CHaP/Ignis Energy meeting

[thejudd]

ROFL I see that they have extendid the deadline lol and that everyone will have a meter installed if they use it or not so everyone can have the sweetner of £100 credit/£50 cash has anyone asked Ignis (a company with no money) where they intend to get the cash from or are they hoping that everyone will take the £100 credit option

[dozy]

ROFL I see that they have extendid the deadline lol and that everyone will have a meter installed if they use it or not so everyone can have the sweetner of £100 credit/£50 cash has anyone asked Ignis (a company with no money) where they intend to get the cash from or are they hoping that everyone will take the £100 credit option

If it walks like a DUCK and quacks like a DUCK it must be a CON .Who said the Council had learned a lesson,it must have been a class in how to become an expert in HOODWINKING and CARPETBAGING...Shame on you Highland Council next they will be changing to a new motto, it could be "we like to swindle taxpayers" .I'll not be surprized if they started using it on thier letterheads at least we could say there's some truth in it .. I see in the local rag a new lot are lining up for your votes "birds of a feather flock together" need i say more..

[dozy]

Whats the lastest on the CHaP /Ignis/Council affair ..

By the way the word "SWINDLE": a confidence trick,akind of fraud,a ruse ,to defraud of money or property.

[xva]

Whats the lastest on the CHaP /Ignis/Council....

The latest is this:

- my insider source in the Council tells me that as there is no hope of Ignis getting the funding they need on their own, that the Council are going to use the funding earmarked to extend the heating system to the High School as a guarantee to Ignis's bank by agreeing to fund the extension in Ignis's name.

- I was at a meeting in Edinburgh last week at which one of the unsuccessful bidders is preparing a legal challenge to the Council's decision to select Ignis, and so force a retendering.

- the Chief Executive of Highland Council is investigating a formal complaint against Steve Barron.

[thejudd]

The plot thinkens....... if the council are having to use "earmarked funds" then that just goes to prove that Ignis are not financially viable and that the council have known this from the start. I so hope the challenge is successful.

[thejudd]

OMG they must be getting really really desparate I have now had yet another copy of the Ingis contract to sign lol thats 3 I have had..... this is getting laughable .......... if only there was someting to laugh about

[dozy]

OMG they must be getting really really desparate I have now had yet another copy of the Ingis contract to sign lol thats 3 I have had..... this is getting laughable .......... if only there was someting to laugh about

Ingis should rename themselves "Titanic Energy " that was another one that never completed it first and only contract .I bet there's a good few folk the wished they had never signed up to be onboard that one .

[thejudd]

The council are now phoning people to ask why they haven't signed their contract lol

[Venture]

It seems they now also have someone going round the houses with letters telling them that they must sign up by the 15th. If they decide to continue with the supply without signing they will be charged a much higher rate and will not qualify for the "free" £100. What's worse is that they are also telling tenants who decide they do not want this form of heating that there is a possibility that the housing association they are with will evict them if they don't agree to go ahead and sign. Some of the area covered includes very vulnerable people and using scare tactics like this is totally out of order.

[sinclairbay]

It seems they now also have someone going round the houses with letters telling them that they must sign up by the 15th. If they decide to continue with the supply without signing they will be charged a much higher rate and will not qualify for the "free" £100. What's worse is that they are also telling tenants who decide they do not want this form of heating that there is a possibility that the housing association they are with will evict them if they don't agree to go ahead and sign. Some of the area covered includes very vulnerable people and using scare tactics like this is totally out of order.

That can't be legal is it?

[pmcd]

If such a letter existed, and a copy obtained, it would be very interesting to see what (in no particular order) John Thurso, the Daily Record, the Daily Mail, and the BBC might have to say about it. It would certainly get an airing in "Private Eye" in their "Rotten Boroughs" segment - were the allegation found to be true.

And if any local dignitary were to be reading this, it might be useful for him/her to consider being in the position of being party to this discussion, even by simple association with the Org., and thus having knowledge of this content, and then neither rebutting or supporting this accusation.

Very strange.......

[Venture]

The letter itself did not make reference to what I have stated about being evicted but the person who delivered the letter did. I can assure you that this is 100% true.

[thejudd]

sounds like they are getting really really desparate for "votes" I haven't had a phone call or a visit...... I'm feeling left out now lol

[xva]

I had a letter from the Council this week in which, amongst other things, they confirm that the contracts you've signed with Ignis are meaningless and worthless unless the Council formally awards the contract to them, and the only reason the Council supported them doing this was so that Ignis could try and get some money.

[Macwull]

So has every1 signed there contract with ignis now that the deadline has passed? we have signed our new amended contract as we feel the council may just close the doors on the scheme and we'l be paying more to heat the house with a possible electric alternative.

