Risk or an Opportunity to Provide Transparency on fuel Consumption

With the update of the Heat Network Regulations in November, operators of any unmetered shared heating system must, where possible, charge residents for their measured heat use.

This is a further compliance demand in a property sector that is already burdened with legislation however, we must accept that for decades UK householders have suffered from poorly regulated energy supply and thereby suffered from excessive, unwarranted and poorly displayed bills for their energy and heating consumption.

Energy and Heat providers have also suffered from legislation protecting consumers and thus increasing debt risk for suppliers.

In the past most regulations have protected the operators, this has had a serious effect on Fuel or Heat Poverty and with unemployment growing exponentially (expected to reach 4 million in the next year) it is likely that debts will increase as the number of families facing Heat and Fuel Poverty is expected to get much worse, particularly if we experience a hard winter!

The amended regulation is a step in the right direction, but does it go far enough?

So, what are the options to ease a path through the Regulations and create value for the Landlords and Residents?

Installing metering for all properties in an existing building is a daunting, expensive, and highly disruptive major works project.

Solutions designed to retrofit heating systems for billing are few and far between with most requiring fully metered systems and with a huge cost, as well as being very disruptive for residents.

Heat Cost Allocation is the best proven alternative, the process is straightforward and cost effective.

Whilst not currently common in the UK it is estimated that over 250 million such devices have been successfully installed throughout Europe – indeed ista patented their first such solution in 1924!

In addition to complying with the Regulations, there are benefits for both the Operator AND Resident:

• Energy savings averaging 20% have been independently verified, reducing supply costs for the Operator and Consumer
• Carbon emissions from energy use for the Property are reduced – an important motivator for many owners and renters given the widespread concern about a climate emergency
• Can improve the carbon DEC rating for the property
• Residents are charged fairly. At a time when the use of the home is changing at an unprecedented rate paying only for what you use is very important to all
• Each month the actual cost of operating the heating system is

recharged to the Residents, reducing the risk of a shortfall in operating budgets

• The Solution installation is none disruptive, with installations completed in less than an hour

ista provides a complete end to end metering service for Local Authorities, Social Housing Providers and Resident Management Companies.

It is a regulatory requirement that each property is assessed prior to installation and ista provides a free assessment using the Government approved modelling tools to demonstrate that improvements made to property benefits all Parties. Ista also completes the necessary Regulatory documents, arranges installation, and finally provides the consumption bills for each Resident.

ista is an International energy services business, specialising in the management of information for the property sector.  With over 5,800 employees, the company operates in 22 countries and has installed 60m measurement devices in 13m homes.

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