If you’re struggling to pay your heat network bills

Heat networks are a way of heating blocks of flats or groups of homes. Heat networks are sometimes called 'district heating' or 'communal heating’. 

If you’re on a heat network, heat is pumped into your home. This supplies your heating and it might also supply your hot water. 

Your home might have a Heat Interface Unit (HIU). You use it to control how much heat from the network enters your home. HIUs don’t produce heat. Some HIUs look like a gas boiler but they aren’t connected to mains gas and they don’t have a flue. 

If you’re not sure if your home is on a heat network, ask your landlord or property management company.

Important

If you pay for your heating as part of your rent

If you’ve missed rent payments you’ll be ‘in arrears’. You should deal with rent arrears as soon as you can. Your landlord might evict you if you don't pay the arrears. Check how to deal with rent arrears.

If you’re struggling to pay your heat network bills, you should:

• check if there are ways to save money on your bills

• check if your bill is correct

• contact the company or person you pay your bills to and discuss ways to pay what you owe

It’s important to deal with your heat network bills as soon as you can. If you don’t, your heat network supplier might disconnect your heating and hot water or you might lose your home.

If you have more than one debt

Heat arrears are a ‘priority debt’. This means they might cause you particularly serious problems if you don’t do anything about them. 

If you pay for heat as part of your rent or service charge, this is also a priority debt.

You need to pay a priority debt before debts like credit cards. If you have more than one debt, work out which debts to pay first.

Find out who to contact about your bills

Who you should contact depends on how you pay for your heating.

You might pay your heating bills to:

• your heat network supplier

• a management company or freeholder as part of your service charge

• your landlord as part of your rent

• someone else - for example, a company that manages billing for the heat network

If you pay for heat as part of your rent, you should speak to your landlord instead of your heat network supplier. 

If you pay for heat as part of your service charge, you should contact your home’s management company.

If you pay your heat network supplier directly, you can get their contact details from their website or from a recent letter or bill. 

Sometimes the company you pay might not be the same company as the heat network supplier. For example, your heat network supplier uses a different company to manage the bills and payments for your heating. Ask the company you make payments to who you should contact about billing issues. In some cases you should contact them instead of your heat network supplier. 

There might be several ways to contact them, like a telephone number, app or webchat. You can choose the best contact method for you.

Check if your bill is correct

If you have a meter, your bill is usually based on how much energy you use. It should be accurate, but if you think it’s too high, you should ask your heat network supplier to check.

If you don’t have a meter, you’ll usually have a ‘pooled supply’. This means your bill is calculated by: 

1. working out the amount of energy used by all homes on the heat network

2. dividing the cost between other homes on the heat network

Your bill might also include a ‘standing charge’ - this covers things like administration and maintenance costs. 

If you have a tenancy or lease agreement, check if it says how your bill is calculated. You can also ask your landlord or management company. 

If you’re worried about your landlord evicting you, talk to an adviser.

If you have a meter and you think the bill is wrong

Your heat network supplier might have made a mistake. You should tell them why you think the bill is wrong. For example, they might have recorded your meter readings incorrectly.

Give them all the information you have and send them photos of your meter readings as proof. Make sure you keep all the messages you send to the heat network supplier and their replies. You might need them if you need to make a complaint later.

If you can’t reach an agreement, check how to complain to your heat network supplier.

Check if you can save money on your energy bills

If you pay for your heating directly, it's worth asking your heat network supplier if they can move you to a cheaper tariff. Check the details of any new tariff they offer to make sure you'll pay less.

If you pay for your heating through your rent or service charge, you probably can’t get a cheaper tariff but it’s worth asking your landlord or property management company.

Check if you can get any grants or benefits to help pay for your electricity bills. 

If you have a meter, you should also check if you can make your home more energy efficient. This means you’ll use less energy and save money on your bills. Check how to make your home more energy efficient.

Try to agree a plan to pay what you owe

If you think the bill is right but you can't afford to pay it, ask if you can arrange a repayment plan. Your heat network supplier doesn’t have to agree to this, but it’s worth asking.

You can also ask them to freeze any interest and charges as long as you continue to pay the repayment plan.

If you have a prepayment meter, you can pay back some of the money you owe each time you top up your meter. 

If you don’t have a prepayment meter, tell your heat network supplier that you want to pay off your debts in ‘instalments’. This means you’ll pay fixed amounts over a set period of time, so you’ll pay what you can afford. Each payment will include some of what you owe plus an amount for your current use.

Ask your heat network supplier to take into account how much you can afford to pay - give them details about:

•  your income and spending

• money you owe 

• your personal circumstances

If you’re not sure how much you can afford to pay, you can use the free budget planner on the MoneyHelper website.

Get breathing space if you need more time

If you need more time to decide what to do about the money you owe, you can apply for a scheme called Breathing Space. 

If you’re eligible, you could get 60 days of breathing space where companies you owe money to can’t:

• contact you

• take action to make you pay

• add interest and charges to your debt

To see if breathing space is right for you, talk to an adviser.

If you can’t afford the repayment plan anymore

Speak to your heat network supplier again if your situation has changed and you're struggling to afford the repayments.

You might ask them to:

• stop contacting you while you work out what to do

• stop adding interest and charges so the amount you owe doesn't get any bigger

You can also ask your heat network supplier to pause your repayments for a short amount of time. They don’t have to agree but it’s worth asking.

You can explain why pausing your repayment will help your situation. For example, tell them if: 

• you’ve lost your job and you’re looking for a new one 

• you’re waiting for a benefit payment

If your heat network supplier agrees to pause your repayments, you should agree how long the pause will be.

If you can’t afford the repayments or your supplier doesn’t agree to a repayment plan

If you can’t agree a payment plan with your heat network supplier, or you miss payments you agreed to make, they might disconnect your heating and hot water. 

If you pay for heat as part of your rent or service charge, you might be at risk of eviction if you miss your payments. Contact your nearest Citizens Advice for help if you're in this situation.

If you’re struggling with living costs

If you’re struggling with money, there are things you can do to save on your regular living costs. Check what to do if you need help with living costs.

If you’re finding it hard to pay your bills, you can get help. Check how to get help with your bills.

If you owe money to more than one company, you can also get help with debts.

If you're struggling to pay for food, find out how to get help from a food bank.

If you’re finding things difficult

Your mental health is as important as your physical health. You should talk to your GP if your money problems are affecting your mental health. 

You can find other ways to get help with your mental health on the Mind website.

If you need to speak to someone

You can speak to a trained volunteer at organisations like Samaritans or Shout.

Shout

You can also text 'SHOUT' to 85258 to start a conversation with a trained Shout 85258 volunteer. Texts are free, anonymous and confidential from anywhere in the UK.

If you think it's an emergency

If you think your life or someone else’s is at risk, you should call 999 or go to A&E if you can.

You can also find a list of urgent mental health services on the Mind website.