Cranbrook homes have no heating

MP criticises E.ON

East Devon’s MP has slammed an energy firm’s response after hearing many homes across Cranbrook have been left without heating for days.

E.ON, which supplies the whole town through a district network, says it is aware of “a number of customers” reporting issues with their heating and hot water supplies and that engineers have been working “around the clock” to fix them.

But the town’s Conservative MP, Simon Jupp, has described the company’s current service and communication with residents as “woefully inadequate.”

In an open letter to E.ON UK’s chief executive Michael Lewis, Mr Jupp quoted a number of residents who had got in touch with him, with one reportedly saying: “On one call I was told to ‘sit tight and wrap up warm’. I’m now furious with the situation. I’ve had no communication at all from E.ON apart from when I have called them.”

Another is quoted as saying: “Way too cold even with the heating! Feeling bad for those still chasing E.ON. Mine is working on and off but had 4 visits over four days and it’s still not right. I have to keep turning it right down so it gets cold and then increase it a degree at a time!”

In his letter, Mr Jupp said Cranbrook residents “deserve so much better,” adding: “I would like to request that you make every effort to sort this mess out as an urgent priority given cold temperatures are forecast to continue this week; and provide affected households with compensation.”

Rather than conventional boilers in each property, Cranbrook’s homes are heated by a ‘district heating scheme’ based half a mile away. It’s run solely by E.ON as part of an agreement which is in place until 2090.

In response, a company spokesperson said of the problems reported: “This is not an issue with the network itself, the problem stems from an issue with valves in the heat interface units in some customer homes, and this disrupts the hot water flow from the network into individual properties.

“Our priority is to return heat to customers as quickly as possible and engineers have been working around the clock to visit customers and reset or replace valves that have failed. We are prioritising vulnerable customers and redeploying engineers from other E.ON sites in support.

“We apologise to customers and we’re making portable heaters available for their use while our engineers complete the works. All affected customers will be given compensation as part of our service guarantees.”