Use our checklist to get your community heating scheme up and running.

1. Community Heating
Project Checklist
Locate your heat source
Do you have the right people
and contracts in place?
Plan it out
Money talks
The powers that be
Warm feelings
Is your metering system reliable?
Takeaways:
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How to run and manage a successful
community heating scheme for residents
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your community heating
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Creating an efficient and effective community heating system is a
big task - every link in the chain has to be kink-free and well-oiled.
Take a look at this quick checklist providing key advice to help
you get your scheme up and running.
• Select the best heat source bearing in mind planning
considerations, legal obligations and Government grants.
• Make sure your consultants specify the correct equipment
and create a system that will remain efficient.
• Choose an appropriate metering and billing system,
ensuring customers are clear what they are paying for.
• Give your customers a good deal, be transparent about
what they paying for and build their trust.
• Meet government reporting requirements, and consider
joining the Heat Trust scheme to help ensure best practice.
What planning considerations do you need to bear in mind? Here are two:
See the map provided
by the Association for
Decentralised Energy
(ADE)
Do you have meters
to collect data and
facilitate web-based
billing?
Or check out DECC’s
survey of existing
schemes
Does your metering
and billing conform to
the HNRs?
Alternatively, do you
need to build your own
heat source?
A PAYG system avoids
incorrect bills and
missed payments.
Carbon reduction targets - which
favour renewable schemes or
joining a local district heat network.
Obligations to connect to a major new
development - see the emerging Lee
Valley Heat Network scheme in Enfield.
CO2
Does your heat network make financial sense?
Does the government know about your plans and financial data?
Can your customers have faith in you?
Community heating is nothing without resident support.
So, as well as registering your new heat network with
the Government (mandatory) also consider:
A “voluntary, industry led, self-regulation
initiative that recognises best practice.”
It requires heat providers to provide standardisation
and best-practice in all areas of heat provision.
To provide oversight that is “comparable to the quality
and performance standards for regulated utilities.”
Your development contract must include specifications that
demonstrate future efficiency and maintenance planning.
A note on billing:
• There should never be any surprises for homeowners and tenants.
• T&Cs for lease or sale should include heat sale agreements that
cover standard charges.
• Scheme operators are required to provide clear and regular billing
to residents by law.
• Best practice also recommends a cost comparison against the
equivalent conventional system.
Don’t forget: Some contractors try to save money on
construction schemes, so ensure costs are not stripped
out during the design and build process.
Don’t sniff: Rules and regulations should be welcomed - they
will support the growth of the industry – helping everyone.
What is it?
What is involved?
What is the ambition?
The Heat Trust
* National Measurement and Regulation Office
Key advice: Consider a one-stop shop for customers,
which puts responsibility for their satisfaction in one
place and allows for issues to be resolved quickly.
Consider this: A framework agreement for community
heating specification across all your developments. The
CIBSE Code of Practice is an invaluable reference point.
Check the government’s Renewable
Heat Incentive funding options (you
could cover the costs of boilers and
fuel, for example).
Don’t forget, producers of solar
PV and other renewables can also
benefit from government funding.
Heat suppliers should also
report key information
annually, including price data.
Under the Heat Network
Regulations 2014, all schemes
must be reported to the NMRO*
on behalf of the Government.
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