Do heat networks have the popular vote?

There is no way to net zero without heat networks – the simple, well-proven technology will be essential to decarbonising the heat in not just our buildings, but entire towns and cities. Zoning is crucial to heat network development, a policy now being debated in Parliament. The policy designates some local areas as those which must be decarbonised through heat networks and places mandates on buildings within those zones to connect

The stakes are high. Get zoning right and the path to decarbonising buildings has just become a lot easier. Get zoning wrong and not only have we stymied progress in a sector full of potential for the UK, but we have also just made reaching net zero even harder.

Why attitudes to heating network zones matter

Faced with the potentially inflammatory combination of persistently low public awareness and higher costs borne by households, building and maintaining public support for heat decarbonisation, in general, will be key – as recognised by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) this month in its progress report to Parliament.

For heat networks, this is even more pressing. The Government is moving forward quickly on phasing out fossil fuel heating off-gas grid but the policy for the gas grid is much slower and woollier. This needs to change because zones will be mostly in on-gas grid areas and will therefore require users within them to move faster on heat decarbonisation.

Acceptability and support for zoning are key, but how do we know whether it exists?

What we’ve found

Recent research commissioned by BEIS and conducted by ACE Research and the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) (a member of the ADE), alongside SE2, has taken the first steps to answer this question.

The research assessed the views, attitudes and perspectives of stakeholders who may be affected by the heat network zoning policy. This included local authorities, other public sector organisations, private building owners, social housing providers and both social and private residents.

As the research progressed, one thing was clear: heat network zoning policy will unsurprisingly impact each type of end-user differently depending on their needs. What they use heat for, when they need it, how they pay for it, who provides the service and whether it is truly low carbon varies greatly between different consumers, influencing how supportive they are of heat networks, heat network zoning and mandated connections.

Therefore, if a zoning policy is going to be successful, the needs and requirements of consumers must be an intrinsic consideration of heat network zoning policy design. 

So what did they say?

Social housing residents were generally found to be supportive of heat networks as a way to decarbonise how their homes are heated. Some had reservations, as they had heard about problems with existing and older heat network schemes and potential disruption during installation and connection, whilst others were envious of friends and family serviced by a heat network. There were understandable concerns around costs, whether there would be changes to billing methods, and who would be responsible for repairs and maintenance. These stakeholders wanted a solution that addressed fuel poverty; enabled them to live in better, safer, warmer and more comfortable homes that had a reliable heat supply.

Less than half of owner-occupier respondents had heard of heat networks and wanted clear, upfront information about the cost to connect their home, sought assurances that it will not affect its saleability and wanted to see robust data showing heat networks are the lowest cost low carbon heat option for their home.  In addition, they had concerns about the lack of consumer choice over the supplier.

Despite having little knowledge of the environmental impact of their building’s current energy use, 72% of the private sector non-domestic sample group indicated that they would be likely to connect voluntarily to a heat network. Lower heating bills, cost-effective heat decarbonisation and increased building comfort topped the list of perceived direct benefits of connecting to a heat network.

Local authorities are expected to play a key role in planning and overseeing heat network zoning and expressed support for the designation of areas as heat network zones. However, workshop participants expressed doubts about the readiness of local leaders to look beyond short-term financial risks and reputational worries to oversee the delivery of heat network zoning in their area. Local authority representatives said that any zoning policy should be legally robust, offer guidance around retrofit and be supported by other legislation, like gas boiler bans.

Public sector building representatives expressed concerns over the security of supply, with health trust representatives concerned about the disruption to the operation of hospitals and the patients that they care for. Although they felt that connections would help them achieve their respective net zero emissions targets, they were concerned about the fuel sources used by some heat networks and said they would not be keen to connect to gas-powered heat networks as this would not align with their organisational net zero strategies and action plans.

So, what does this mean?

Energy policy impacts different people differently. Not a ground-breaking concept, but something that is often overlooked in policy design. Energy customers make many of the key decisions that lead to changes in carbon emissions, and therefore designing a policy that reflects their needs and requirements for heat is crucial to enabling customers to participate in the energy system.

This research showcases the importance of social research when designing effective energy policy. Ultimately, energy policy is redundant if it does not reflect the needs of customers and reward them for taking part in the energy system - this needs to be factored in when designing and implementing policy and regulation. We need to develop a policy landscape that starts by understanding energy customers and their relationships with heat.

What happens now?

The Heat Network Zoning Social Research will directly influence the heat network policy that will be incorporated into the Energy Bill and subsequent secondary legislation. The ADE will continue to work with MPs, civil servants and industry to make sure heat network zoning is the success the sector and the wider UK economy need it to be.

However, this doesn’t mean that the role of careful, robust research work is over – far from it. A comprehensive, detailed picture of social attitudes to collective forms of heat infrastructure is critical as we move forward with heat decarbonisation.

The ADE will be working in the next few months to extend this research to work with more stakeholders and a broader scope of energy users to continue to plug the evidence gaps in the UK’s approach to heat decarbonisation.

For further information please contact:

Stephanie Hacker

Researcher

Association for Decentralised Energy

steph.hacker@theade.co.uk