Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to her Oral Answer of 19 November 2015, Official Report, columns 813-14, on district heating systems, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Heat Trust.

Heat Trust was launched on 25 November 2015. Heat Trust is a voluntary, industry-led scheme established with the aim of setting consumer protection standards for heat network suppliers.

Since its launch, Heat Trust has grown with 42 schemes in membership covering over 22,300 connections. All the schemes in membership are named on the Heat Trust website: http://www.heattrust.org/index.php/members

For the first time, domestic and micro-business customers on these networks have direct recourse to the independent Energy Ombudsman. 19 customers have used the Ombudsman Service so far. The Ombudsman has upheld two complaints in the customer’s favour and one reached a mutually accepted solution.

DECC sits on the Heat Trust Committee, which provides oversight of the scheme. We will continue to monitor the development of Heat Trust closely over the coming months.