Our guaranteed
service standards
We know you need to be able to rely on us. That’s why we guarantee minimum standards of service. Our standards are aligned with Heat Trust recommendations, although we think we can work harder for you. So, in some cases our promises exceed what the Heat Trust asks us to do.
If we don’t meet the promised standards, let us know and we’ll put things right.
We’re a proud member of the Heat Trust; an industry body providing consumer protection for residential customers living on heat networks within the UK.
Making appointments
If we need to visit your home, we’ll contact you to schedule a convenient time. We will:
- Let you know if we’ll arrive before or after 1pm
- Give you at least 24 hours’ notice if we need to reschedule
- Pay you £10 if we don’t meet these standards
(if you cancel or miss the appointment, you won’t receive the payment)
Your account
If you get in touch with a query about your account, we’ll get back to you within 10 working days.
Payment arrangements
If you ask us to change the way you pay your bills and we can’t meet the request, we’ll let you know within five days of receiving your letter or email.
Complaints
If you’re unhappy with our service, let us know and we’ll get back to you within 10 working days. You can find more about our complaints process or by speaking to our contact centre.
If your heating isn’t working
Planned interruptions
- We’ll notify you at least 48 hours in advance if we need to turn off your heat supply. We’ll let you know when we expect to restore it and if we need to enter your home.
- If we fail to notify you or don’t restore the supply on time, we’ll credit your account with £10.
- If the interruption lasts more than five days, you’ll receive £45 for each additional 24-hour period without heat, starting from the sixth day, up to a maximum of £725.
Unplanned interruptions
- We promise to restore your heating and/or hot water within 24 hours of you letting us know it’s unexpectedly stopped working.
- If it takes longer than 24 hours, we’ll credit your account with £45 for every 24-hour period without service, up to £725.
- If you experience 4 or more unplanned interruptions lasting over 12 hours in a year, we’ll pay you £80.
- We won’t make payments if the outage is due to third-party damage.
How we’ll pay
We’ll make any payments due to you by adding a credit to your account. If we don’t credit your account within 20 working days of the date your heating supply was interrupted, we’ll usually make an additional payment of £10. Sometimes we may not know that the heating in your home stopped working. If this happens, we won’t credit you automatically and you’ll need to let us know. You have three months from when the interruption happened to get in touch by calling 02920 100346 and make a claim.
If an interruption lasts over 12 hours, we’ll ensure our registered vulnerable customers get an alternative heat supply. If we fail to do this, we’ll pay £35. Let us know if anyone in your home needs extra support. We’ll always try to inform you about supply restrictions, where to get alternative heat, and who to contact for more information.
If you have a serious leak
- We’ll arrive within 4 hours if you report a serious leak in your home’s heating system.
- We promise to fix serious leaks within 24 hours of your call.
- Non emergency leaks will be fixed within 5 working days.
If you spot a problem
- We’ll visit within 7 days if you report a problem which doesn’t stop your heating or hot water working.
- After inspecting the system, we’ll inform you about the estimated repair time.
Please note: We may not make payments for supply interruption where:
a) We have offered to visit your property to resolve a supply issue, but you have asked us to come at a time that means we can’t fix the fault within the promised timescales; or b)Your HIU hasn’t been serviced within the last 24 months, even though we have asked you to make an appointment, and the interruption has been caused by a problem with the HIU.
Temperature and flow rate
Our heat hubs create low-carbon heat that is delivered to you and your neighbours, as hot water, through a network of highly insulated pipes. The heat interface unit (HIU) transfers the heat from the network into your home.
The temperature of the hot water we deliver will be quality controlled to make sure that you get the heat you should. Our heat networks operate with flow temperatures in excess of 50°C. We’ll operate the network to allow for a 30°C heat reduction in your home, with a maximum return flow temperature of 40°c. For example, if your system is designed to accept hot water from the heat hub at 65°C, heat is taken out by your radiators or underfloor heating and the water is returned to the heat hub at 35°C. The 65°C delivery temperature is our quality control point and, the 35°C return temperature, is your quality control point. This is very similar to a domestic boiler system, where water is heated and then distributed around your home.
Heat is taken out of the system as the water travels around your radiators and the water is then reheated in the boiler as part of a continuous process.
Standards for cooling
If there’s a cooling supply interruption that lasts longer than 24 hours, during the months April to September, we’ll refund any cooling standing charges you would have paid.
Direct debits and standing orders
If we make a mistake with your Direct Debit, credit or debit card or standing order payment, which causes you financial loss or bank charges, we’ll refund the costs as long as you can provide proof. Once we’ve agreed that there has been an error, we’ll aim to fix it within 10 working days.
Court claims
If we make a mistake that causes a Court Claim to be wrongly issued against you for non-payment of charges, we’ll pay you £100.
Exceptions
We won’t make a payment if we don’t meet a Guaranteed Standard because of circumstances outside our reasonable control. For example, this may include exceptional weather conditions, strikes or the actions of third parties or an act of negligence by the customer.