Camden has several communal systems across the borough providing heating, hot water or cooking gas to about 15,000 properties.
If your property is connected of one of our communal systems, you are required to pay your share of the cost of maintaining the system as well as the heat or gas supplied.
Where we supply gas from our network to individual boilers, you are responsible for maintenance and repairs to the boiler within your property.
What heating, hot water and gas charges include
The elements that may be included in your service charge are:
- Fuel (gas) is the cost of supplying gas to each communal system
- Maintenance contract to cover planned preventative maintenance to the system which reduces the chance of breakdowns and major repairs or replacement
- Boiler insurance covers the costs of the statutory boiler inspections as well as an insurance premium
- Remote monitoring enables us to monitor efficiency levels and highlight any problems that may occur in boiler houses
- Gas mains repairs cover the 24 hours, 7 days per week emergency response service and repairs to gas infrastructure serving Camden’s properties
- Electricity consumption associated with the boiler and includes usage for pumps, boilers, pressurisation units and lighting in the boiler rooms
- Fire protection covers the carrying out of the planned preventative maintenance to fire protection installations and appliances
- Repairs carried out by our Mechanical and Electrical team for items not covered in the maintenance contract
- Heat electrical testing required by health and safety regulations
- District repairs raised by Contact Camden or the Repairs service for a specific communal system
Direct costs, indirect costs and overheads
Direct costs
These are the direct labour and material costs of carrying out a repair performed by the contractor or the consumption cost for fuel or electricity. It is the invoiced amount from the contractor or utilities company excluding VAT.
Indirect costs
These are the costs that are exclusively associated with each element of the heating, hot water or gas supply. For example, costs for our Energy Management team procuring energy contracts, checking utilities supplies and meters or resolving discrepancies with suppliers.
Overheads
These are a proportion of Camden’s staff time checking or paying utilities bills.
Service charges guide for leaseholders
The service charge guide for leaseholders (PDF) has information about all your service charges and how they are calculated.