Jordan O'BrienUK consumers may be dipping their toes into the world of the smart home through speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, but it seems that smart thermostats are their first true smart home product. That’s according to research and consultancy firm Delta-ee, which claims that as many as 1.5m homes in the UK now use a smart thermostat.
In 2017, over 500,000 new smart thermostats were installed in UK homes, with the rate of adoption set to increase even further. In fact, it’s estimated that nearly one million smart thermostats will be installed each year by 2020.
Arthur Jouannic, connected home expert at Delta-ee, notes, “The market clearly benefits from the rise of the Amazon and Google connected speakers, estimated to be in over 1.5 million UK households.
“These devices are almost a gateway technology: users quickly come to understand the value of controlling devices remotely, which used to be a key barrier for connected home devices.”
There are a wide variety of smart thermostats on the market, including the ever-popular Nest Learning Thermostat and Hive Active Heating. They’re not the only options, however. UK consumers also have access to devices from Tado, Drayton Wiser, Netatmo, Climote, Honeywell, Heat Genius, and Heatmiser.
This isn’t the first time Delta-ee has noted the popularity of smart thermostats. The company forecasted back in 2015 that smart thermostats would lead the connected energy market in both the UK and the Netherlands. It had estimated that 700,000 smart thermostats would be purchased in the UK in 2017, however. Unfortunately, the market isn’t growing as much as originally predicted…