Switch2 Bills
Heeha
bills for the City House.
from Caroline Stewart <caroline...@switch2.com>
to
cc Jan Watterson <Jan.Wa...@switch2.com>
date 25 February 2010 17:34
subject RE:
Dear Mr ...
Further to your email of 18th February, I feel I must point out that
Switch2 have been appointed by Fairview New Homes to manage a
maintenance and administration contract on a communal energy scheme
and this falls outside of any charges that me be levied in your
Service Charge which are subject to terms and conditions under the
Landlords & Tenants Act.
As such Switch2 are not required to prepare budgets and balance sheets
which would cover normal landlord activities such as upkeep of
communal areas, buildings insurance, window cleaning etc.
The provision of communal energy to private developments is a
relatively new concept in the UK although it is widely practiced in
Northern Europe. Current planning regulations and policies set by the
Greater London Authority have necessitated the introduction of a
communal energy system at City House. Whilst we accept that a monopoly
situation has arisen, we are operating within OFGEM regulations and
are able to demonstrate to our client that our charges are not
unreasonable when based over the full contract term.
Our billing, administration and dwelling maintenance charge operates
in the same manner as a utility standing charge such as that charged
by the likes of EON, EDF, British Gas, Thames Water to name a few and
the maintenance is similar to a British Gas System 100 charge. In the
case of the maintenance fee it is acting as an insurance policy for
your own peace of mind. If you ever have to call on our services then
you will not have to pay any additional charges. In arriving at our
charging structure we have had to base this over a 20 year contract.
Naturally equipment will fail over time but you will be safe in the
knowledge that the risk of additional charges rests with the service
provider.
Regarding the plant room activities, you appear to assume that there
is only a CHP engine in situ, ignoring all other plant such as the gas
boiler, valves, controls and booster sets, electrical controls,
storage vessel, distribution pipe work and rising mains and ongoing
plant operation and maintenance including water treatment.
A significant amount of time was spent negotiating the contract with
Fairview New Homes and we were able to satisfy our client that the
charging structures were fair and equitable when based against a
basket of alternative service providers performing a comparable level
of activities over the contract life. As such we believe that we are
not obliged to justify our charges in any further detail than that
already provided to you.
Switch2 are not prepared to go into any further level of detail
regarding the build up of our charge as we believe that we have been
more than clear with you on what is covered within the charges levied
on your account. A simple check against individual utility charges on
a like for like basis should draw you to the same conclusion.
Regards,
Caroline Stewart
Billing Services Manager
Switch2 Energy Solutions Limited, High Mill, Cullingworth, Bradford.
BD13 5HA UK
Registered in England No: 2409803
E-mail: caroline...@switch2.com
www.switch2.com
Registered office: ENER-G House, Daniel Adamson Road, Manchester, M50
1DT UK
ENER•G – Efficient Energy Solutions
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
From:
Sent: 18 February 2010 15:04
To: Caroline Stewart
Cc: Jan Watterson
Subject: Re:
Dear Caroline,
Thank you for your explanation. I have read the attached FAQs and
Handbook while I was in the process of contract so I had no issue on
the scheme.
I also expected low cost of maintenance as well as energy cost because
you are the sole management company to maintain the equipments and
negotiate with energy suppliers on behalf of us.
Although you provide me the details of the standing charge by
activity, this is same information I had from Jan on 4th February.
My initial question was how each activity cost has been calculated.
The reason for the request is to explain to myself and our tenants in
the other flat that the charges are much more expensive than utility
usage cost and my calculation as below:
I researched your company and backgrounds of CHP for more
understanding.
From your website, it said your Mini CIU which manufactured reputable
Scandinavian maker (Assuming Alfagy’s CHP Cogeneration) and tested ISO
9001 offers robust and high performance. (1)
It sounds the unit itself is high quality so I assume there will be
less maintenance and operating cost than normal CHP units in the
market. (2~4)
Based on your information, sum of Plant Operation & Maintenance
charges for Heat, Electricity and Water charge is £232.88 per year.
This means that Switch2 charges around £73,823 per year for the
operation & maintenance to all resident units in the City House.
Jan responded my inquiry on 5th February that the account is for plant
operation & maintenance including allowance for equipment replacement
which will be accumulated for capital expenditure when it is required,
so the charge will not be refunded.
Based on my research, you may be able to replace the engine itself
within five years with this amount which I believe you don’t have to.
The source quoted also typical maintenance costs for the CIU is £0.005
~ £0.015/KWh depending on O&M. (5)
If I take this for my energy usage in January (21/12/09 – 26/01/10),
the Operation & Maintenance costs would be minimum £3.98 ~ maximum
£11.94.
Based on this calculation, annual charge will be no more than £143.28.
