BEIS consultation embeds vital role of Heat Trust in the run-up to regulation

News

Published:: 06 February 2020

Thursday 6th February 2020

Today, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published its consultation on a market framework for heat networks. The consultation confirmed that government intends to provide powers to Ofgem to be the statutory regulator for the sector.

Heat Trust welcomes the consultation and supports the decision to appoint a sector regulator.

The key proposals in the consultation centre on licensing and an authorisation regime:

The proposed legislative changes will give heat network developers equivalent statutory rights and undertakings to other utilities, such as gas and electricity. A licensing arrangement will be established for those parties that wish to secure these additional powers.
The proposed authorisation regime for consumer protection would give Ofgem oversight and enforcement powers across quality of service, provision of information and pricing arrangements for all domestic heat network consumers. This would be funded through fees scaled according to the regulated party’s size.

BEIS highlights the work of Heat Trust in the consultation, noting that by registering with Heat Trust now,
“organisations will not only be able to demonstrate the quality of their service to consumers right now, but they will also be better prepared for the transition to regulation.”

Bindi Patel, Director at Heat Trust said:

“This is a milestone moment. We welcome and support confirmation from government of its plans to introduce statutory regulation. Heat networks have an important role in decarbonising our heat supply. This consultation sets out an enabling framework to support industry, and importantly, ensures customers served by heat networks are robustly protected, and enjoy the benefits of low carbon heat.

“We are pleased that BEIS has stated that customer protection should apply to all residential and micro-business heat network customers. Work to deliver this ambition now begins, and we look forward to sharing our learnings and experience with government and Ofgem to help inform new regulation.”