Glasgow families hit with £20,000 of debt after 'faulty' boilers send bills soaring

Families in Glasgow say they were plunged into £20,000 of debt by a “faulty” heating system that left them paying more than £300 a month to keep their homes warm.

Residents of a housing block in the Southside of the city claim years of sky-high electricity bills were caused by defective boilers that repeatedly broke down while consuming huge amounts of power.

Supported by the tenants’ union Living Rent, households at 91 Spean Street protested outside the offices of Cathcart and District Housing Association, demanding answers and calling for their debts to be written off.

Tenants at the block, many of them low-income families with primary school-aged children, say residents accumulated around £20,000 of energy debt between them after moving into the development in 2020.

They claim monthly electricity bills regularly reached between £200 and £300 despite efforts to cut consumption, while residents also reported fluctuating water temperatures, pressure drops and repeated breakdowns.

Maxine, a tenant at Spean Street, said: “We know there’s been energy issues for everybody but this is just beyond that.

“We have since come to believe that the boilers installed have been insufficient. They don’t support our heating systems.

“Therefore, there has been mass overconsumption. Between three of the tenants alone, we are in over £20,000 of debt.

“Obviously, if the majority of your budget is going towards electricity, other things suffer. Even with massive payments each month, it’s still not covering the bills.

“Our bills are over £300 a month all year round and that doesn’t correlate with the amount of electricity you’re using and the size of flat that they are.

“Everyone in that building has sky-high bills and it makes no sense.”

Residents say they sought help from independent energy advisers in an attempt to understand why costs were so high, but struggled to get clear answers about the electric boiler system installed in the properties.

Since June, the housing association has replaced all of the boilers in the building, with the final installation completed earlier this month.

Tenants claim the new systems have already reduced energy consumption and lowered bills, reinforcing their belief that the original boilers were not operating efficiently.

Fellow resident Sar Gavin said: “It’s such a horrible, depressing feeling. It affects your wellbeing and other aspects of life and when you’re trying to manage a chronic illness as well, it’s just been too much. It’s simply unfair and unjust.

“We would like Cathcart Housing Association to wipe the debt. We have energy providers that are willing to work with them, we just need them to respond. We would like to work together to find a solution for this.”

A spokesperson for Cathcart and District Housing Association said: “We have received a hand-delivered letter from Living Rent, which we will respond to in due course.

“We have engaged with the tenants and Living Rent previously on the matter and will continue to do so.”