Being a customer of SDEN provides the following benefits:
The heat is delivered to you in exactly the same as a conventional heating or hot water system which would use a boiler with either radiators or underfloor heating. It is just the source of heat that is different, being supplied into your development from our off-site heat sources rather than an individual boiler in your property. The amount of heat energy taken from our network is controlled by you through the controller in your home.
The network also offers better reliability compared to conventional heat supplies. When our off-site low-carbon sources of heat are occasionally offline for maintenance, supplies of hot water will be maintained from our backup and top-up boilers.
Inside your property this hot water from our network goes through a Heating Interface Unit (HIU) which supplies your home with hot water for your hot taps and shower and for your central heating.
No, your home does not have its own individual boiler. The heating for your home is supplied by our area wide heat network.
Hot water for your shower, baths and sinks comes from your Heating Interface Unit (HIU) in the same way that it would from a normal boiler or hot water cylinder in your home. Cold water from your water supplier is heated inside the HIU by the hot water in our network. This hot water is then piped to your taps.
The hot water from our network passes through the Heating Interface Unit (HIU) before returning to our network, heating water which is circulated through your home like a conventional central heating system.
The room temperatures are controlled by wall mounted controllers and the operating instructions for these are contained in your resident’s handbook.
Yes. Heat supplies will be available 24/7, with boilers that we operate which are located on your development providing security when the sources of low carbon heat (such as the ERF) are not available during maintenance periods.
No. SDEN just supplies the hot water for heating your home and your hot water. Your property does not have gas. Electricity and Water are supplied to your home by your chosen supplier.
The Scheme is continually monitored to ensure that it is working properly and that heat is being delivered across your development. However, if you notice any problems with the District Heating Scheme (e.g. water leaks, damage, etc) we ask that you contact us. For any other problem please contact the Estate Management Company.
For details on the SDEN Company Policies and Pricing Policy, click here.
We charge a combination of a fixed and variable rate – the same as any other energy supplier. To maintain price parity, the variable rate will track wholesale gas prices and our fixed rate “the standing charge” will track changes in national consumer price indices and labour costs.
Our charges are set to be comparable with the cost of generating heat from an individual boiler, which includes the cost of gas, and running, maintaining and replacing that boiler
This is the industry standard method of determining a comparable charge which is known as “price parity”, and uses the same method as set out by the Government sponsored Heat Trust Calculator
Although you will receive a regular monthly bill, we do record the initial meter reading and final meter reading for your account when you move in and move out of the property. Please tell us if you would like to receive these readings when you register with us.
We offer a number of methods to pay your bill.
If you wish to pay by Direct Debit, please complete the relevant form in your Residential Supply Agreement.
We also offer payment by:
Cheque – payable to Sutton Decentralised Energy Network Limited. Please put the account number shown on your bill on the back of the cheque and either post this to 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG or drop it into us at SDEN Ltd, 24 Denmark Road, Carshalton, SM5 2JG between Monday and Friday 9:00 – 17:00.
Bank Transfer – please see your bill for our bank details and use your account number as the payment reference.
Online – you can pay your bills by going to our payment portal. Details of how to access this are on your bill.
To ensure that you have heating and hot water when you move into your new home, you will need to set up an account with us. To do this, you will need to complete and sign the form at the front of the booklet containing your Residential Supply Agreement, available as a separate document. Please return the form to us via email or post in the address provided in the Contact Us tab.
We will aim to set up your account within seven days of receiving your completed form and you will receive a unique customer reference number that you will need to quote in all correspondence with SDEN.
If you are moving out of your home, you will need to terminate your Residential Supply Agreement with us by providing 7 days’ written notice. You can do this by completing the Moving Out Form. Please click this link for a copy.
After you have given us such a notice you must provide a forwarding address so that we may contact you in respect of any charges that you may owe us, or any amounts that we may owe to you. We will take a final meter reading on the date this agreement terminates.
Please be aware that unless you give us notice that you no longer own or rent your home you will continue to be liable for our charges, whether or not you occupy it until you notify us that you have moved or another person takes responsibility for the heat supply to your home.
In the unlikely event that problems occur in our network, requiring repairs, we will follow the standards as set out below.
There may be some instances where we are required to suspend heating and hot water supplies to fix a problem in our network.
If this is necessary, we will provide prior notice of less than 5 days of scheduled maintenance works to the system or the development heating system that interrupt the supply of heat to your home.
We’ll always aim to keep any interruption to a minimum. However, where a planned interruption lasts longer than five working days from the start time, we’ll refund you with £20 per instance if claimed by you within 3 months, payments will be no more than £300 per incident.
