To keep our heat network running smoothly, we sometimes need to carry out essential maintenance work that temporarily interrupts your heat and hot water supply. When this is required, we’ll always give you at least five days’ notice in writing. We’ll also let you know the reason for the interruption, how long we expect it to last and when your heat will be restored.

• If we don’t give you five days’ written notice of a planned interruption, we’ll give you a one-off Guaranteed Service Payment of £10.

We’ll also make sure that any planned interruption to your heating supply doesn’t last longer than five days.

• If a planned interruption does exceed five days, we’ll pay you £30 for each 24-hour period that you’re without heating – up to £500.

If you’re without heating and / or hot water and weren’t given advance notice of planned maintenance, we’ll aim to fully restore your supply within 24 hours of your first notification to us.

• If we can’t restore your heating supply within 24 hours, we’ll give you with a Guaranteed Service Payment of £30 for each 24-hour period that you’re without heating or hot water – up to £500.

If there’s an emergency, we’ll send an engineer on site within four hours. We define an emergency as a situation where there’s a risk of injury to life and/or severe property damage.

We’ll make every effort to ensure unplanned interruptions to your heating and hot water are kept to a minimum. If you experience four or more unplanned interruptions in a 12-month period, where you have a total loss of heating and/or hot water lasting longer than 12 hours, we’ll compensate you each time for our service failure with a Guaranteed Service Payment of £54. This applies every year.

We’ll respond to all other non-urgent issues (where your heating and hot water supply isn’t interrupted) within seven days. This could include account and payment queries, and reports of inaccurate meter readings. Our response will always include details of the action we’ll take to put things right and how long that will take.

• If we don’t respond within seven days, we’ll give you a one-off Guaranteed Service Payment of £10.

We’ll always try and keep every appointment we make with you. If for any reason we need to change that appointment, we’ll give you at least 24 hours’ notice.

• If we don’t give you 24 hours’ notice to cancel or change an appointment, or fail to attend it, we’ll give you a one-off Guaranteed Service Payment of £10.

If you are a vulnerable customer, you should make sure we know that so that we can put you on our Priority Services Register, known as Extra Care. If, as a registered Extra Care customer, you experience a complete loss of heating during a planned or unplanned interruption that lasts longer than 12 hours, we’ll provide you with temporary heating. If we don’t do this, we’ll give you a Guaranteed Service Payment of £24 any time that happens. That payment will be in addition to any other payment you’re due to receive.