A long-term investment in energy saving will not only save you money, but increase the value of your home and reduce your carbon footprint. Smart home heating controls offer incredible potential to help you lower your energy bills, from monitoring spend to adapting to your home’s temperature.
The cost to install smart thermostats and other related tech can vary. As standalone smart devices, these will generally set you back less than £200. If you’re after a more advanced solution, you’ll need to consider other tech like motion sensors, and the installation costs.
Our CEDIA-approved integrators can advise you on the best smart thermostats, central heating, and cooling systems.
Homeowners with smaller budgets can still take advantage of smart features, such as the ability to set your heating schedule remotely. You can start by looking at smart thermostats costs. If you already have a compatible heating system in place, you should expect to pay around £200 for the thermostat alone:
These prices are subject to change, and some products may have more smart features than others. For example, most smart thermostats offer hot water control, but others have geofencing and weather forecasts.
In some cases, you may need to buy add-ons such as adaptors to link your radiators or air conditioning units. These may cost around £100 to £150 each, which adds up if you have multiple radiators in a large home.
If yours is a larger home, you may want to think about multi-room thermostats. You can keep tabs on your energy usage with ‘zoning’, allowing you to heat specific areas. This is naturally more energy-efficient and will keep heating bills down, but the installation costs will be higher.
Each ‘zone’ in your home will require its own temperature sensors and radiator valves. So for example, if you have a home with 15 rooms and radiator valves cost £50 each, you could easily reach four figures. Air conditioning units typically cost around £1,500 to install, but larger, ducted units could cost upwards of £10,000 across multiple rooms.
You’ll also need to factor in advanced features. Some may include location tracking with your phone, frost protection, or machine learning. These programmable thermostats, such as the Nest Learning Thermostat, can adapt to the temperatures around them or adjust based on your lifestyle.
If you want to control your heating thermostat with home gadgets, you’ll also need to have these WiFi-enabled devices installed. These voice control devices are usually plug-and-play, but prices vary:
You may need to factor in construction costs too – for example, pulling up floors for underfloor heating. We’re totally brand-agnostic at CEDIA. That means we’ll advise you on the best smart heating brands for your budget, from Google Assistant to Hive thermostats.
The biggest cost benefit of a smart temperature control system is lowering your energy use. Some brands such as Tado claim you can save up to 31% on home heaters, though figures will vary depending on your lifestyle.
Your cost savings will come from:
The best part is that there is a variety of technologies compatible with everything from heat pumps to combi boilers. All you need is a connected router and a mobile device to get started.
When budgeting for smart temperature control, you should always allow for installation costs. These can be anywhere from £60 to £300, or even four figures for large construction jobs. The good news is that all of this information is available to you at the planning and consultation stages.
A CEDIA-approved integrator will already have worked with your existing systems, so you’ll only be recommended compatible tech. While there’s an initial outlay, it pays for itself in terms of heating bills, house value and quality of life.
£150 - £300
£1,500 - £10,000