The requirements apply to heat networks. Most organisations manage properties. Those are not always the same thing. One property can contain more than one heat network. One heat network can serve several buildings. Different parts of the same development can have different operators, suppliers and consumers. So start with what you already know, which is your property list, and build the picture of the networks within it. Start the Readiness Builder Start with your properties. Find the networks within them. You do not need a complete heat network register before you start. Begin with the properties you own or manage and work through them. For each one, establish how heat is provided and whether it comes from a shared source. Work out what that system serves, whether that is one building, several separate premises within a building, or several buildings. Identify who receives the heat, whether that is residents, tenants, businesses, your own organisation or a mixture. Then establish who owns or controls the network, who supplies the heat, who bills, who maintains it and who holds the information. That turns a property list into a heat network portfolio. Some properties will contain no relevant heat network at all. Some will contain one. Others will contain several different arrangements. Start the Readiness Builder Look at each network in two different ways Once you have identified a heat network, Ofgem and HNTAS ask different questions about it. Ofgem asks who operates the network and who receives the heat. For each network you need to know who operates it, who supplies heat, who receives it, what type of consumers are supplied, which organisation is responsible for each requirement and where the supporting information sits. One network can involve an operator, several heat suppliers, a managing agent, a billing provider and a maintenance contractor, and the organisation responsible for something may not be the one holding the information needed to demonstrate it. HNTAS asks what the network is and how it is performing. What plant and infrastructure make it up, what is already metered and monitored, what can you measure today, what does the available data show, and what is missing? Property type still matters here because it affects how a network is configured and what is practical to measure, but the starting point is the physical system itself. Understand operator and supplier responsibilities See what Ofgem requires See the current HNTAS requirements See what this means for your estate A portfolio rarely has one answer that applies everywhere. Choose the property types you manage to see the arrangements and questions most relevant to them. Sector guides cover student accommodation, housing associations, local authorities, care homes and later living, extra care and retirement living, sheltered and supported housing, mixed use, commercial real estate, retail, hospitality and leisure, and airports and transport infrastructure. Residential and build to rent. Shared heating across apartments can create both Ofgem consumer responsibilities and future HNTAS technical requirements. Understand the network, who operates it, who supplies residents and what information is needed. Student accommodation. Several different arrangements can sit within the same estate or even the same building. Self-contained studios, cluster accommodation and shared facilities can change the Ofgem position, while the physical network still needs to be understood for HNTAS. Care and later living. Care homes, retirement housing and extra care developments can look similar from an estate perspective and have very different occupancy and heat supply arrangements. Understand the type of accommodation first, then the network and the people it serves. Offices. A wholly owner-occupied office and a multi-let office running the same type of plant can raise different Ofgem questions. For HNTAS, the technical network and its performance remain the focus either way. Retail and shopping centres. One energy centre can supply many individual units, with different businesses on different supply arrangements and billing, metering, maintenance and network operation sitting with different organisations. Hotels and leisure. A hotel heating its own rooms presents a different Ofgem position from a property containing leased restaurants, shops, gyms or separately occupied accommodation. The technical network still needs identifying, measuring and assessing for HNTAS. Healthcare and education. Hospitals, schools, universities and campuses can contain large and complex networks across multiple buildings. The first task is to establish the physical network boundaries, who occupies the properties and whether heat is being supplied to other parties. Mixed use. Homes upstairs, shops and offices below, one shared energy centre. Mixed use can combine different consumer types, different suppliers and different contractual arrangements around the same physical network. Map the network once, then understand the Ofgem relationships around each part of it. What if you do not know what heat networks you have? Start with the information you already hold. Spinview provides the structure to work through your properties and build up the information needed for each network, and where the position cannot be established from what exists, the gap is made visible rather than glossed over. Where physical inspection, engineering assessment or specialist regulatory input is needed, qualified partners carry that out and the findings come back into Spinview. The portfolio becomes clearer as information is added, rather than requiring everything to be known before you begin. Start the Readiness Builder
Heat network regulation and technical standards continue to develop. We review our guidance against information published by Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and show the latest review date on regulatory and technical pages.
This website provides general information and practical tools. Requirements depend on the circumstances of each heat network, and this site is general information rather than legal, regulatory, financial or engineering advice. Where specialist advice is required it should be provided by an appropriately qualified adviser.
Spinview helps organisations collect, organise, review and maintain heat network information and evidence. RAG status shows information readiness within Spinview and is not a regulatory compliance determination. Regulatory responsibility, and the compliance determination itself, remains with the relevant operator or supplier.
Regulatory and technical sources last reviewed: 16 August 2026.