Therefore I feel I have been overcharged £89.60 per annum.
I will not touch Scheme Management & Administration charge at this
moment although the administration charge seems to be double counted
within Billing, Admin and Dwelling Maintenance.
According to your breakdown table, it is also difficult to understand
that Billing, Admin and Dwelling Maintenance charge is the biggest
portion of the standing charge. (42%)
In response from Jan on 5th February, this cost includes for meter
maintenance and replacement includes the cost of any service engineer
visits.
I believe, however, the meters are installed in each dwelling, so the
cost of visit, maintenance and replacement should be charged
individually when the faults are found.
You may also claim that meter are reading daily for accurate billing,
so the charge can be higher for such activities.
However, the meter is fully automatic system and it populates accurate
information electronically as you advertised. If there is a suspect,
you need to arrange visit and investigate first, then it should be
chargeable to the leaseholder unless technical failure as the system
is outsourced and designed from your contractor.
Therefore if there is cost of meter reading for keeping accuracy and
technical/ fraud investigation should be added value for the service
as you are the sole supplier, not passed the costs to leaseholders.
The bill is also issued once per month, not daily. It does not
convince me and my tenants that daily meter reading is necessary and
charged for the accuracy with same reason above.
I believe my explanation and requests above are reasonable as you are
the sole supplier of the apartment. If I have any choices such as
British Gas and EDF, or other management company, I would not to
bother to do this so. However, you have responsibility as the
nominated company and signed for to provide details equally.
Therefore, to avoid duplication of inquiries and answers with same
information in the future, here is my summary of request:
- Plant Operation & Maintenance charges for Heat, Electricity
and Water charge
n I believe that operation & maintenance charge should be
calculated accurately and clearly informed to the leaseholders as they
are bill payers.
n Also replacing unit allowance also needs to be informed to
the leaseholders with explanation how much the balance is available
and how much the fund will be required if it has to be replaced in the
future.
n Therefore accumulate fund will be able to lower the charge
from time to time.
n Please provide your calculation for £232.88 with details
versus mine £143.28 (maximum).
n Please issue budget and balance sheet reports, and share
with leaseholders.
- Billing, Admin and Dwelling Maintenance charge
n I believe the meters are installed in each dwelling so the
charges should be counted for each account.
n As such, the cost of maintaining the meters are also be
individual and calculated by the cost of service basis.
n Meter readings should be conducted monthly basis in line
with monthly billing or basis on request for reading.
n Cost of meter readings for your accuracy and technical
investigation should not be passed to leaseholders.
n Please provide your calculation of the cost £241.87 with
details.
I trust that this information is enough for my requests and I look
forward to hearing from you soon with the details which make all of us
to trust all your activities as the sole management company of City
House.
Regards,
References
1. http://www.switch2.com/PDF/CIU_Mini_A3_Feb_08.pdf
3. http://www.kvmltd.com/index.html
4. http://www.microchap.info/internal_combustion_engines.htm
5. http://alfagy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Itemid=42
On 15 February 2010 18:02, Caroline Stewart
<caroline...@switch2.com> wrote:
Dear Mr ...
Please see attached some FAQ and a Customer Handbook that you may find
useful and assist you to familiarise yourself with the system
installed in this development.
As you may be aware, because of the London Green Strategy, the only
way to achieve planning permission and this other developments is to
have renewable energies and/or reduce carbon emissions. In order to
achieve this at City House, a communal heating system and a private
wire network for electricity were installed. All of this equipment,
from the main plant room to the interface unit within your property,
must be maintained in order to maximise the efficiency of the scheme
and keep the costs to the end user as low as possible.
With regard to your standing charge you must appreciate that you have
bought a property that has a communal heating system that supplied
your heat and your hot water. In addition to this the electricity is
generated and distributed on a site-wide network and both this and the
heating system requires maintenance, both responsive and preventative,
to ensure minimum disruption to your supplies.
The cold water is also supplied to a bulk main meter and then
distributed around the site to your property and measured at the water
meter within your apartment.
Your standing charge therefore covers the maintenance of the heating
infrastructure, renewal of the components within the infrastructure
reducing the likelihood we need to come to you for additional money.
If you have had a boiler in your own property, you would either have
to take out a service contract, for example the British Gas Homecare
100 service, but this does not include parts and labour nor the cost
of replacing the boiler or have to pay for this as you go along. The
other element that is included in the maintenance element of our
standing charges is the replacement of the heating structure
equipment, again including the part within your property.
The other element you are querying is the billing, administration and
scheme management. This is the equivalent to the meter operations and
data collection management charges from a normal utility. This is
usually hidden by calling to a standing charge, or allowing you to
have the first units used at a lower rate. It covers the cost of
Switch2 billing administration, the financial management of the
scheme, data collection and data validation using an automatic meter
reading system to ensure accurate billing.
