A CHARGE of £1,100 a year for council house tenants to use “inefficient” boilers is excessive and unfair, the authority has admitted.

Last month the Guardian reported how residents living alone in flats on Waltham Abbey's Ninefields estate were furious at new £22-a-week fees for devices they had been told were in need of being replaced.

Now Epping Forest District Council appears to have launched a climb-down, with councillors set to meet next Monday (July 19) to discuss proposals to cut the charge to £16.69p a week after acknowledging that the cost is “disproportionate and excessive”.

But tenants have said the reduction does not go far enough, and have questioned why the council did not consider the charges to be “excessive” when they were first introduced back in April.

Ian Smith, 49, of Read Court in Abbotts Drive, said: “£16 is still too much. I know someone that's got a three bedroom house and they pay £10 a week for their hot water.

“I have an electric shower like most people here and an electric cooker so I only use the hot water for washing up and having the radiator on in the winter.

“I think they're trying to sweeten us up a little bit.”

Neighbour Lawson Crerar, 50, said he had written to the council but that they had rejected his complaint only weeks ago.

He added: “We've been paying £22 a week for one tap.

The only other use for my boiler is my radiator for a maximum of three or four months a year. It's madness, absolute madness.

“In my opinion £16 is still too much, something like £11 would be more reasonable.”

The council is currently in the process of replacing its entire stock of boilers, and has promised to install new ones in Read Court within the next two years.

The proposed cut in boiler charges, which will apply to 216 one-bedroom properties on the estate, will cost the authority £57,000 if it is approved by councillors.

A spokesman for Epping Forest District Council said: "We don't set the energy costs. We administer the bills provided by the energy company.

"Energy costs have gone up and the bills to tenants have gone up in consequence. The council keeps none of the money.

"However, we are trying to help our tenants and leasholders cut their energy bills by installing new boilers. We are trying to do this as quickly as possible but some residents will have to wait longer than others.

"We recognise how hard it is for some of our tenants and leaseholders to meet the increased energy costs so we are asking councillors to consider introducing a temporary subsidy to help those people who will have to wait a little longer for their new boilers.

"The difference between the level of last year's bill and this, roughly £57,000 across the properties involved, would be met by the Council."