[thejudd]

if Ignis get the contract you will be paying much more then they are stating for your heating anyway, they are using national average energy usage figures for their costings and we all know that caithness is far from national average when it comes to the weather conditions........ you don't in all honesty think they are gonna keep the rates they are offering for long, you only have to see what the council are paying out for oil at the moment, and if Ignis get the contract they will have to run the oil fired boiler until the re-build the (new) generator. dozy stated in an earlier post that if Ignis get in people will be paying more like £20 to £25 a week for the heating

[dozy]

So has every1 signed there contract with ignis now that the deadline has passed? we have signed our new amended contract as we feel the council may just close the doors on the scheme and we'l be paying more to heat the house with a possible electric alternative.

With your house already having wet heating the only course left open to the council would be to put a gas boiler in .Now you have signed you are saving the council/ Ignis thousands and joined a system that has tied your hands for years to come .You still have a chance to withdrawn legally from any door step contract.I dont see the Council paying to rip out the radiators and pipework plus the cost of panel heats,it makes no sense but who knows.The bullying tactics being used is illegal and Ignis and the Council know this ,if i was you i would call in the Police and get them charged.
The whole Council/Ignis contract stinks to high heaven and something should be done..

[Macwull]

With your house already having wet heating the only course left open to the council would be to put a gas boiler in.

Sorry i meant Economy 10 Wet Electric with a 12kw boiler. This to me would be the cheapest option in terms of installation costs for the Highland Council. I currently do not have gas outside my house and with the council tenants the council will be more keen to install something with less maintenance. An gas boiler needs a yearly service.

Aren't my hands tied already. I either get ignis in or the council closes the scheme and im given an alternative system?

[thejudd]

Has anyone heard anything about the legal challenge yet

[xva]

Has anyone heard anything about the legal challenge yet

Currently waiting for the Council to respond to another round of awkward questions first. Got to wait the usual 20 days they are allowed under FoI requests (and lost a week when they claimed again that they never got the initial correspondence). The first time that questions were put to the Council they stalled by claiming they couldn't discuss due to negotiations....then of course had their hand forced a few days later when the Groat contacted them and asked the same things. This ultimately forced Steve Barron to write his infamous letter to the Groat. In the meantime, here are the questions currently being asked of Steve Barron of the Council. Will post reply when received.

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1 - Could you clarify how Ignis Energy Ltd met the published tender criteria in order to be selected as preferred bidder given that as a company they fulfilled neither of the qualification criteria namely "1) Demonstrate they have the relevant experience to design, build, operate, manage, maintain and administrate a district heating scheme and 2) that they have the financial resources to invest in the initial scheme and to maintain delivery of a community heating scheme for a period of 25 years..." ? The information you provided in your letter to the John O'Groat seems to confirm that Ignis Energy Ltd had not done this work before (criteria number 1), and had no funding (criteria number 2).

2 - You indicated in your letter to the John O'Groat Journal that Ignis Energy Ltd "...are supported by Ludgate Environmental Fund..". Can you confirm what you mean by "supported"? I have checked with Ludgate Environment Fund and they have confirmed that Ignis Energy Ltd is not a company in which they invest. Therefore what 'support' was in place to Ignis Energy Ltd that you considered at the time of the announcement of preferred bidder on 22nd December 2010 ?

3 - You also indicate in your letter to the John O'Groat Journal that Craig Ibbetson and John Chappell are key individuals to awarding the contract to Ignis Energy Ltd. However, at the time of the announcement of preferred bidder on 22nd December 2010, neither of these people were officers of the company - they had their appointments terminated in April 2010. Can you therefore confirm what relevant experience Ignis Energy Ltd had at the time of announcing them as preferred bidder in the absence of these seemingly key individuals ?

4 - During the week of 11th April 2011 canvassers came to the door of a number, if not all, of the householders connected to the scheme with the aim of getting them to sign the contract. Can you please inform us:
a) was the Council aware of this exercise
b) who did these canvassers represent
c) who were they employed by
d) did the Council agree to this approach
e) who paid for this exercise
f) why some householders were told that if they did not sign up to the new contract by the end of the week that their Housing Association landlord would consider evicting them ?

5 - In March 2011 a planning application was made by Craig Ibbetson to extend a district heating system in Wick. Can you confirm:
a) is this application to extend the CHaP system
b) why this application is being considered in the name of someone who does not own or operate the existing system
c) why, as reported in the Caithness Courier quoting a spokesman for Highland Council's planning office in Wick, that this application will be dealt with under delegated powers rather than go before a committee ?

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