Disclaimer and sources

Not legal advice

HeatReturn summarises Ofgem's published guidance to help you organise information. It does not determine whether the Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 apply to your building, whether you are a supplier or operator, whether any exemption applies, or whether you are compliant. The checker's output depends entirely on your answers. For your own situation, read Ofgem's guidance and take professional advice.

Nothing on this site submits data to Ofgem. Only Ofgem's heat networks digital service does that.

How we mark claims

Verified means we checked the claim against the linked official source on the date shown. Unverified means we have seen it stated (usually by a compliance provider) but not confirmed it in the Regulations or Ofgem guidance. Expected means Ofgem has stated an approximate timeline (for example "autumn 2026" for the digital service) but not a confirmed date — we mark anything built on that approximation as expected, not verified, even where the underlying guidance document it's drawn from is itself verified. We do not use unverified or expected claims in our marketing as if they were certain.

Sources we use

• Ofgem, Heat networks: regular data reporting guidance (PDF, 10 March 2026): the data points, deadlines and exemptions used by the checker. Verified 15 September 2026.
• Ofgem, Regular data reporting guidance page. Verified 30 October 2026.
• Ofgem, How to prepare for data reporting (9 April 2026): digital service timing ("from Autumn 2026") and the Request for Information. Verified 30 October 2026.
• Ofgem, digital service open for registration (blog, 28 April 2026): registration opened in private beta. Verified 30 October 2026.
• Ofgem, How to prepare for registration: GOV.UK One Login, the fit and proper declaration, and the operator inviting the supplier. Verified 30 October 2026.
• Ofgem, How to register district heat networks with embedded communal heat networks (29 October 2026): combined or separate registration for estates. Verified 30 October 2026.
• Ofgem, Heat networks regulation: authorisation conditions — decision (13 January 2026): Condition B4 complaints and the 8-week / 12-week signposting clocks, Condition B6 billing (Housing Ombudsman details on service-charge bills), Condition B7 back-billing (paragraph 7.3: the 12-month limit does not apply to service charges), Condition B8 Priority Services Register, Condition B12 social obligations reporting, and the definitions of Qualifying Redress Scheme and Relevant Consumer Advice Body. Verified 30 October 2026; page references are to Appendix 2, the conditions in force. Its contents list conditions A1–A15, B1–B12 and C1–C2 — 29 in total, which confirms the count compliance providers had been quoting.
• Ofgem, Heat networks: who needs to register: examples of networks out of scope (single HMOs on a shared system, conversions with one energy source of no more than 45kWth, care homes). Verified 30 October 2026.
• The Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/269): regulation 27 (deemed authorisation), regulation 45 (maximum penalty) and regulation 60 (offence of acting without authorisation). Verified 30 October 2026.
• Ofgem, Heat networks regulation: consumer protection guidance (January 2026): paragraph 4.30, that for service charges "the complaints body is the Housing Ombudsman rather than the Energy Ombudsman". Verified 30 October 2026.
• GOV.UK, Heat Network Technical Assurance Scheme (HNTAS) (updated 16 February 2026) and the Heat network technical standards consultation document (21 January 2026): what HNTAS is, the 2027 start, the proposed thresholds and milestones. Verified 16 September 2026; the consultation content is proposals, not final rules.
• Scottish Government, Heat networks policy and Heat Networks Delivery Plan review report 2024 (28 March 2024): Ofgem's role in Scotland, the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021 and the status of Scottish licensing. Verified 16 September 2026.
• Energy Ombudsman, Heat networks: disputes accepted from 1 April 2025, membership required from 27 January 2026, the 8-week point. Housing Ombudsman, Membership: compulsory for social landlords in England, voluntary for private landlords and agents. Verified 16 September 2026.
• Heat Trust, Coming regulation: Ofgem consulting in 2026 on further conditions such as Guaranteed Standards of Performance. Verified 30 October 2026 for the substance; the specific consultation closing date we quote came from Fezan's own check, not an independent search of ours.
• Legal commentary on service-charge back-billing and dispute routes: Devonshires, Trowers & Hamlins, Lease Advice. Verified 16 September 2026 as commentary — not Ofgem's own primary text, so treat as informed secondary sourcing rather than a regulator's statement.

Claims we have not verified

• How Ofgem will treat a network that misses the 26 January 2027 registration deadline. The Regulations make carrying on a regulated activity without authorisation an offence (regulation 60) and cap penalties at the higher of 10% of turnover or £1 million (regulation 45), but existing networks are deemed authorised (regulation 27). Unverified.

Keeping up to date

Ofgem has not yet published the digital service's field list or bulk-upload format. When it does, we'll update the template and note the change here.