News and Press Releases

With icy weather blasting Britain this week, Heat Trust has published updated guidance on how heat suppliers can support their customers. Heat Trust is the operator of the only consumer-protection scheme for heat networks and acts as wider consumer champion for the currently unregulated sector.

Heat Trust’s guidance is primarily intended to help its registered heat networks meet its scheme standards, against which Heat Trust monitors and audits their compliance. However, its guidance also represents wider best practice in the currently unregulated heat networks sector. Over half a million GB consumers are estimated to live on communal and district heat networks, of which 85,000 are protected by Heat Trust’s scheme.

Heat Trust has worked throughout 2024 to ensure that its guidance continues to drive improved customer service. Its updated guidance sets out best practice around:

• Treating heat customers fairly;
• Supporting heat customers in vulnerable situations;
• Supporting heat customers in payment difficulty;
• Switching heat customers to pre-payment meters;
• Measuring heat customer satisfaction; and
• Handling heat customer complaints.

The latest guidance comes as Heat Trust’s Annual Report for 2022 and 2023 shows a marked improvement in its registered heat networks’ support for consumers in vulnerable situations or payment difficulty – with the proportion of consumers on a Priority Services Register more than doubling to 9% and the proportion of consumers in more than two months’ heat debt remaining below 20% (with 55% of those consumers in debt on a repayment plan).

It also comes as Heat Trust reports that many households on heat networks are paying twice as much for their heat as those with their own gas boiler, due to heat networks’ reliance on commercial energy supplies that aren’t subject to a price cap. Heat network consumers are also not in scope of the £500m Winter Support Commitment from the major gas and electricity suppliers, announced by government on 20 November 2024. As a non-statutory scheme, Heat Trust itself is unable to regulate prices.

Stephen Knight, Heat Trust Chief Executive, said:

“We’ve worked hard during the energy crisis to ensure that the heat suppliers for our registered heat networks supported those in greatest need. We recognise that this winter will continue to be difficult for many heat network consumers, who are not protected by the Ofgem price cap.

"Our customer service standards and guidance are based on those for regulated gas and electricity suppliers. Consumers whose heat network is registered with Heat Trust can be confident in receiving best-in-class support from their heat supplier. We encourage heat suppliers to register their heat networks with us, both to protect their consumers today and to prepare for forthcoming Ofgem regulation for heat networks (which will build on Heat Trust standards).”

All Heat Trust guidance can be found at: https://www.heattrust.org/best-practice-guidance-and-templates. Heat Trust’s latest Annual Report is available at: https://www.heattrust.org/annual-reports-v2.