Our 'Public-Private Partnerships: Driving Growth, Building Resilience' good practice guide supports councils to establish more effective public-private partnerships, with case studies of partnerships which have delivered high impact outcomes. One example is Energetik, owned by Enfield Council, which partners with private sector providers to provide heat and hot water to homes and businesses.
Project overview
Energetik is a limited company, set up and wholly owned by Enfield Council. It is a new local energy company that provides heat and hot water directly to homes and businesses from local sources, rather than gas and electricity like traditional private energy companies.
Incorporated in 2015 as Lee Valley Heat Network Operating Company Ltd, Energetik is the trading name and Enfield Council is the sole shareholder. The company operates at arms length from the council but with council representation on the board and robust governance arrangements in place. The company has a lean management system and partners with the private sector to deliver metering, servicing and delivery of capital works to install the heat network system, such as Vital Energy which is currently on site with the Energetik Energy Centre in Enfield.
The heat and hot water Energetik provides is supplied through a series of community heat networks. As a local energy company, Energetik is seeking to revolutionise the energy industry and be a trusted supplier by providing better value energy that is reliable and environmentally friendly. The most recent investment will involve taking excess heat from the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) Energy Recovery facility to provide heating to the planned Meridian Water scheme which is expected to deliver up to 10,000 new homes plus employment space.
Whilst the company needs to be run on a financially viable basis, as a council-owned company, Energetik can take a longer-term view and also take account of the wider social and environmental benefits that the council’s investment brings. They do not charge a premium for low carbon heating; charges are stable and transparent which means that they cannot exceed the price charged for gas as verified by the Heat Trust formula.
Energetik’s heat networks make use of waste heat sources and new heat technologies as they become possible in the future. They are working on a series of heat networks in regenerations areas across Enfield, including Meridian Water, Arnos Grove and Ponders End. The company has also secured GLA funding to support a pilot project to assess heat networks that can be retrofitted to existing properties.
Key points of learning
Enfield Council has recognised the limitations of private providers in delivering new and innovative heating systems, and realised the potential of using public investment to address the market failure.
This precedent demonstrates the benefit of operating in a commercially-oriented way that still delivers a high value service to residents as well as environmentally sustainable outcomes. Retrofitting new technologies into existing homes as well as focussing on services to newly built properties. Working in an integrated way with the local town planning framework to ensure a suitable supply of new customers within a reasonable timeframe.