Members of the Powys County Council Audit Committee are discussing a report into a controversial boiler grant scheme known as Eco2 behind closed doors.
The scheme, which is administered by Powys County Council, was available to residents in Newtown and throughout Powys.
Somerset-based Internal Auditors, SWAP – have been asked by the council to investigate after claims of fraud were made earlier this year.
Powys Plumbing Group (PPG) contacted councillors back in January about suspected “widespread fraud” with the Eco2 boiler grant scheme.
They believe that the next grant scheme Eco3 could be even worse and have now made a complaint to the watchdog, Ofgem.
The scheme is supposed to help vulnerable households living in fuel poverty cut their energy bills and reduce carbon emissions by installing energy-saving measures such as insulation and high-efficiency boilers.
Funded by energy companies, to qualify for the scheme, households should have an income of less than £21,000.
PPG claims that households with an income of more than £60,000 could receive help.
They believe the council’s proposals for the ECO3 scheme would have “devastating consequences” for hundreds of businesses, their employees and the Powys economy if implemented in its current format.
In January, the Health, Care and Housing Scrutiny Committee
But councillors who had received the letter decided to defer the issue and also asked for Eco3’s implementation to be postponed until the letter had been investigated.
Monitoring officer Clive Pinney has exempted the item under rule 14.8 of the Council’s access to information rules: “To make this information public would disclose information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.
“These factors outweigh the public interest test in disclosing this information.”
A spokeswoman for Ofgem said: “As a matter
“Furthermore we do not comment on any investigation we may be conducting.”
By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter