How to save £300 on your heating bill – by using a smartphone

NEW gadgets claim to give you greater control of your heating — and cut your bills.

The gizmos let you turn the heating on and off using an app on your mobile phone or tablet, so you don’t waste energy when you are out.

At present, most people rely on a conventional timed thermostat or turn on the boiler manually when required. Many of us set the thermostats once and forget about it, and end up spending more than needed.

This can be costly: despite price cuts, the average annual dual-fuel energy bill stands at £1,150. And, of course, switching your boiler on and off has only been an option when you are at home — until now. We road-tested three of the most popular gadgets to see if they would change our heating habits.

OUR HOUSE WAS A SAUNA AT NIGHT

OUT of the box, the Nest thermostat looks lovely — like a round chrome digital clock the width of a coffee cup, writes James Coney.

It also comes with two separate white boxes, which need to be wired to the boiler to allow the thermostat to link to the internet. This is tricky work only an engineer can do.

All that remains is to load the Nest app on to your mobile phone or iPad.

In a nutshell, you can control the temperature from your mobile device, which then sends a signal using our home’s wireless internet connection to the boiler.

Once you’ve used the Nest system for a few days, it remembers when you typically use the heating and sets a daily plan for you. So, if you always seem to turn it up at 5pm, Nest will do this every day.

For the first few days, it is like a new toy. I constantly tinker with the temperature, and check in to see exactly how many hours it has been on using the diary on the Nest app.

The device soon set a regular plan and the heating came on and off, well, like clockwork. I particularly enjoyed checking the app to see if Mrs C had turned the heating up when I wasn’t at home — and turning i t down to a more ‘reasonable’ temperature.

But then odd things started to happen. I’d wake in the night to a sweltering house with the heating on full blast. Checking the app, I’d notice the Nest had ‘No signal’. As a result, the heating had come on automatically.

A push of a button and it reconnected — but it’s an inconvenience in the middle of the night. I’d say the system still has a few glitches. But, all in all, the heating is on less. Over a year, this could save a few hundred pounds.

NEST, £249 including installation, plus £89 for smoke alarmnest.com/uk/

I SAVED MONEY . . . AND MY WIFE WASN’T COLD!

A QUICK phone call followed by a 90-minute visit from an engineer and we were newly dependent on Hive to heat our home, writes Sam Dunn.

The basic set-up is similar to Nest. A sleek panel mounted on the wall next to the boiler lets it connect to a wireless thermostat.

You then have to plug a separate plastic box into your broadband router to be able to control the thermostat via an app downloaded on to your tablet or mobile phone.

Compared to Nest, the kit is very ordinary. The thermostat has a clunky Eighties design and the boxes are flimsy. But the app itself is extremely easy to use, with chunky, colourful graphics and simple instructions to get started.

With two small children in the house, my heat-loving wife set the temperature to range between 19c and 23c throughout the day — even in spring. With a bit of negotiation, we agreed on 16c for a four-hour stretch at night. More advanced thermostats already allow you to do this. But being able to change the schedule when at work or away at weekends — particularly on unexpectedly cold days — was very useful. One February weekend away, I used the app to raise the house’s temperature from 20c to 24c. I also extended the length of time at this temperature.

If you’re the type of household to be out and about, you can save on bills by keeping your house at lower temperatures and giving it a quick blast of heat on your way home. Hive is also packed with features we didn’t need. You can heat a separate hot water tank if you have one, and receive email alerts warning when your home is colder than it would usually be.

One we did appreciate was a Pin to prevent children’s inquisitive fingers playing with the app. After our youngest inadvertently turned it down to 5c, we quickly added the security feature.

Glitches have been few. In mid-March, when the temperatures had plunged outside, I used my iPad app to turn the heating up, but was repeatedly told there was no connection. The next morning, a very apologetic email landed to apologise for a technical glitch affecting Hive customers. Since January, it’s felt as if the heating has definitely been on less, so I checked to compare our bills with the same months last year — and over 12 months we are on track to save more than £300.

HIVE, £199 inc. installation (£159 for existing British Gas customers), hivehome.com

I CAN HEAT MY HOME BUT NOT THE WATER

A CHEERY technician from PassivLiving takes just over an hour to fit the system one chilly December day, writes Ruth Lythe.

He then guides us through the controls and make sure we are able to log-in without difficulty.

Like the others, its simple controls allow me to set temperatures at given times using a phone — and turn the boiler on or off remotely. It’s a terrifically easy app to use.

Although my regular working hours mean I don’t need its flexibilities, my husband embraced it with a passion. He works locally and is constantly popping in and out of our house throughout the day.

The system now means he can effectively leave the heating off — and use the app to fire up the boiler when he’s on his way home.

Our only complaint is that it’s not possible to adjust the water temperature from the app.

PASSIV SYSTEMS, £279 with installation, passivsystems.com