RESIDENTS at a flagship York housing development are angry after again losing their heating supplies - while also facing a hike in their heating bills.

Householders at Derwenthorpe have complained that the eco-friendly centralised system, which uses a biomass boiler to deliver heating and hot water to their homes, has continued to break down as winter draws in.

One resident contacted The Press to say the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust's 'dream' development was becoming a 'nightmare,' with some residents having experienced two weeks without heating and hot water.

She said: "The Eco system breaks down on average once every three months, and yet homeowners have been asked to increase their payments; in some cases this payment represents over 100 per cent more than the original bill."

Residents also vented their anger on Derwenthorpe's Facebook page. One called for a public meeting at which it could be explained why the system was so susceptible to continuous faults.

Another posted: "This situation is now beyond a joke and no longer laughable, as this has happened over approx 50 times now."

John Hocking, executive director at the Trust, said an engineer from system operators Dalkia had attended within 90 minutes of a fault being reported on a Sunday and, when he left the site, the system was operational.

"Further reports of no hot water were received the following day and a Dalkia engineer attended site at 8am," he said. "The nature of this fault, within the control system, meant that significant diagnostic works were required to identify the fault, and engineers worked throughout the day to resolve the problem, which was done by 4pm."

He said that as part of a continual review of the scheme, the required level of standing charge to be charged to customers had been assessed in order to guarantee low carbon, low cost energy in the long term.

"We have written to residents to inform them of the contribution they are required to make through a standing charge that will be charged at £350 a year, and covers all maintenance, repair and replacement of plant and equipment."

He said that even with the price increases, a Derwenthorpe home's heating consumption was about 50 per cent less than a typical gas bill for the average home, leaving residents saving on energy bills while also reducing their environmental impact.