As Energy Saving Week 2026 comes around (19^th – 25^th January), it’s a great moment for housing providers to explore how optimised heat networks can deliver better value for residents while supporting net-zero ambitions. Chirpy Heat specialises in guiding housing providers through improvements that cut costs, reduce emissions, and enhance comfort.

Why Energy Saving Week 2026 Matters

Energy Saving Week highlights practical ways to lower energy bills and carbon footprints – a vital focus in winter’s peak and amid rising energy costs. While much of the attention lands on insulation and tariffs, communal and district heat networks are often overlooked. But these systems, if running sub-optimally, can cost residents more and waste energy.

Saving Energy Through Optimised Heat Networks

Chirpy Heat helps housing providers throughout the optimisation journey – from initial diagnostics and grant applications through to regulatory compliance. We:

• Build asset registers and condition reports
• Run performance reviews and data analysis

• Support HNES funding applications

• Prepare providers for Ofgem registration and reporting

 

Optimised heat networks mean:

• Lower heating costs, and more predictable billing
• Greater reliability, reducing breakdowns and cold spells
• Improved comfort, boosting tenant satisfaction
• Enhanced energy efficiency, lowering carbon emissions

This supports the goal of Energy Saving Week: ensuring warm, secure homes without high bills.

Here are some practical steps housing providers can take to improve their heat networks in ways that directly benefit residents. By optimising performance and addressing inefficiencies, providers can make homes warmer, bills more predictable, and heating systems more reliable. And as heat networks become more efficient, residents enjoy better day‑to‑day comfort, fewer disruptions, and fairer long‑term costs.

Step 1: Optimisation Unlocks Savings

Chirpy Heat’s Optimisation Journey identifies where inefficiencies exist – from ageing valves to outdated controls – and highlights how these issues translate into unnecessary costs for residents. When faults go unaddressed, residents not only face higher bills but also the stress of unreliable heating and hot water, which can impact comfort, health, and wellbeing.

Through site visits and performance reviews, we build an asset register and condition report to pinpoint the hidden issues that may be quietly inflating heat costs for residents.

With Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES) revenue grants (£15k–24k each) funded by DESNZ – which Chirpy Heat can help secure – housing providers can access expert optimisation studies at significantly reduced cost.

Step 2: Turn Insights into Action

Once inefficiencies are identified, capital grants under HNES can fund up to 50% of improvement works – from better pipe insulation and modernised plant controls to rebalancing distribution systems. These upgrades directly reduce wasted energy, meaning residents benefit from lower heating bills, fewer breakdowns, and more consistent warmth throughout their homes.

Chirpy Heat has secured over £3.36 million in HNES funding so far, helping improve heat networks serving thousands of households.
Across our 78 optimisation studies, the efficiency improvements identified equate to average savings of around £238 per property per year – putting meaningful money back in residents’ pockets.

Step 3: Align with Ofgem Regulations

From 27 January 2026, heat network regulation will become more robust, with new rules on fair pricing, transparency, and minimum service standards. By optimising networks now, housing providers can be confident they are delivering the reliable, fairly priced heating that residents deserve – and are better prepared for upcoming reporting and service quality requirements.

Optimisation supports compliance with new duties such as performance reporting, service delivery expectations, and forthcoming technical standards, ensuring residents experience clearer communication, better protection, and more dependable heating services.

Contact Chirpy Heat today at [email protected] to discover how we can help you optimise your heat network, unlock HNES funding, and get ahead of regulatory requirements – delivering lower energy costs and better heating outcomes for your residents long after Energy Saving Week 2026.

 

 

Join the Chirpy Heat Insight Group – your essential hub for staying informed, equipped, and connected on the road to heat network compliance. This free, exclusive community, brought to you by our heat networks consultancy, helps housing providers stay ahead in managing communal and district heating.

Members gain access to the latest regulatory news, communal heating systems advice, practical tools for strategic planning, insights on decarbonising heat networks, and guidance from Chirpy Heat’s experts and peers. You’ll also benefit from priority access to webinars and events aimed at supporting and guiding housing providers in sustainable heating solutions.

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