Heat Trust’s latest report, covering the two-year period October 2021 to September 2023, has highlighted how the scheme has worked to protect customers during the energy crisis and help prepare the sector for forthcoming regulation.
Membership of the Heat Trust scheme has grown as heat networks expand and more operators seek to register in preparation for forthcoming regulation, it found. The scheme now protects over 80,000 consumers, up from 15,000 at its launch in 2015.
Heat Trust said that bringing forward statutory regulation remains the only way to extend protections to all heat network customers. It has also urged the new Labour government to press-on with regulation.
Stephen Knight, director of Heat Trust, said: “Heat Trust has led, and continues to lead, the development of customer service standards across the heat networks sector and never has this been more important than during the energy crisis of the past three years. Our purpose has always been to champion the interests of the consumer and to fill the gap created by the lack of statutory regulation for heat networks.
“Whilst our scheme is protecting a growing number of consumers, only statutory regulation can provide necessary protection for all and tackle more structural issues of consumer detriment in the sector, such as poor technical performance and the exposure to unregulated commercial energy markets.
“We will continue to work closely with government and the industry to ensure that forthcoming regulations are fit for purpose and provide good outcomes for consumers whilst the heat network sector expands over coming decades.”