News / Bristol heat networks
Buildings to be forced to connect to district heat network
Offices and apartment blocks in central Bristol could soon be forced to connect to the district heat network despite questions over bills.
Bristol is a trailblazer in laying out heat networks as part of the push to switch away from fossil fuels and individual gas boilers in every building.
In theory heating buildings with a district heating network could be cheaper than paying for gas, particularly as the cost of gas for businesses is not capped like domestic heating bills.
But so far, some landlords have reportedly been charged millions of pounds to connect to a network.
And new rules are coming that mean even more buildings could be made to connect to a network.
Bristol City Council is planning to consult the public about creating a central heat network zone, as part of a national push to roll out the technology across the country.
An update was given to councillors on the environment policy committee on Thursday.
Heat networks are an area-wide heating system, where multiple buildings are connected to a single heat source via underground pipes carrying hot water.
Heat networks are already serving around 13,000 homes in Bristol. The technology is seen as an important way, by the council and the government, to reduce the city’s impact on climate change by burning fossil fuels like gas.
Alex Minshull, the council’s climate change manager, said: “Because of our relatively advanced status in this area, we’ve been working with the government for some time to help shape what zoning might look like.
“The government has offered Bristol and a number of other places the opportunity to be in the first wave of places to bring in this new concept of a heat network zone.”
Within a heat network zone, new buildings will be expected to connect to the heat network, as well as large existing buildings with communal heating systems, like offices or blocks of flats with a central boiler.
City Hall will soon be connected, and its boiler will be replaced with a pipe connecting with the heat network underneath Park Street. 16 blocks of council flats could be affected too.
The Central Bristol Heat Network Zone could stretch from Bedminster and Brislington to Clifton and St Paul’s, including areas without a heat network yet where large buildings would have to build provision for a connection to a future network. This could make expanding the heat networks easier, with the demand already in place.
The national changes form part of the government’s Warm Homes Plan, alongside helping homeowners install better insulation, solar panels and heat pumps.
Landlords will also need to upgrade cold, draughty homes too. The details of the consultation on heat network zones haven’t been revealed yet, but are expected in the autumn as part of a new law being made.
Depending on what fuel they use, heat networks could protect consumers from sudden price shocks due to international events.
The cost of gas is volatile, and has rapidly increased because of the Iran war, similar to the sudden rises in 2022 due to the Ukraine war.
But other fuel sources, like heat pumps and incinerating rubbish, have much more consistent costs.
Bristol’s heat networks are being built by Vattenfall, a Swedish energy company. The company is selling off its UK arm, and so a new firm is expected to take over the building and running of the city’s heat networks soon.
John Smith, the council’s executive director of growth and regeneration, said: “We anticipate another company coming in and taking on the responsibilities that Vattenfall have. So we don’t see it as having a negative impact.”
But it’s unclear what the impact will be on consumer energy bills. Many people with gas boilers are vulnerable to global shocks like the Ukraine war in 2022, so any changes to how they heat buildings will likely be faced with price concerns.
This year Ofgem is starting to regulate district heat networks, and new protections should help keep bills for connected buildings at a fair rate.
However another concern is that the extra rules for developers could lead to less affordable housing getting built.
Conservative councillor Mark Weston said: “That does make me slightly nervous because there’s no certainty on what prices will be. [Connection] costs in some cases seem to be prohibitively high.
“If the cost of connection is millions, then we have seen this all too often, the thing that gets sacrificed first is the amount of affordable housing delivered in the project.”
The boundary of the zone will be consulted on and has not yet been decided. Buildings with heat pumps would be exempt from the new rules, until they need to replace their heat pump.
By 2050 the government wants heat networks to meet a fifth of the UK’s heating demand. The zones are intended to give investors certainty, making building new networks cheaper overall.
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Bristol City Council
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