Heat Network Suppliers Introduced To New Heat Trust Calculator At Seminar

A free seminar taking place in London on Wednesday 30 November invites heat network suppliers to find out more about the new Heat Trust Calculator.

The free breakfast event, hosted by Switch2 and Winckworth Sherwood, will show delegates how to raise performance standards in heat network management and introduce them to the Heat Trust’s new cost comparison tool. This calculator will help customers to better understand and compare their district heating bills.

The online tool has been introduced by Heat Trust, which is the first customer protection scheme for the district heating sector. It will enable residents and other heat network customers to compare their annual heating and hot water costs with a typical, alternative heating system. This would usually be an individual gas boiler.

Bindi Patel, Head of Scheme for Heat Trust, will be guest speaker at the seminar, which is aimed at district and community heat suppliers. She said. “We are delighted to take the first step in providing a publicly available Heat Cost Calculator. The will help provide customers on district heating networks with better information on how the cost of their heating and hot water compares to a common alternative.”

The Heat Trust Calculator will increase fairness and transparency in charging for district heating

“The Heat Trust Calculator will increase fairness and transparency in charging for district heating”, said Kirsty Lambert, Director of Switch2. “We’re proud to be a founding member of Heat Trust and this new free resource is an important step forward in ensuring that customers connected to district and community heating networks receive excellent service.”

She continued: “There are many factors to take into consideration when comparing the price of heat from a typical gas boiler located inside a dwelling to the heat supplied from a district or community heat network. The calculator factors in many of the invisible costs of conventional heating, such as boiler efficiency, repair and maintenance costs, and the cost to replace a boiler at the end of its lifetime.”

The Heat Cost Calculator is a guide, not a bespoke assessment for each individual householder, but it is designed to give customers a good indication whether the price they are being charged is fair. It is easy to use, simply requiring customers to input their postcode, property size and annual heat and hot water use (as set out in a heat bill). This will produce a comparison against a similar sized property heated with an individual gas boiler.

Heat Trust is also working on an expanded Heat Cost Calculator, which will provide a comparison against electric heating as well as gas heating.

All suppliers that have registered their heat networks with Heat Trust will be required to inform their customers that the Heat Cost Calculator is available.

To register for the seminar contact: marketing@switch2.co.uk, 0871 423 4242 www.switch2.co.uk/event