On the influence of heat cost allocation on operation of heating system in buildings and possible, additional decrease of supply temperature

End-user awareness achieved through heat metering and accounting is a well-known possibility to optimize the energy consumption in buildings. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no field research, showing how the heat cost allocation influences the operation of a heating system and which kind of additional possibilities to decrease the energy consumption this provides. This paper presents the results of a field research conducted during two heating seasons in two similar (for location, construction and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system) multifamily buildings, whose main difference was represented by the heat cost allocation method. The building A (with heat cost allocators) had lower (by 24.2%) heat consumption in comparison to the building B (without heat cost allocators). In order to support these results, detailed analyses concerning supply, return temperature and flow of heating medium were provided. It was shown that in a building equipped with heat cost allocators, there are the possibilities to decrease the supply temperature of the heating medium (by average of 3.8 °C), which will provide additional energy savings.