More Protection for District Heat Network Users Needed in New Regulations

The Southwark Liberal Democrats have formally urged more protections for those using District Heat Networks in forthcoming regulations that have been consulted on.  

This comes after a sustained campaign from residents and Liberal Democrats in Southwark over the various failures associated with the council-run heat networks – from unfair charges to regular outages.  

In October the Southwark Liberal Democrats wrote to local Labour MP, and energy minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh to urge government intervention over some bills being three times higher than expected. 

Her response, which came months later in January, suggested that incoming regulation of heat networks by OfGem would address some of these issues, but conceded that Southwark was “not delivering for customers”. 

Heat Networks – both those run privately and by councils – are currently not subject to the same regulation as other forms of energy delivery such as gas and electricity, which are subject to OfGem’s price caps and limits on how far back in time usage can be billed for. 

The Southwark Liberal Democrats have responded to the consultation on the new regulations by urging stronger protections for customers – including an emphasis on faster roll out of meters to ensure residents are accurately billed for the energy they use, tighter rules around compensation for outages, and are calling for government investment alongside the new rules to help protect leaseholders from the costs of system upgrades. 

The Southwark Liberal Democrats had previously joined calls to cap heating bills locally.  

 Commenting Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Victor Chamberlain, said:  

“Whilst we’re pleased to see these long overdue new regulations come in, it is vital that the experience of Southwark tenants and leaseholders leads to stronger protections for consumers. Our Labour council has got it badly wrong, with residents facing rip off bills forced to conduct their own investigations to challenge the costs. It’s not right for residents to have to foot the bill for the council’s failure. With the right rules and investment, we can have fairer, warmer, greener heating for our homes.”