New forum unpicks heat network sector’s top challenges

Held on 17 September, the first ever Insite Partners Summit was convened to discuss some of the sector’s most pressing challenges as pivotal new regulations come into force. Experts from Citizens Advice, Heat Trust and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) joined decision-makers from housing providers, local authorities and property management organisations to debate topics such as poor system performance, high tariffs, inaccurate metering and billing, and energy debt. 

Deborah Toner, Senior Policy Researcher at Citizens Advice, highlighted the scale and severity of consumer concerns. She said residents on heat networks are 15 times more likely to experience service reliability problems than households using traditional heating systems. More than half (54%) of cases dealt with by the independent organisation relate to billing errors, while a further 22% concern debt management, affordability and disconnection issues. 

Best practice in heat network monitoring and maintenance was also discussed, alongside the importance of accurate data collection and making effective use of data once it has been gathered. 

Declan Liddle of Insite Energy highlighted that 85% of social-rented households on heat networks remain unmetered, while his colleague Terry Johnson focused on the importance of relationships and trust in enabling engineers to gain access to residents’ properties. 

Peter Horne and Andrew Reynolds of FairHeat identified water quality management as a key area of focus for the sector over the next two years, citing examples of poor practices contributing to catastrophic system failures. 

The summit also showcased case studies of organisations achieving significant strides towards compliance with new regulations through innovative approaches and partnerships. 

Attendees heard how housing association Notting Hill Genesis retrofitted the wireless KURVE metering solution across 18 residential heat network developments to address challenges around data collection, energy debt and billing. 

Channa Karunaratne of AECOM highlighted a thermal energy store installed at Lancaster University as an example of the steps estates can take towards grid balancing and reducing energy costs. 

Anthony Atkinson of Telford Homes explained how the developer has centralised the administration and management of its larger and more complex heat network sites through Insite Energy’s co-developed ESCo Manager service. 

Anthony Coates-Smith, Managing Director at Insite Energy, said: “The challenges facing the heat network sector at the moment are really significant. 

“Managing systems of such technical complexity, involving so many stakeholders, has never been easy. But the transition to a new regulatory regime, with all the uncertainty that entails, combined with the pressure to decarbonise, has pushed things to a new level of difficulty. 

“That’s why we set up the Insite Partners Summit: to give the people driving forward these important changes a meaningful opportunity to meet and learn from each other. It’s important that organisations know they don’t have to navigate all this alone. Help is available.” 

The event also received positive feedback from attendees. Matthew Jordison of Gateshead Council said: “The day was really well curated with talks that were relevant and interesting – not just waffle! I learnt something new right from the first session with Citizens Advice.”

The Insite Partners Summit is planned to take place every two years, bringing leading stakeholders together to provide ongoing updates and developments in the heat network sector.