Help and Support

We own and operate the communal heating and hot water network at some homes. We have a metering and billing contractor who administer your payments for your heat and hot water. The heat tariff is the cost you pay for your heating and hot water when you make a payment.
We set the heat tariff to recover the costs incurred in the delivery of the heat and hot water to each property. The components of the heat tariff are:

• The cost of the gas that supplies the communal heating system (unit cost & standing charge)

• Metering & Billing charges (Service Charge)

• Network heat losses

The heat tariff is set to cover the costs we incur to supply heat and hot water to residents. Currently your tariff does not cover these costs. We don’t make a profit from operating the communal heating system and we don’t charge for the costs of staff time through the tariffs.
The costs that make up the heat tariffs sometimes change. For example, we renew our gas contract every year which mean gas prices change.  We will review these costs on a regular basis and pass any changes on to our customers. We will also conduct regular evaluations of the network heat losses to make sure these are accurately passed on to you.

The heat network you're connected to is supplied with natural gas. Although gas prices have risen in recent years, until last year, we had maintained our pricing structure without any increases. 
We’ve reviewed all our tariffs, and an increase is required, as the amount you pay is less than it costs to deliver your heat.  We have not yet increased your charge to fully cover our costs, but we will be gradually adjusting it each year until it reflects the actual cost incurred.

Communal heating is a cost effective, lower carbon way for us to provide hot water and heating to your home. The gas supplied to the communal heating system is procured annually. This means each year we are provided with new pricing for all its communal gas supplies. We use an expert energy broker to ensure the lowest possible price is achieved.
The metering and billing contract is also reviewed on a regular basis, as well as having an internal procurement team to ensure the best value is being provided to our customers.

We have committed to reviewing the tariff every year. We'll always give you a month’s notice of any changes.

The daily standing charge covers fixed costs such as the gas standing charge.  This is automatically deducted from your account each day, regardless of whether you use your heat and hot water. If, for example you are on holiday and the heat and hot water is not used, the standing charge will still apply. This is the equivalent of the daily standing charge on gas and electricity bills.

The unit charge covers the variable costs such as the unit price of gas and considers the efficiency of the communal heating system.  It's measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). 
The more heat and hot water you use, the more you will pay.