Homes in Olympic Village with twice the energy bills say ‘2012 legacy is ruined’

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Thousands of properties on the London 2012 Olympic site are facing huge energy bill hikes with no option to switch providers and say they feel let down

Thousands of homes in London’s Olympic Park are fixated on doubling energy bills of today, and say the 2012 Olympic legacy will be tarnished.

Many of the properties were originally built to provide accommodation for athletes and officials Olympic Games 2012 in London, where Team GB won 65 medals.

The London 2012 Olympics is considered one of Britain’s greatest ever highlights, when national morale and community spirit were high.

But now residents of the East Village and Chobham Manor areas of the Olympic Park say they feel abandoned rising energy costs they cannot switch off.

All of the properties in these developments have an energy supplier, East London Energy (ELE), which has a 40 year contract to provide electricity. Residents cannot switch.

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Now, these households have received a letter from ELE saying their consumption fee will increase by 103% and their monthly subscription fee by 4.63% starting today.

The resident and city councilor of the Olympic Park, Nareser Osei, represents the two communities in the battle over the energy bill.

She said: “Residents are practically powerless. There is a lack of understanding, some people are struggling to make the payments and cannot even try to switch to a better offer.

“We all expect energy bills to go up, but when the consumption charge more than doubles, that’s quite worrying.

“We’re ten years after the Olympics and that’s not a good legacy.”

Households are facing a staggering increase in energy bills from today as the maximum amount companies can charge people on standard tariffs increases by an average of £693.

Osei added that many ELE residents feel overlooked, who may be slow to respond — in some cases leaving homes without hot water.

The houses in the Chobham Manor development do not have access to their meters and have to have house technicians read their own simple meter readings.

A spokesman for East London Energy said: “Due to the sharp rise in wholesale energy prices, everyone in the country is facing the challenge of increased heating bills.

“Where consumers using the grid are locked into variable tariffs and expect an additional increase in October, residents of ELE have a fixed price for a year.

“We recognize this is a difficult time for our customers and will continue to work closely with our partners to offer the best possible prices during this difficult time.”

Team GB’s medal win in 2012 was the best performance by a host country in more than 100 years.

Cyclist Chris Hoy also became the Brit at the 2012 Games most successful Olympian with his fifth and sixth gold medals until he was surpassed by his colleague Jason Kenny in 2021.