The Heat Network Regulations: what landlords need to do now

This guide was last updated in March 2015

The Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations 2014 are UK-wide regulations implementing some of the requirements of the EU's 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive, and apply to anybody who is a 'heat supplier'. A heat supplier is a person who supplies and charges for the supply of heating, cooling or hot water through either:

The regulations will have a far-reaching impact that many landlords may not have appreciated, as they will apply to many multi-let buildings where the landlord recharges the cost of heating, cooling or hot water supplied through a DHN or CH to at least two final customers.

The aim of the regulations is to allow users of heating, cooling and hot water supplies to be aware of the level of their consumption and as a result be incentivised to reduce that consumption. The largest share of CO2 emissions from UK buildings come from space heating and water heating.

Landlords' main duties under the regulations

Duty to notify by 30 April 2015

Heat suppliers must provide certain detailed information in relation to each of the DHNs and CHs that they operate to the National Measurement Office (NMO) by 30 April 2015. The information then needs to be updated every four years.

Required information includes the estimated total, per calendar year, of the installed heating capacity, heat generated and heat supplied; the number and type of buildings supplied by that system; the number of final customers supplied by that system; and the number and type of meters or heat cost allocators installed in the buildings supplied. There is no charge for making this notification but the NMO can impose civil sanctions for non-compliance with the notification requirements. These sanctions may include compliance notices or enforcement undertakings, and financial penalties for non-compliance with these notices.

Duty to install meters by 31 December 2016

Where there is more than one final customer, heat suppliers that operate DHNs or CHs must ensure that meters are installed in that building to measure the consumption of heat, cooling or hot water by each final customer by 31 December 2016, unless it would not be technically feasible or cost effective to do so. This assessment has to be repeated every four years.

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The Heat Network Regulations: what landlords need to do now