Heat networks are now a regulated sector. A market framework live since January 2026 asks operators to register with Ofgem, and a technical assurance scheme arrives in 2027. Many sites, plenty of hotels included, are not heat networks at all. This sheet sets out the test.
Verification
- Verified as at:
- Source:
- Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) Regulations 2026, in force 27 January 2026; DESNZ HNTAS technical standards consultation, issued 21 January 2026; Energy Act 2023
- Last reviewed by:
- Omnium
Figures in this sheet were current at the verification date above. Regulated charges reset each April. If you are relying on a figure, check the source or ask us.
Designed A4 fact sheet, ready to print or circulate.
Two regimes, kept distinct
Heat networks are now a regulated sector, and two things are happening at once that are easy to confuse: a market framework that is live today and asks operators to register with Ofgem, and a technical assurance scheme, HNTAS, arriving in 2027 that sets performance standards. Both turn on the same question, is there a heat network here, and both duties fall on whoever operates it.
| Regime | Status | What it requires | Who it falls on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market Framework Regulations 2026 | Status: Law In force since 27 January 2026. | Ofgem authorisation and registration, consumer protection, metering and billing standards, Energy Ombudsman redress. | The heat supplier or operator, not the building's occupants. |
| HNTAS, technical assurance | Status: Proposed Planned launch 2027. | Mandatory technical standards across a network's life, with assessment, certification and ongoing performance indicators. | The named Responsible Party, typically the operator. |
First question: is it even a heat network?
The rules bite on heat networks, not on any building with rooms. Four things have to be true at once. Miss any of them and the site is very likely out of scope.
- Shared plant. One central source of heat, not a boiler per unit.
- Separate units. Supplying dwellings, apartments or let units, not just the operator's own rooms.
- Charged for heat. A genuine supply or recovery of heat cost from final customers.
- Six or more properties. The Status: Proposed HNTAS minimum network size, still under consultation.
A conventional hotel is usually not a heat network. A hotel on its own boilers, heating its own bedrooms and charging guests a room rate that is not a heat charge, is very unlikely to be a heat network in the regulated sense. That is plant serving a single building, not a supply of heat to separate final customers. We would rather tell you plainly you are out of scope than let a blanket warning push you into spending you do not need.
Who is genuinely caught
The population in scope is narrower than the blanket warnings suggest, and tends to be higher-value, multi-unit property.
- Serviced apartments and aparthotels. Separate dwellings drawing heat from shared plant and billed for it.
- Mixed-use schemes. A hotel plus residential or separately let units off one energy centre.
- Build-to-rent, student accommodation and residential blocks. Communal heating serving many units, the core of the roughly 12,000 existing GB networks, often with landlords or agents passing heat charges to tenants.
If you are in scope, metering is the heart of it
The scheme leans heavily on measurement: metering at the energy centre, at building entry points and at dwelling level, with remote monitoring to evidence performance. For an in-scope operator this is the single biggest practical obligation, and exactly where good metering turns a compliance duty into genuine visibility and control of cost.
What to do now
There is a runway. Registration is live, but HNTAS is a 2027 scheme phased for existing networks, so this is preparation, not a fire drill. We start by telling you honestly whether you are caught, because most sites are not. Where a site is a genuine heat network, we confirm the obligations, get the metering foundation right so the data works for you and not just a regulator, and keep you ahead as HNTAS firms up.
- Confirm scope. Establish whether the site is genuinely a heat network, and who the Responsible Party is.
- Register. Where in scope, meet the live duties: Ofgem registration and Ombudsman redress.
- Get metering right. Energy-centre, building-entry and dwelling-level metering, the foundation HNTAS builds on.
- Track HNTAS. Follow the standards to launch in 2027 and the phased milestones for existing networks.
Related sheets
- Heat network compliance
Heat networks are now regulated by Ofgem. Registration by 26 January 2027 is a hard deadline, and operating without it after that date is a criminal offence.
- Meter types explained
Half-hourly, non-half-hourly, AMR, smart and unmetered supplies, what each means for billing and data, and why the meter type decides what you can see.
- Market-wide half-hourly settlement
Every electricity meter is moving to half-hourly settlement. What changes, when, and why it makes consumption data available where it was not before.
Take this sheet into a meeting
Heat network regulation: who is actually caught is available as a designed A4 fact sheet, dated and set for printing or circulation.
If this sheet raises a question about your own sites, speak to us.