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HeatReturn

The records Ofgem requires for communal heating, kept all quarter, with your return produced from them

If your block recovers heating costs through the service charge, Ofgem is likely to treat you as a heat supplier. That means an electronic record of every complaint, a count of residents in arrears on the heat element, a record of your prices, and a return built from them every quarter. Start with the free checker: it shows which records and data points apply to your block.

Before you start

You'll get more out of the checker if you already know:

  • whether you're the supplier, the operator, or both, for this network
  • whether heat is billed separately or bundled into rent or the service charge
  • what metering is in place, if any
  • whether you already keep a complaints log or track customers in debt

Don't know some of these? Start anyway — the checker tells you what to find out.

Start the free checker

Free. No account. Nothing leaves your browser unless you ask for the template by email. Or see the deadlines first.

A block of flats with one plant room supplying every flatA four-storey block of twelve flats. In the basement plant room, a single boiler feeds a riser pipe that branches to a radiator in each flat. Together they form one heat network, and each flat pays its share through the service charge.BoilerPlant room12 flats, one heat networkHeat and hotwater piped toevery flatEach flat paysits share throughthe service chargeOne boiler,one operatorOne network: the boiler, the pipes and every flat they serve
One boiler, one set of pipes, every flat it serves: that's a heat network, whether or not anyone gets a heat bill.
Register with Ofgem by
26 January 2027Verified
Next return in Ofgem's timetable
Q2: 1 July 2026 – 30 September 2026Ofgem says data submissions open "from Autumn 2026", after it writes to registered networks. As of 30 October 2026 it hasn't publicly announced which window comes first.Expected
Collect data from
1 April 2026Backdated once you register — register first, the return followsVerified

Registration deadline and data from April 2026: Ofgem, regular data reporting guidance, paragraph 2.14 (page 9).

Timeline of Ofgem heat network deadlines, October 2026 to July 2027Quarterly submission windows fall in October, January, April and July, each the month after the quarter ends. The annual return is due in the April window, by 30 April. Registration with Ofgem is due by 26 January 2027.OctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJul20262027Q2 return (Jul–Sep)submit 1–31 OctoberQ3 return (Oct–Dec)submit 1–31 JanuaryQ4 return (Jan–Mar)and annual return, 1–30 AprilQ1 return (Apr–Jun)submit 1–31 JulyRegister by 26 January 2027every network, separatelyQuarterly windows: the month after each quarter ends
Window dates are from Ofgem's guidance. Which window Ofgem's digital service opens for first is not yet confirmed. Every deadline, with extensions and financial-data timing.

Who this is for

Managing agents, freeholders, residents' management companies and right-to-manage companies running private blocks with a shared boiler or plant room, where heat is recovered through the service charge or billed separately, and there is no specialist billing company involved.

Not for social landlords, energy service companies, or networks already handled by a billing company — they may already have this covered.

Insulated pipes, red valve wheels and a temperature gauge in a communal plant room
A shared plant room heating more than one flat.

What Ofgem asks for

Every quarter

Complaints by type and how fast they were resolved. Customers in heat debt, disconnections, reconnections, repayment plans. Standing charges, unit rates, other charges, and total charges billed.

Every year

Customer and meter counts, billing frequency, payment methods, Priority Services Register count, bad debt, the 6,000 kWh reference price, fuel, heat generated and delivered, revenue and running costs.

Organisation finance

Once a year, in the quarter your accounts are signed off: profit or loss, income, costs, liquid assets, continuity plan and hedging. Councils and registered social housing providers skip this.

Source: Ofgem, Heat networks: regular data reporting guidance, 10 March 2026. Verified 30 October 2026.

How HeatReturn works

  1. Check: answer up to 16 questions about the network. Get the exact data points that apply, split into quarterly and annual, in plain English.
  2. Collect: download a CSV template using Ofgem's wording, one row per data point per period, with flags for the records you don't keep yet.
  3. Remember: get an email before each submission window opens and before the registration deadline.
The checker's results page, 'Every quarter (18)': the first two Table 6 data points, customers in debt and self-disconnections, each with Ofgem's name, a plain-English explanation, a 'Needs attention' flag because no debt tracking is kept yet, and the page of the guidance it comes from
The checker's results page for a domestic block with heat in the service charge and no debt tracking yet. Real output, not a mock-up.

The full product, coming for founding customers, will be where those records are kept: complaints logged with Ofgem's six categories and the ombudsman dates worked out; arrears on the heat element checked against Ofgem's trigger (over £200 for three months or more, not on a repayment plan); your tariff and your method for the heat element kept in writing. For managing agents, the aim is to work from the records you already keep in your block management software rather than asking you to type them twice. At the end of each quarter, the return will be produced from those records, using the same definitions every time. See a worked example of one quarter, or read about the founding offer.

The worked example's 'What goes into the return' section: the first rows of calculated figures, 9 complaints broken down by type, 1 group complaint and 4 resolved by the end of the next working day, each under Ofgem's own data-point name with a link to its table and page in the guidance
Illustrative example: the Ofgem figures for one quarter at a fictional 30-flat block, each linked to Ofgem's own definition. See how they were calculated.

What this is not

HeatReturn is a data preparation and record-keeping tool. It is not legal advice, it does not decide whether the regulations apply to your building, and it does not submit anything to Ofgem for you. Ofgem's digital service is the only place returns are submitted. Where we state a regulatory fact we link to the source and say whether we've verified it. Disclaimer and sources.