Bills for Nottingham district heating users to rise by up to £50 per year

Heating and electricity bills for more than 5,000 customers using Nottingham’s district heating network will increase next year. Enviroenergy, run by Nottingham City Council, provides heat and power to thousands of homes and more than 100 businesses across the city via the network.

It's understood that the average domestic heat customer will see their bills rise by 98p per week, or around £50 each year. Bills for the average consuming domestic electricity customer will rise by 16p per week, or £8.32 per year.

The price rise will come into force from January 1. Heat energy for the network comes from the burning of household waste at the Eastcroft incinerator, close to Nottingham Cattle Market, which is then used to create a supply of super-heated high-pressure steam.

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Steam also passes through turbines at the London Road heat station to generate electricity, which is distributed through a private wire network. According to delegated decision documents, the price increase is required “due to both the volatility of global wholesale energy prices, and the RPI inflationary figure applied to steam delivered from the Eastcroft incinerator”.

The tariff changes will bring in an additional revenue of £129,000 for the council, alongside an extra £371,000 from electricity exports to the outside bodies such as the National Grid, bringing the total to £500,000.

However the council documents add: “This income is offset by increases in operational and maintenance costs of the district heating scheme and private wire network, contractual changes applicable to steam prices and profiled gas and electricity import costs, totalling [£250,000].

“This shows an overall improved [Medium-Term Financial Plan] position of [£250,000] by comparison to the 2024/25 base budget.”