Heat Networks: District and Communal Heating
A heat network supplies hot water from one central plant to a block, estate or campus. Customers buy heat, not gas, and normally cannot switch the network operator.
What a heat network is
One heat source serves several homes or buildings through insulated pipes. It may be a boiler, heat pump, waste heat or an energy-from-waste plant.
Communal heating serves several customers in one building. District heating serves more than one building.
What matters to a resident is the same in all three: the heat comes from one operator, the price comes from a contract negotiated by somebody else — usually a landlord, a freeholder or a management company — and there is no switch to make.
What the official register records
Operators supplying heat must notify the Secretary of State under the Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations, and DESNZ publishes what has been notified. The figures below are that register. They cover the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, which is unusual in this section — most energy data here is Great Britain, because Northern Ireland runs a separate electricity market.
What the register records, January 2019 to December 2022
Three counts, from three separate tables, and deliberately never one number. One network can serve many buildings and one building many customers, so these do not divide into each other in any useful way.
- Registered networks
- 11,847Heat networks notified to the register. Not homes, and not buildings.
- Buildings served
- 57,668Of which 50,857 are residential. A block of flats is one building here.
- Final customers served
- 507,714Of which 477,733 are residential. This is the figure closest to “households”.
The register counts networks, buildings and final customers in three separate tables. A network count is not a household count: 11,847 registered networks serve 507,714 final customers. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Not Great Britain.
Communal and district, counted apart
The register defines communal heating as one building with more than one final customer, and district heating as more than one building with at least one. They are different arrangements with different consequences for a resident, so they are shown as two rows and never as one market.
| Type of network | Networks registered | Serving residential customers only |
|---|---|---|
| Communal — one building | 9,242 | 6,448 |
| District — more than one building | 2,605 | 1,793 |
DESNZ states these figures will not be updated before Ofgem begins collecting heat network notification data as market regulator under the Energy Act 2023.
Self-reported by operators notifying under the Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations. DESNZ states the statistics cannot be used to estimate the size of the market, so absence from the register is not absence of a network.
An area figure counts networks whose ENERGY CENTRE is in that area. Some buildings and customers they serve are elsewhere.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 · Contains ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 Open Government Licence v3.0
Why the price cap does not apply
Ofgem’s price cap is a limit on the unit rate and standing charge a licensed supplier may charge for domestic gas and electricity. Heat is neither. A heat network customer is buying heat, from an operator who is not a licensed energy supplier, so the capped rates published every quarter have nothing to say about the price of their heating.
This is easy to miss because the operator is buying capped energy upstream: the boiler in the basement burns gas that the operator bought on some commercial contract, and the network’s own pumps run on electricity. Wholesale movements therefore reach heat network bills, often with a long lag set by whatever contract the building is on, and without any of the protections a household would have buying that gas directly.
Two further consequences follow, and neither is obvious from the cap page. There is no supplier to switch to, so the standard consumer remedy is unavailable. And the household usually did not choose the arrangement or the contract — it came with the building.
One thing that is not outside the cap: electricity bought separately for lighting, cooking and appliances. That is an ordinary domestic supply on an ordinary meter, and the capped rates for your region apply to it as they would to anybody else.
Who regulates heat networks now
Until the Energy Act 2023, nobody did. The Act made Ofgem the regulator for heat networks in Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales, and the new consumer protection rules were launched on 27 January 2026. Networks already operating are treated as authorised rather than having to apply, and operators must register their details with Ofgem by 26 January 2027.
The rules are being introduced in phases and are aimed at fair pricing, transparent billing, reliable supply and decent customer service. Citizens Advice, Consumer Scotland and the Energy Ombudsman now run advice and redress services for heat network customers, which is the practical change most residents will notice first: a complaint has somewhere to go.
What this is not is a price cap. Ofgem can act where prices are unfair, but no capped unit rate or standing charge is published for heat the way it is for gas and electricity, and the contract for your building still sets what you pay.
Note the geography carefully. The regulation is Great Britain. The statistics on this page are the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland has registered networks that sit inside the figures and outside Ofgem’s regime.
What these figures cannot tell you
Whether you are on one. Check your tenancy, lease or heat bill; the figures are not a property lookup.
The total market size. The register is self-reported and does not include every heat network.
What you should pay. Charges depend on your building and contract. If a bill looks wrong, contact the operator and then the Energy Ombudsman.
Frequently asked questions
What is a heat network?
A single heat source — a boiler, a heat pump, an energy-from-waste plant — that serves more than one customer through insulated pipes carrying hot water. You get heat and hot water rather than gas, and there is no boiler in your home. The official register uses two kinds: communal heating, which is one building with more than one final customer, and district heating, which is more than one building with at least one.
Does the energy price cap cover heat networks?
No. Ofgem’s cap limits the unit rate and standing charge on domestic gas and electricity supply. A heat network customer buys heat, which is neither, so the capped rates published each quarter do not apply to what they pay for heating and hot water. Electricity bought separately for lighting and appliances is capped as normal.
Can I switch heat network supplier?
No. The pipes serve the building or the estate, and the heat comes from whoever operates them. Switching is the main remedy an energy consumer has and it does not exist here, which is why regulation rather than competition is the route being taken.
Who regulates heat networks?
Ofgem, in Great Britain, under powers in the Energy Act 2023. The new consumer protection rules were launched on 27 January 2026; networks already operating are treated as authorised, and operators must register their details with Ofgem by 26 January 2027. Citizens Advice, Consumer Scotland and the Energy Ombudsman now run advice and redress services for heat network customers. Northern Ireland is outside that regime, although its networks are in the statistics on this page.
Is there a cap on what a heat network can charge?
Not in the sense the price cap works. Ofgem’s rules require fair pricing and transparent billing, and Ofgem can act where prices are unfair, but no capped unit rate or standing charge is published for heat the way it is for gas and electricity. What you pay comes from the contract for your building.
