Switchee has won a competitive tender, worth £78,000, to install its smart thermostats in homes across North Lincolnshire, owned and managed by Ongo.
The initial project, to retrofit Switchee devices in 160 properties, will be completed within the next six months.
Ongo is a forward-thinking community minded organisation that has over 10,000 homes across North Lincolnshire and beyond. The company is looking into ways of replacing its gas-powered boilers with renewable technologies such as air source heat pumps.
The project with Switchee will help to evaluate how Ongo’s properties that already have these new heating systems are currently performing and whether tenants are using them in the most efficient way.
Evelina Paulauskaite, Research and Development Engineer at Ongo says: “This project is part of our smarter homes programme to look at how technology can support tenants and ensure we offer high quality and efficient properties for years to come.
“The devices will help us measure energy efficiency, identify any vulnerable tenants that may be at risk of fuel poverty and communicate directly without having to rely on Wi-Fi.
“This will save time, allow us to rapidly respond to maintenance issues, better inform tenants on their energy usage – hopefully resulting in cost savings for them – and overall, provide a better service.
“We’re looking to the future with this project. The initial programme is for a small number of retrofit installations so we can monitor the impact with a view to rolling it out more widely.
Switchee devices have an application programming interface (API) with other systems that will enable Ongo to have a holistic view of the data from any property that Switchee is installed in.
Tom Robins, CEO at Switchee says: “This project is a result of Ongo’s technology driven objective to gain insight into the energy efficiency of its new air source heat pumps. To find out how they are being used and minimise the effects of the current energy crisis on its tenants. We are delighted to partner a housing provider that shares the same values that we have at Switchee, recognising the importance of innovation and adopting new technology that will protect the environment and improve the lives of its local community.”
