “In the first ten days, the new meter suggested the same usage as the previous month despite that including some of the coldest sub zero weather on record.
“I complained about my January bill as it suggested a usage in one month as high as the total for the last seven months. Switch2 haven't replied to that but merely chased up the bill and I paid part of it in protest.
“The new meter even indicates usage when everything's off and I recorded it billing me for 11kW of usage during 11 hours when the heating was switched off altogether.”
They added: “I don't know what to do. The energy bills here are as much as the rent and people just aren’t prepared for that.”
'I took the risk with my life because I'm fed up of being cold'
In response to the 'astronomical' bills, the tenant, who recently underwent a major operation, said they had stopped taking blood-thinners as it made them feel colder. They said they felt it was the only way they could cut down on the rising costs.
“I was feeling the cold a lot more because of the blood-thinners so I realised that if I stopped taking them, I would feel a bit warmer,” they explained.
“The risk to my health as a result of not taking the blood-thinning medication would have been deep vein thrombosis, which could have led to a stroke. It is potentially fatal but luckily I didn't get one.
"I stopped taking them a week early in a four-week course but I took the risk with my life because I’m fed up with being cold. I was concerned that if I turned the heating on, I might not be able to pay the bills and rent.
"With the current situation I am living in one room but the bills are still unaffordable. Certainly this was the case until December and the place was very warm. I think the current high bills have encouraged people to turn their heating off or down which makes it almost impossible to heat my apartment even if I was to pay £2-3k a month.
One tenant, who has lived in the building for seven years, says their rent is just over £1,200 a month. “Everyone’s got to the end of their tether,” they explained. “It’s a nice place to live, they’re nice apartments. It’s just a shame the bills are driving people out.”
Another resident, in their 30s, said their bills have multiplied by six times since October.
“We are stuck with these 'one energy' suppliers and they are using it to slowly increase the bills,” they explained. “Originally it was 10p per kilowatt and now it’s almost 60p per kilowatt, it’s really hitting young families hard. We’ve been in touch with our energy supplier directly, but they haven’t offered up much support.
“I’m looking to move out now. I’m going to be paying more than what my rent costs, and I think that’s the case for most tenants. It’s unaffordable to live here.
“It’s been really stressful the last few months not knowing when the bills will increase, and we’ve heard they will be again soon. It’s also worrying to see that Switch 2 doesn't seem to care or want to come up with any resolutions. I contacted them last year during the first increase, but I didn’t receive a response.”
Another resident said the smart meters were causing people to receive wrong readings. “All of the bills are incredibly confusing and wrongly recorded,” they explained. “I had to ring them to amend my bill, and then they sent me another wrong bill again.
“They said they were installing the new tariff on January 9 but some tenants were charged before that on January 6. It’s just a headache and I feel we can’t trust them on anything.
“We were all told to install the new smart meters as it would more accurately record our usage but it just always seems way-off. We turned all our devices off one night and it was still ticking away.
“There was never any third-party to verify the accuracy or legitimacy of these meters. I feel they’ve used it as a way to overcharge us for energy consumption we have not even used.”
Tenants have said that the situation has now become so bad that a WhatsApp group for residents, with more than 100 members, is constantly filled with screenshots and complaints relating to the energy prices.
They say they are also waiting for Switch2 to assist them with a £400 discount as part of the Energy bill Support Scheme (EBBS) to help cover costs. Tenants said the provider has not yet applied the discount to their bills and hasn’t disclosed when this is expected to happen.
“We want to have a formal meeting with the property management, Urban Splash and Switch2 to discuss our concerns,” one tenant said.
“We had a meeting in December regarding the price rise but it was very much a matter of fact thing and just to outline that our prices were going up. They never really answered any of our questions.
“It’s not just problems with the energy that we’ve had - we had a broken lift for a month, a number of power outages, and a broken front door. They promote it as a prestigious building online but it feels far from it sometimes.”
A number of residents say they are either ignored or receive template responses when they try to speak to someone at the company.
“We have tried to call them but sometimes we have to wait an hour before they cut us off or point us in a different direction,” one resident said. “We’ve even tried emailing the CEO but we’ve got nowhere with that either.”
Sir Graham Brady, MP for Altrincham West, has also become involved in the concerns after multiple residents went to him for assistance. He wrote directly to Switch2 about the concerns relating to communication and the high charges.
Sir Graham told the M.E.N: "A number of residents from the Budenberg building have raised these substantial price rises from Switch2 with me, with other residents also complaining about a lack of response from Switch2 to legitimate complaints regarding these charges.
“I have written to the CEO of Switch2 urgently to raise these points and will continue to do what I can to assist affected residents.”
What Switch2 says
Switch2 said it 'fully understands' how the recent energy crisis is having an impact on residents, and will address each enquiry from residents individually.
The energy provider said a metering upgrade to replace broken meters had recently been undertaken at Budenberg, and would 'continue to investigate' any concerns surrounding this. It added that a new tariff for residents will be introduced on April 1.
"I fully understand that the recent energy tariff change has increased electricity and heating bills and is making this a very difficult time for the residents at Budenberg," Richard Harrison, CEO of Switch2 Energy, told the M.E.N.
"When the Budenberg energy contract came to an end in December 2022, the global energy crisis made it impossible for us to sustain the previous tariff position at Budenberg and we had to secure a new, short-term contract at a higher price.
"However, there will be a new tariff in place at Budenberg on 1st April 2023, which will have better rates. We will be holding a meeting with Budenberg residents very soon to discuss concerns and provide updates on our plans for the site.
"In addition, the Government’s failure to extend the same support to people on heat networks as to those with standard domestic gas and electricity services, during the global energy crisis has worsened the situation. After 6 months of waiting, the government has just announced that the EBSS £400 energy support payment is now available to customers with a private wire electricity arrangement – which includes residents at Budenberg.
"I am unable to comment on any individual customer circumstances. Customers who have contacted us directly will receive a response in a timely manner. We are investigating all resident concerns.
"There has been a metering upgrade at Budenberg to replace broken meters. As metering experts, we know it is very rare to experience problems with new meters, but we will continue to investigate for any residents who have raised concern.
"Due to the global energy crisis, we are receiving many more calls and emails than usual, meaning our response times are longer. However, every resident request will be addressed. We have also responded to Sir Graham Brady MP on this situation at Budenberg."
Urban Splash and Xenia both declined to comment.
What the Government says:
"Recently passed legislation ensures that heat network suppliers are obliged to pass on any savings they get to residents through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. If people think that their supplier has not passed on the saving in a ‘just and reasonable’ way, they can complain to the Energy Ombudsman.
"The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide £400 to around 900,000 households who are not supplied by a domestic electricity contract and who are unable to receive support automatically through the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS). Eligible households need to complete a short online application form via the GOV.UK webpage which launched on February 27."
The government said it has committed to regulating the heat networks market through the Energy Security Bill, working with Ofgem as regulator.
A spokesperson added: "We know this is a difficult time for families, which is why the Government has covered around half of the typical household’s energy bill this winter.
“Heat network customers have been receiving support through our Energy Bill Relief Scheme and an extra £400 is available to help, in addition to targeted support for vulnerable households such as £900 for those receiving means-tested benefits.”
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