Heating bills and charges
What’s included in your heat charge
As a customer that is connected to our heat network, you will benefit from an all-inclusive service.
We keep things simple with a single tariff, with only two parts: a fixed charge and a usage charge.
1. Fixed charge – this is a set amount that covers your share of the cost for:
- Providing and maintaining our metering and billing infrastructure.
- The energy and water we buy to run our low-carbon energy centre.
- Servicing, maintaining and, where required, replacing equipment.
This fixed charge helps ensure we can deliver a reliable service and heat supply to you. This is payable even if you don’t use any heating or hot water. For example, if you go on holiday.
2. Usage charge – this is the cost for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of heat energy used in your home, so it varies each month depending on how much heat energy is used.
Accurate heat bills
The heat meter in your home measures how much heat energy is used and sends this information to us so we can send you accurate bills. If there’s a problem getting these meter readings, we’ll use an estimate based on your previous bills or industry guidelines.
How to pay
The way you pay your bill depends on the type of meter in your property. This could be a credit or pay-as-you-go device.
Credit meters
This is the main type of meter we use. If you use one of these, the easiest way to pay your monthly bill is by variable direct debit. This ensures your bills are paid on time and your account is up-to-date. Here are the payment methods we accept:
- By variable direct debit – you can set this up via our customer portal and our mobile app. Or, you can call our customer care team on 0808 143 3633. It’s the easiest way to pay and to make sure your account is always up-to-date.
- Online – you can pay from a computer or smartphone using your debit or credit card, through your online customer account.
- Over the phone – you can call 0808 143 3633.
- At a PayPoint outlet – you can also take your bill to any PayPoint outlet and pay by cash, debit or credit card. You can find your local PayPoint outlet here.
If you pay monthly, you’ll get a bill each month, and once a year we’ll also send you an annual account statement. This shows how much heat energy has been used during the year, how much you’ve paid and your account balance.
Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) meters
If you have a PAYG meter, your heating and hot water is paid for in advance by adding credit to the meter – very much like a PAYG mobile phone. The meter deducts payments each day to cover both the daily fixed charge and variable unit charge. Please remember that the meter will continue to deduct the daily fixed charge, even if you don’t use any heat energy.
By paying in advance, you won’t get monthly bills. Instead, you’ll be able to see how much heat energy is being used in your online customer account and on your in-home display. We’ll also send you an annual account statement showing the heat energy used over 12 months, how much you’ve paid and your account balance.
If you’re a PAYG customer, these are the payment methods we accept:
- Online – you can pay from a computer or smartphone using your debit or credit card, through your online customer account.
- Over the phone – you can call 0808 143 3633.
- At a PayPoint outlet – you can also take your bill to any PayPoint outlet and pay by cash, debit or credit card. You can find your local PayPoint outlet here.
Payment difficulties
If you’re experiencing payment difficulties, it’s important to contact us as soon as you can. We understand your situation can change and this can be stressful. We’re here to help and will work with you to agree an affordable payment plan.
If you don’t make agreed payments through a repayment plan, we may (as a last resort) have to suspend your supply. If this happens, we may need to charge you additional costs for suspending and then reconnecting your supply.
We’ll always let you know if there’s any risk of disconnection, and we’ll always listen to understand your circumstances. Keeping us informed of your situation will help us support you in the best way possible.
Business customers
If you’re a business customer, you’ll find details about how you pay in your heat supply agreement.
Future heat charges
Each year, we review our heat charges to check they’re fair. If we need to make an adjustment, we’ll always give you 31 days’ notice and a clear explanation of why we’ve changed our charges. If you have any questions about how we set our charges and when we review them, please contact our customer care team who’ll be happy to discuss this. You can also talk to us in person at our regular customer engagement sessions that take place near you.
Cost reviews of our heat charges will consider a number of factors:
- The cost of energy or other utilities costs that we incur delivering your heat service.
- The cost of operating, maintaining and repairing the energy system and providing customer services to you.
- The costs of making necessary improvements to the energy system as well as any repair and replacement costs that we incur as a result of providing your heat and hot water and the costs and of repairing .changes to the consumer price index may also impact costs.
If you have any questions about how we set our charges and when we review them, please contact our customer care team who’ll be happy to discuss this. You can also talk to us in person at our regular customer engagement sessions that take place near you.
