Guide
Heat network customer rights under Ofgem regulation
Updated
Heat network customers cannot switch supplier. That is exactly why the new regime concentrates on service, billing and price rather than on competition.
What Ofgem says it is regulating for
Ofgem regulates heat networks in Great Britain with regulations focused on "ensuring good outcomes for customers", listing: good customer service, reducing the impact of reliability of supply issues, transparent and easy to understand energy bills, and fair pricing (Ofgem). It has published separate guidance for suppliers on consumer protection and on fair pricing and cost allocation.
Advice, advocacy and redress
- Citizens Advice and Consumer Scotland have launched advocacy and advice services for heat network customers.
- The Energy Ombudsman operates a Heat Network Supplier scheme. DESNZ states that since 27 January 2026 all heat networks in Great Britain must register with the Energy Ombudsman redress scheme, and that consumers can access a free and independent dispute resolution service if complaints are not satisfactorily resolved with a supplier, "including complaints about unplanned outages which may lead to consumer compensation" (gov.uk).
- Ofgem publishes consumer advice at its get advice on heat networks page.
If your landlord is also your heat supplier
This is common in blocks of flats and in social housing, and Ofgem addresses it directly: "Where the supplier is also the landlord for the property on the heat network, they should follow both the authorisation conditions and relevant housing legislation." The heat network rules sit on top of tenancy and service charge law rather than replacing it, so a dispute about heat charges can engage both.
The order to complain in
- Raise it with the heat supplier and use its complaints process. Keep the reference and the dates.
- If it is not resolved, take it to the Energy Ombudsman under the Heat Network Supplier scheme.
- For advice along the way, use Citizens Advice in England and Wales, or Consumer Scotland in Scotland.
- Where the supplier is your landlord, keep the service charge route open in parallel: the two regimes overlap.
Not sure whether your building is on a heat network at all? Shared plant serving several homes with a heat meter or a fixed heat charge instead of your own gas boiler is the usual sign.