Great Energy Saving Idea – Hive Home – A new App & Thermostat connected to boiler and home broadband.

I’m always looking for energy saving ideas, especially this week with the energy company rises. I discovered this new idea Hive www.hivehome.com. A brand new product launched only a few weeks ago, it was demonstrated to me at the ideal home improvement show. To explain it simply…

It’s a new thermostat in your house that connects to your boiler/ hot water and broadband.

You can control the thermostat via an app on your smartphone, tablet or laptop wherever you are…in the whole world!

It claims to save you £150 per year…I was very sceptical of this saving and thoroughly questioned the salesman, as you would imagine of Mrs MummyPenny 😉 So it saves you cash by giving you the flexibility via the phone app of control. Are you anything like me? My phone never leaves my side, so you have ultimate control of your heating and hot water.

• Sat on sofa and feeling a bit hot, reach for your phone/tablet and turn it down.
• Just woken up 2 hours too early and it feels cold, switch on the heating from the warmth of your bed.
• Do you like me forgot to switch the heating off after you have left for work, switch it off via your phone
• Stuck in a traffic jam/on the train and need to delay the heating being switched on, do it from your phone
• Forget that you have left heating on after you’ve gone to bed, wake up feeling all hot, switch off heating from your phone.

Maybe this all sounds bit lazy but I know I would benefit from them, my husband and I always forget to switch the heating off and leave it running all day long. In fact I would love to do all of the above. I know we’ll save energy costs with it.

So this piece of technology is obviously not free.  The thermostat and fitting of it has to come at a cost. It costs £199, which you should gain back within 2 years I reckon, maybe sooner. I’m getting it installed when the new kitchen and boiler is installed as part of my current renovations.

British Gas own this product so its installed by a professional British Gas engineer, but you can be with any utility company and use it. I did initially think not British Gas, I’m not getting my energy from them, but you don’t have to!