District heating

Some residents in blocks of flats and maisonettes with shared central heating systems will be offered heating powered by hot water from the council’s Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility.

This type of heating is called district heating, and will replace older, inefficient electric storage heaters in some of our flats and maisonettes. District heating will cost residents less per unit, and will also contribute to reducing the carbon emissions in Leeds.

How district heating works

Water heated by the waste from the Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility is pumped underground to local energy centres. It is then transformed through a series of heat exchangers into heat that is piped into individual flats and maisonettes.

Existing electric storage heater and hot water cylinders in suitable properties will be removed, and each property will have a unit installed that enables the tenant to control the temperature for their heating. Pre-payment meters will be installed to allow tenants to measure the amount of heat they use, the amount of payment credit they have and if the credit needs to be topped up.