Heat charges going up this winter? What Ofgem expects you to record
Last checked against Ofgem's published guidance on 30 October 2026. Last updated 30 October 2026. How we check. Not legal advice; see disclaimer and sources.
You can pass a higher gas bill on to residents, but from now on Ofgem expects to see the record behind it. Since 27 January 2026 the organisation that recovers communal heating costs is a regulated heat supplier, and each quarter’s return asks for the prices you charged, the complaints you received and the residents who fell into arrears. The annual return asks how you set prices and which costs you passed on. Verified against Ofgem’s regular data reporting guidance (10 March 2026), Tables 6 to 8. This page lists the six things to write down when the cost of heat changes.
Why this winter
Ofgem’s price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 rises by 4%, and Ofgem says most of that is gas: gas bills under the cap rise by about 8%, while households without gas see a rise of under 1%. Verified: Ofgem, Energy price cap will rise by 4% from October 2026, 26 August 2026. Most communal heating in blocks of flats runs on gas, and blocks usually buy it on a business contract rather than under the cap, so your own increase may differ. Whatever it is, the same records apply.
- 1 The new price, and from when
- 2 How you worked it out
- 3 Which costs you passed on, and which you didn't
- 4 Complaints about pricing
- 5 Residents in arrears
- 6 Residents who need extra support
1 The new price, and from when
Every quarter the return asks for each standing charge in pence per day, each unit rate in pence per kWh, any flat fee in pounds per day, any other charges, and the total charged to domestic and to non-domestic customers in the quarter. Verified: Table 8, pages 22–23 (see the data-point glossary). Each figure is a snapshot on the last day of the quarter, so a price change part-way through means the return shows the new price and the total reflects both.
If heat sits inside the service charge with no separate bill, you still report — using the heat element only. Verified: guidance paragraphs 2.21–2.22; the service charge guide shows how to split it. So when the budget changes, write down: the old heat element, the new one, the date it took effect, and the gas contract or invoice it came from.
2 How you worked it out
Once a year the return asks for a written pricing methodology: cost recovery, a formula, a benchmark or a cost-avoidance method. Verified: Table 8, pricing methodology, page 24. For most blocks the honest answer is cost recovery: the gas bill plus running costs, divided by the lease’s apportionment. A price rise is the moment to write that down in two or three sentences, because the annual return will ask for exactly that and the leaseholders will ask sooner.
Two of Ofgem’s authorisation conditions sit behind this: A6, fair pricing, and A7, cost allocation. Verified that the conditions exist with those names: Ofgem, authorisation conditions decision, 13 January 2026. Read the conditions themselves for what they require; this page does not summarise them.
3 Which costs you passed on, and which you didn't
The annual return asks which types of cost you recover through the standing charge, the unit rate or the flat fee, and which costs you do not pass on at all, each chosen from Ofgem’s list. Verified: Table 8, costs recovered and costs not passed on, pages 24–25. It also asks for the fuel type, the total cost of heat generated or procured, the kWh generated and the kWh delivered. Verified: Table 8, pages 25–26.
When the gas price moves, the useful habit is to keep the invoice, the meter or estimate it relates to, and a note of anything you chose to absorb rather than recharge. That is the whole of the annual pricing section, collected as you go instead of reconstructed in April.
4 Complaints about pricing
Each quarter you report the number of complaints by type, and “pricing” is one of Ofgem’s six types, alongside back billing, quality of service, customer service, vulnerability/debt/switching and other. Verified: Table 7, complaints by type, page 20. You also report how many were resolved by the end of the next working day, how many within eight weeks, and how many you referred to the Energy Ombudsman.
A price rise produces complaints. Log each one with its date, its type and the date you closed it, and signpost to the ombudsman at eight weeks or deadlock: the ombudsman guide covers the two clocks. A leaseholder who disputes the reasonableness of a service charge also has the First-tier Tribunal route, which is separate from Ofgem’s reporting; nothing here changes that.
5 Residents in arrears
Each quarter you report the number of domestic customers in debt, which Ofgem defines as more than £200 outstanding for three months or more after the bill date and not on a repayment plan; the number on repayment plans; disconnections for non-payment; self-disconnections; and reconnections. Verified: Table 6, customers in debt and the points that follow, pages 18–19. This applies even where heat is bundled into the service charge: the guidance says “the customer numbers in debt should still be provided”, broken down if some residents are billed separately. Verified: Table 6 bundled-charge note, page 18. It doesn’t say how to apply the £200 trigger to a bundled charge; our reading is to apply it to the heat element and write the method down.
Higher charges push more residents over the £200 line. The record you need is simple: per resident, the heat balance outstanding, the date the bill fell due, and whether a repayment plan exists. Total bad debt written off is an annual figure.
6 Residents who need extra support
The annual return asks for the number of consumers in vulnerable situations, matching your Priority Services Register. Verified: Table 6, page 18; condition B8 requires the register for domestic consumers — see the Priority Services Register guide. A cold winter with higher bills is when residents ask to be added. Keep the count, not the medical detail.
What this page does not say
It does not say what a fair price is or what notice you must give of a price change. Those are questions for Ofgem’s conditions and your lease.
On government support: the 28 October 2026 Budget announced a £100 Household Energy Payment for households in council tax bands A to D in England, paid from January 2027, £100 million for councils to help other households, and a commitment to take standing charges off gas bills. Verified: DESNZ, What the Autumn Budget 2026 means for your energy bills, 28 October 2026. The page doesn’t mention heat networks or communal heating, and the payment goes to households through council tax, not through the heat supplier. In 2022 the Energy Bill Relief Scheme came with a pass-through duty for heat suppliers: they had to tell each end user “in writing that it has been provided with a scheme benefit” and explain why the amount passed on “is just and reasonable”. Verified: The Energy Bill Relief Scheme Pass-through Requirement (Heat Suppliers) (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2022, regulation 4. No equivalent duty has been announced for 2026–27; we’ll add a page only if one is.
The free checker tells you which of these data points apply to your block and gives you a collection template with a row for each. The deadlines page has the submission windows.
Which of these apply to your network?
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Related guides
- Heat in the service charge? You are probably a heat supplier — What "bundled charges" mean for reporting and how to work out the heat element.
- Ofgem heat network quarterly reporting: what small networks must submit — The quarterly and annual data points, who reports what, and the windows.
- Does the Energy Ombudsman cover heat networks, and when does the Housing Ombudsman apply? — Which ombudsman, the 8-week and 12-week clocks, and what your complaints procedure must contain.
- All 9 guides to Ofgem heat network reporting
What changed on this page
- 30 October 2026
- Re-checked against all sources. Added the 28 October 2026 Budget: a £100 Household Energy Payment in England from January 2027 and a commitment to take standing charges off gas bills, neither of which mentions heat networks. The 2022 pass-through duty is now quoted from the regulations themselves (SI 2022/1101) and linked. The bundled-debt sentence now says what Ofgem's guidance says (the count must still be provided) rather than that it says to count the heat element.
- 17 September 2026
- First published. Price figures from Ofgem's price cap announcement of 26 August 2026; data points from Ofgem's regular data reporting guidance of 10 March 2026; condition names from Ofgem's authorisation conditions decision of 13 January 2026.
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