Credit: FairHeat
The House of Lords has approved draft heat network regulations for customers. A committee of the upper house rubber-stamped the Heat Network (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 on 3 February.
The regulations are designed to put customers of heat networks on a level playing field with those using other sources of heating, such as gas boilers, who have greater opportunities to switch suppliers.
The regulations ban the running of heat networks, which have hitherto been unregulated, without authorisation by the energy regulator Ofgem. Energy minister Lord Hunt told fellow peers that existing heat networks will be ‘automatically’ authorised in order to phase in regulation of the market.
The new regulation extends the Energy Ombudsman’s redress scheme to heat network consumers from April this year. It will also ensure heat network customers have access to the advice and advocacy services on offer in the gas and electricity markets.
However, Ofgem’s regulation of heat networks will not kick in until 28 January 2026. Heat network operators will then have a year to obtain authorisation to operate.
For highlights of CIBSE’s Residential Heat Networks event last month, see here.