The standing charge is split as 46% for the billing and
administration, dwelling internal maintenance and scheme management;
the remaining covering the maintenance and running of the plant and
equipment including a replacement fund for this and the dwelling
internals in relation to the heating infrastructure.
Standing Charge by Activity
Plant Operation & Maintenance: Heat & Electricity
£ 191.86
36%
Sinking Fund
£ 56.12
11%
Plant Operation & Maintenance: Water Services
£ 41.02
8%
Charged as your Water Standing Charge
Scheme Management & Administration
£ 20.69
4%
Billing, Admin and Dwelling Maintenance
£ 221.18
42%
Total
£ 530.87
Daily SC
£ 1.34
I trust this answers your query.
Regards,
Caroline Stewart
Billing Services Manager
Switch2 Energy Solutions Limited, High Mill, Cullingworth, Bradford.
BD13 5HA UK
Registered in England No: 2409803
E-mail: caroline...@switch2.com
www.switch2.com
Registered office: ENER-G House, Daniel Adamson Road, Manchester, M50
1DT UK
ENER•G – Efficient Energy Solutions
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
- Message End -
Heeha
I would like to discuss about bills from Switch2 who charges
exceptionally high maintenance charges and standing charges to the
residents without details.
I requested details of the charges how they built up, but they did not
come to me rather than repeating similar contents of brochure.
They claimed that it is not their responsibility to provide details,
and we have to pay whatever they quote becasue they spent significant
amount of time to get the contract from Fairview.
It sounds Switch2 had time to get the contract, but has no time to
explain more with bill payer even if the administration charge is
already included in the bill.
I think this is not fair to us as a bill payer. We have right to ask
the details, and Switch2 has responsibility to provide all the
requested details related to bills as a sole management company.
I'd like to hear your opinion regarding their responses.
On 25 Feb, 22:48, Heeha <newton...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> This is recent response from Switch2 regarding inquiries of energy
> bills for the City House.
>
> from Caroline Stewart <caroline.stew...@switch2.com>
> to
> cc Jan Watterson <Jan.Watter...@switch2.com>
> E-mail: caroline.stew...@switch2.comwww.switch2.com
> 5.http://alfagy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18&Ite...
>
> On 15 February 2010 18:02, Caroline Stewart
>
> E-mail: caroline.stew...@switch2.comwww.switch2.com
Wing
They seemed to fob you off by listing all the stuff we're paying for.
I could accept that there's a lot of fancy equipment in the building.
But the thing that gets me is that we all still feel like we're being
ripped off. That's the bottom line. Switch2 says that they're aware
of a "monopoly situation... " and are ".. operating within the OFGEM
regulations".
I would rather hear it from OFGEM that the charges to us are fair.
I'm not sure how far other people are willing to take this but if
OFGEM said that the charges and charging structure brought upon us are
fair, then I would drop it and accept that we live in an extortionate
setup.
If I get any information from OFGEM, I'll post it here.
> ...
>
> read more »
Heeha
better understanding how we deal with this.
- Bill details : By law, Landlord, in this case Switch2 as they were
appointed by Fairview, must provide details of service charge to
leaseholders. Their is also penalty if they fail to do so. Please see
the link for further information which covers our case.
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=14
- Service charge structure : Based on the details provided by Switch2
or Fairview, leaseholders have right to request investigation of
reasonableness and fairness of the bills. By the law, credit/refund
for overcharges should be available which Switch2 rejected to do so.
- Monopolistic situation : This may need to report to OFGEM as you
mentioned, but I feel that it will be the action point when Fairview
or Switch2 reject our request to provide bill details, and reduce/
refund our payment again. This is just to prove how unfair they are.
So OFGEM may order to revise our contract so we can have better chance
to change the monopolistic situation.
Please let me know what you think.
I will also post the feedback from Fairview/Switch2 if any.
> ...
>
> read more »
Wing
1. The breakdown of the standing charge.
2. Is that breakdown a fair charge.
I went to the OFGEM website and discovered that they don't deal
directly with consumers any more. I was directed to another body
called "Consumer Direct" which seems to be the one stop shop for all
kinds of consumer complaints.
I phoned Consumer Direct" and asked how we can find out if the price
we pay is fair. Here's a summary of what the advisor said.
Unit Price
There is something called a maximum resale price. This is the price
set by the regulator (OFGEM) that the resale price from Switch2 cannot
exceed. If the price per unit charged by Switch does exceed, then we
should complain, in writing, to Switch2 by presenting them with the
relevant evidence. I was told that we can escalate this to regulator
if we fail at the first hurdle. The annoying thing is that I could
not find anywhere what the maximum resale price actually is. I'll try
again later.
