Customers of heat networks should be given added safeguards against forced entry to recoup debts, the government and Ofgem have proposed.
In a joint consultation paper issued last month, the regulator and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero outlined a new consumer protection regime for the hitherto unregulated heat network sector.
On debt management, the paper says provision of powers of entry, such as those possessed by electricity and gas retailers, are ‘necessary’ to enable heat network operators to manage debts. However, it warns that there is a ‘greater’ risk that these powers would be ‘misused’ than in gas and electricity retail, because there is a larger number of heat network suppliers.
The consultation says that heat network customers are more likely to be vulnerable than their counterparts across the market, because this form of heating is more common in social housing.
As well as following Ofgem’s general approach that use of powers of entry should be the ‘absolute last resort’, the paper proposes other safeguards that could cut the risk of imposing on consumers’ privacy and dignity.
