Fault had left mother-of-four without any heating for a year

Due to a faulty heating system, Monica Thomas from Oxford,a mother-of-four says she and her family have been without heating for a year. Monica who is 25 years old and lives in Salesian Gardens in Cowley with her four children aged 8, 5, 4 and 2, in a three-storey home. According to Ms Thomas their heating and hot water system has not been working since January last year and it wasn’t the first time she had experienced any problems with heating her home. The mum, who works as a shop assistant part-time, said, ““I have to put the kids in the shower sometimes when there is no hot water, because I can’t boil the kettle all the time. They think I am giving them cold showers because they are being naughty. It is a four-bedroom house but the kids have to sleep together in the smallest room or they would be too cold. I have tried and tried to sort this out, but it feels like it will be like this forever.”

In March 2010, Ms Thomas moved into the A2Dominion-owned house, where the problems first arose with the NIBE heating system that was installed. In September 2012, Angela Rippon reported in the BBC’s Rip Off Britain programme, which the NIBE heating system was featured in meant that users were suffering extraordinarily high energy bills. However rejected all views expressed on the programme.

The neighbour said: “When we moved in the heating wasn’t working properly. We were using about £50 a day for heating – and to add insult to injury it was not even working. My heating is still not fixed properly. The engineers are out to my house about once a week. They need to take full responsibility and sort it out.”

A2Dominion’s director of property services, David Lingeman, said the company would look at putting an “action plan” in place to support Ms Thomas. He said: “In 2011, we recognised an issue with the heating system and in four of the four-bedroom properties replaced it with a domestic gas heating system. At this time, we also made some alterations to the way the system had been installed in smaller properties to ensure it worked correctly. We are aware of Ms Thomas’s current situation and have been making every effort to offer her assistance.”

Matthew Solesbury, a spokesman for the company added: “Some residents at the scheme have been compensated for high energy bills accrued from when the previous energy system was in place. If Ms Thomas believes she may qualify for compensation, A2Dominon will happily look into her claim.”