Какво се случи
On 22 October 2026 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) published "Gas system in transition: recovery of gas network costs during the transition", a call for evidence that runs until 23 December 2026 at 11.59pm. It is part of the programme of public engagement on the gas system that the Government committed to in its June 2025 update to market, and covers Great Britain.
It looks at two kinds of cost:
- Network investment. The pipes still need maintaining, replacing and keeping safe for as long as people use them. Today those costs are recovered from gas consumers through charges regulated by Ofgem.
- Disconnections. When a property leaves the gas network for good, the physical connection is removed. Most disconnections currently follow the health and safety route after a meter has been removed and gas unused for 12 months, and those costs are also recovered through network charges.
The document's core point is that these costs are largely fixed, so as households and businesses move away from gas they may have to be shared across a shrinking group of customers. It names the risk of "a self-reinforcing cycle in which higher charges accelerate further disconnections". It asks where costs should fall (current and future gas users, wider energy consumers or taxpayers) and how they should be recovered in practice, guided by affordability, fairness, an orderly transition, resilience and investability.
Crucially, it does not propose a solution or a preferred option. It also notes work already under way at Ofgem, including faster depreciation for new gas distribution investment from April 2026 and Ofgem's Cost Allocation and Recovery Review, whose next phase will consider gas costs.
What it means for a business with gas heating
Network charges are part of every gas bill, alongside the wholesale gas cost and other items. This consultation is about that network slice: if fewer customers share a largely fixed cost, the question of what each remaining customer pays matters more over time. Question 10 asks directly how costs should be split between domestic consumers, non-domestic consumers and wider energy consumers, so businesses are squarely in scope. We are not predicting any bill change: nothing changes until the Government decides on policy, and it has not said what that will be.
For your carbon report, nothing changes either. Gas burned in your own boiler is Scope 1, and its emissions are your kWh times the DESNZ conversion factor, whatever happens to network charges. What the consultation does is underline that heating decisions made in the next few years carry both a carbon and a cost question, and both start from knowing how much gas you use.
Разработен пример
Take an illustrative business using 40,000 kWh of mains gas a year for heating, as shown on its bills. Two assumptions, just for this example: the boiler is 85% efficient, so the building needs 34,000 kWh of heat; and a heat pump delivers that heat with a seasonal efficiency (SCOP) of 3. Your installer's heat loss survey will give the real figures.
| Отопление | Използвана енергия | Фактор (2026) | kg CO2e |
|---|---|---|---|
| Газов котел (обхват 1) | 40 000 kWh газ | 0,18231 kg на kWh | 7,292 |
| Термопомпа, SCOP 3 (обхват 2) | 11 333 kWh електроенергия | 0,13096 kg на kWh | 1,484 |
On the 2026 factors, switching would cut heating emissions by about 5.81 tonnes CO2e a year and move what is left from Scope 1 to Scope 2. Our post on heat pump savings for an office runs the same sum at other efficiencies.
Какво да направите сега
- Know your gas kWh. Add up a year of bills. If they show meter readings rather than kWh, our guide to turning a gas meter reading into kWh and CO2e walks through it.
- Check what you pay against the market. Our free business electricity and gas prices tool shows what UK businesses of each size pay per kWh, every quarter since 2004.
- Plan heating replacements early. If your boiler is near the end of its life, get a heat pump assessment now rather than replacing like for like in a hurry. The committee report we covered in MPs urging a move of policy costs to gas is a separate debate about levies, but points the same way: the cost of staying on gas is a live policy question.
- Respond if you have evidence. If gas costs are a big part of your overheads, or you face barriers to switching, the call for evidence asks for real-world examples. It closes on 23 December 2026.
Как помага Carbon Recycling
Carbon Recycling turns your gas and electricity kWh into CO2e with the right year's DESNZ factor and files gas under Scope 1 and electricity under Scope 2 automatically, so the dashboard's scope split shows the shift if you electrify your heating. Its Carbon Reduction Plan report sets a target from your baseline year and draws the path to it, so a heating change can sit in your plan as a dated action. To check the sums first, try the free kWh to CO2e calculator or read our guide to Scope 1, 2 and 3.