Standing Charge
As Heena calculated, Switch2 seemed to have put on 42% administrative
charge. The advisor was unable to give me any useful advice regarding
the standing charge because Switch2 are a third party (they are not
the energy supplier themselves). In essence, the reseller can charge
us whatever they like here - to my horror. They said that the best
place to get advice regarding the fairness of the standing charge was
to get it from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Argh. What a pain.
> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Heeha
We are not very far as far as I understand.
I have copied you on my reply to Switch2 so you will see my further
actions.
Please spread the words to your neighbors we may need support from
them. ;)
I will post e-mail if I have reply from Switch2 for my response.
Kind regards,
Juha
> ...
>
> read more »
Heeha
Please see my recent response to Switch2. I have forwarded these
conversation to Fairview to address the issue.
to Caroline Stewart <caroline...@switch2.com>
cc Jan Watterson <Jan.Wa...@switch2.com>
date 8 March 2010 13:42
subject Re: 0028CITH0179
Dear Caroline,
In response to your e-mail of 25th February, I have clearer direction
for further actions.
You have rejected my requests again which I asked you to provide
further details of service charge structure. I have impression that
you had spent significant time for getting contract from your client,
Fairview, and act on behalf of their representative, but do not have
enough time to deal with my request even though this is still levied
in the bill. Here is the reason why you must provide details.
I believe that the e-mail you sent me on 15th February was the summary
of the standing charge. Under section 22 of the Landlord and Tenant
Act 1985, I, as a leaseholder, have right to inspect documents
relating to my service charge as a follow-up to provide more detail on
the summary. As you mentioned that Switch2 has been appointed by
Fairview New Homes for the maintenance, you must provide me the
details of the charge.
I regret to hear from you that the e-mail you sent me seemed to be the
final response. According to the Leasehold Reform Act 1993, failure to
provide or allow access to further information of the summary, you may
commit a summary offence on conviction and are liable for a fine of up
to £2,500. You still need to provide the details of course.
As you continuously rejected my inquiry, I will ask the Landlord,
Fairview to inspect the accounts, receipts and any other documents
relevant to the service charge information in the summary. I will
also report this to local housing authority to investigate your
rejection whether it has committed the summary offence, and ask you to
provide details.
In the reasonableness of the standing charges, your argument on 25th
February is conflicting from your response on 15th February. There is
no point you to claim without providing details such charges because
as you mentioned on 15th February, the costs of maintenance is hidden
in the standing charges.
Regarding the Plant Operation & Maintenance charges for Heat,
Electricity and Water charge, I am not talking about plant room
activities. If you provide the details, I would not have maiden the
assumption. I have claimed that the maintenance costs for the CIU is
£0.005 ~ £0.015/KWh depending on O&M. To be fair, I took the maximum
operation costs to calculate the reasonable costs of operation and
maintenance because the complexity of system includes related
equipments and operation activities which you mentioned, even though
it will be gradually depreciated from time to time.
According to the Housing Act 1996, Landlord must provide details of
reasonableness of the charges to the leaseholders. Further, your
administration charge cannot be made to the LVT without agree or admit
by the leaseholder based on the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act
2002. It is clear that your charges do not meet any criteria above.
The charges are not reasonable at all because you are charging 46% of
standing charge for the Billing, Admin and Dwelling Maintenance and
Scheme Management & Administration which are clearly fail to deliver
the performance.
I will bring your responses to tenants meeting to arrange further
investigation from GLA Local Housing Authority and Consumer Direct.
As such, I have an impression that you are abusing monopolistic
situation to manage this dwelling to distribute costs to maximize
resale price rather deliver best performance and cost efficient
services. You must appreciate that you have been appointed as a sole
management company by Fairview, and we agreed to purchase the property
because we believed that you would provide best performance, economic
services and more fair service. However, you are expanding unnecessary
arguments which you could simply diminish the claims at the beginning
of this inquiry.
Regards,
> ...
>
> read more »
dazza
got my support in it all , if you need anything please just ask
On 17 Mar, 21:17, Heeha <newton...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
> Please see my recent response to Switch2. I have forwarded these
> conversation to Fairview to address the issue.
>
> to Caroline Stewart <caroline.stew...@switch2.com>
Heeha
For your update, I have called Fairview to check progress regarding my
inquires of standing charges from Switch2. Apparently the person whom
I contacted has passed the issues to their legal team and solicitor so
they are currently under review.
I will share with you as soon as I receive any feedback.
Kind regards,
> ...
>
> read more »
Asif Yusuf
The reason I am asking is we are having issues with this company,
Would appreciate your help