Efficient Heating: Helping Scottish households
Connect Response shares its approach to the withdrawal of the Radio Teleswitching Service (RTS)
It is estimated there are around 250,000 households in Scotland impacted by the withdrawal of RTS. Many of the affected households are in Multi Dwelling Units (MDU) where tenants are reliant on electric storage heating (ESH) and hot water.
For ESH users, a potential downside of installing a smart meter is that the heating and hot water will continue to operate as it does now; the system will remain ‘dumb’ and unable to charge dynamically. The tenant’s ESH may continue to deliver excessive heat in the morning after its overnight charge, and, by mid-afternoon on colder days, require the tenant to switch on expensive supplementary heating, such as fan heaters.
An alternative approach to the RTS switch off is to combine the installation of a smart meter with Connected Response’s HeatSage technology. Connected Response has been part of Warmworks since 2021.
Smart meters provide tenants with the opportunity to switch to a more flexible tariff such as Economy 10 or similar. HeatSage ensures the tenant is able to make optimal use of the flexibility offered by the tariff to deliver their heating and hot water needs at the lowest cost.
HeatSage achieves this by analysing three variables for each tenant:
- The tenant’s heating and hot water preferences
- The tenant’s living room temperature
- Tomorrow’s local average temperature
If tomorrow’s temperature is higher than usual for the time of year, HeatSage will dynamically (automatically) reduce the night-time ESH charge to maintain heating and hot water in line with the tenant’s preferences. Alternatively, if the outlook is for cold weather, HeatSage can ‘top up’ the ESH during the afternoon or evening off-peak charging windows allowed for under the Economy 10 (or similar) tariff.
The net effect of using HeatSage to optimise ESH and hot water charging is a better heating and hot water experience for the tenant and a typical reduction in their electricity bill of 30-40%.
The Connected Response team has extensive experience of tenant engagement, honed during the installation of HeatSage on a roll-out to 10,000 flats across Glasgow. Two further major HeatSage projects to replace Radio Teleswitches for Scottish landlords are commencing in April 2024 and will benefit another 1,200 households.
For further information about Connect Response and HeatSage, please contact visit www.connectedresponse.co.uk or contact Martin Rinvolucri on 07767 549 914 or at martinrinvolucri@connectedresponse.co.uk.