A PRIEST in Bradford has complained about Yorkshire Gas and Power (YGP) to the Energy Ombudsman after a community centre incurred a bill of £17,000 for four months.
The Interim Priest-in-Charge of Thornbury, Woodhall and Waterloothe, the Revd Calum Burke, said that, despite repeated efforts to reach a resolution, the company had “doubled down” on the Thornbury Centre’s bill and had referred the case to debt-collectors.
The team running the centre, Mr Burke said, believed that the bill included “significant out-of-contract charges that have arisen due to failures and delays in YGP’s own change-of-tenancy process”, and that, at appropriate contract rates, the bill would be more than halved.
The Thornbury Centre, in Bradford, was opened in 1999 at the behest of the congregation of St Margaret of Antioch, whose original building was demolished owing to subsidence. As well as a home for the church, it has since served as a multifaith community centre. The parish is one of the most deprived in the country.
In 2022, in the wake of the pandemic, the Thornbury Centre charity was wound up by its trustees and transferred to another charitable trust.
But, when Mr Burke arrived in 2024, he became concerned that the centre was not being managed effectively. He decided to bring it back under local control, and the centre is now run by a new charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), the Thornbury Charity. Mr Burke chairs its trustees.
“It has been amazing to see how the centre has begun to serve the community once again,” he said. “We now operate a very busy food pantry, providing low-cost weekly shopping for those experiencing food poverty. We also run a weekly toddler group in the church, attended predominantly by Muslim women and their children.
“More recently, we piloted a cookery school in partnership with Bradford Jobcentre, working with 18 people who had been experiencing long-term unemployment. Over the coming month, we plan to open a community library and launch a gardening project for women in the local community. Following the summer, we will also be opening a youth group with a focus on social action.”
In July 2025, the CIO informed YGP of the change of tenancy — a request that was “neither acknowledged nor logged”, Mr Burke said. “We subsequently followed up with a number of emails and telephone calls, many of which went unanswered. More recently, both our local MP and I have written directly to the director of YGP, but we have received no response. We are more than willing to pay for the energy we have used, but only at a fair and reasonable rate.”
The bill, received in April, pertains to the period from July to November and stands at £17,198.30.
In recent weeks, YGP had “doubled down on their position, and, at no point, have they appeared willing to engage in constructive dialogue”, Mr Burke said. “Even while the matter is under investigation by the ombudsman, they have referred the case to a debt-collection agency. The only resolution they have offered is for us to enter into a new agreement with them and repay the disputed amount through instalments. Our understanding is that this would be contrary to Ofgem guidance.”
The Thornbury Charity has calculated that, on appropriate contract rates, the bill would be approximately 45 per cent of the £17,000.
On 5 May, Mr Burke wrote to the CEO of YGP, Rishi Raichura, noting that “requests for due consideration” had been rejected and that the matter had been referred to the Energy Ombudsman. As of last week, no reply had been received, Mr Burke said.
A statement from YGP to the Church Times said: “We are sorry to hear of the difficulties being experienced by Revd Calum Burke. Other than the content of this email, we are unable to comment on this matter due to the complaint that has been raised to the Energy Ombudsman. Once a ruling has been finalised by the ombudsman, any actions imposed on Yorkshire Gas and Power will of course be carried out.”