The heat supply will be available to the point of connection to your home’s heating system within 24 hours of the start of any unplanned interruption.
On failure to achieve this, a fixed compensation payment of £30 per instance will be paid to you if claimed by you within 3 months, payments will be no more than £300 per incident.
The meter accuracy will be maintained within the requirements and an initial accuracy is of +/-3%.
If we fail to replace a faulty meter 28 days after a fault is shown to exist, we will refund you with £25 per instance, if claimed by you within 3 months payments will be no more than £200 per service period.
Please note, our Service Standards won’t apply in the following exceptional circumstances:
If you request a refund and we agree there’s one due, we’ll credit your bank account within ten working days. If we fail to meet this deadline, we’ll credit your account with an additional £20 on top of refunding you of course. Such payments will be not more than £200 per Service Period.
As it gets colder in the winter months you may find your bills rising even though your usage remains the same, this is because your heating system needs more energy to produce the same results. In order to keep bills low, we have some tips on energy efficiency to ensure you get the most from your heating system.
Five quick tips on how to save money by using less energy
There should be no need to bleed your radiators, as your heating / radiators are a closed system. In a closed system, bleeding a radiator can cause a loss of pressure, and may result in system faults.
Your home will be supplied with heat from the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility. Until autumn 2019, the hot water will be produced by the backup gas boilers situated on the New Mill Quarter site. This is to enable construction works to go ahead and for the connection to the SDEN to be made. SDEN will then use waste heat from the existing landfill gas engines in Beddington. Then, once the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) is constructed, it will use the heat produced by the plant.
This heat (in the form of hot water) will be transported through highly insulated pipes to customers who are likely to be in new developments.
The network offers better reliability compared to conventional heat suppliers. When the low-carbon sources of heat are occasionally offline for maintenance, supplies of hot water will be maintained from our backup and top-up boilers.
The majority of other decentralised energy networks across the UK use fossil fuels in high-efficiency energy generation plants to generate heat. We are different because we will be using low carbon heat from other sources. Your home does not have its own individual boiler.
Yes, you will still be required to pay towards the standing portion of the charge. If you completely switch off your heating and hot water system, you will only pay for the fixed standing charge portion of your bill. Please note that, although your home is highly insulated to the latest standards, we would not recommend switching off your heating during the coldest winter months to avoid the risk of frozen pipes.
Yes, we all know how frustrating it is to have to wait for ages for the hot water from the tap to get hot. To overcome this, your Heating Interface Unit was designed by the manufacturer to always be warm and ready to deliver hot water as soon as you want it. It does this by taking a tiny trickle of heat when it is not in use. This means that even when you are not using the heating or hot water there will still be a very small heat usage. We estimate this costs you about 4p/day on average. This is exactly the same as most gas combi boilers when not in ‘eco’ mode; it uses a tiny trickle of gas to keep the boiler hot and ready.
The room temperatures are controlled by wall mounted controllers and the operating instructions for these are contained in your resident’s handbook.
If you are having problems with your heating and hot water, then this may be because of any one of the following;
problems with the heating system inside your home
problems with the development heating system within your building
problems with the District Heating system
In the first instance you should call us on 020 8770 4852 Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Outside of these hours please call our emergency number 03300580138 which is operated by Veolia, our Operations and Maintenance contractor, who we have arranged to respond to any issues with supplies of heat to your home.
When calling this emergency number please remember to say which development your home is located in (New Mill Quarter) and your address.
If you have notified us of a problem, and we have either:
remedied any problems with the Scheme, or
we have checked the system and there is no fault with the system which includes the heating network within your home up to the outlet of the Heating Interface Unit (HIU), as set out in your Residential Supply Agreement
Yes. Heat supplies will also be 100% resilient, with boilers that we operate which are located on your Development providing security when the sources of low carbon heat (such as the ERF) are not available during maintenance periods.
No. SDEN just supplies the hot water for heating your home and your hot water. Your property does not have gas. Electricity and Water are supplied to your home by your chosen supplier.
If you are moving out of your home, you will need to terminate your Residential Supply Agreement with us by providing 7 days’ written notice. You will then need to provide us with your forwarding address and any outstanding balance you owe us. You can do this by completing the Moving Out Form. Please click this link for a copy.
Please visit the contact us page on the website to make a comment or complaint by following the link.
The following organisation may be able to give you specialist, independent advice and information:
Free, independent, confidential and impartial advice on consumer issues including energy.
Call: 03454 04 05 06
Visit: citizensadvice.org.uk
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