Aspire Housing invest in smart thermostat technology Switchee

Aspire Housing has recently invested in social housing innovator Switchee, as part of a bigger project on retrofitting 36 homes with smart thermostats. Currently, we've switched 22 homes in Newcastle-under-Lyme over to the new smart thermostats as part of this exciting trial.

We've signed up with Switchee to gather data and the newly fitted smart thermostats shall begin to collect useful information about humidity and energy use, helping us to highlight areas where we may be able to offer extra support. It is hoped that through this initiative, we will be able to more accurately identify homes that may be at risk of dampness and mould, whilst in addition, boosting the performance of our homes in terms of keeping them warmer for longer, and reducing their overall environmental impact. 

So, what exactly is Switchee?

Switchee is a modern, sleek, and easy-to-use smart thermostat that provides precise temperature control for your home. With its intuitive and user-friendly interface, customers will be able to easily set temperature schedules, control multiple zones, and monitor energy usage from anywhere, at any time.
The key feature of Switchee is its ability to learn your temperature preferences and create customized heating and cooling schedules that fit your personal lifestyle. This will mean our customers won't have to worry about manual adjustment of their thermostats. Instead, every time they come home or leave to go to work - Switchee does it all for them! What's more, it can do all of this without the requirement of being connected to your Wi-Fi network. It has its own independent internet connection, completely separate from your personal network.

Switchee also has the capability to control multiple zones in your home. If you have a different temperature preference for various rooms, Switchee will allow customers to set and control each room independently, providing maximum comfort and efficiency. For example, rooms that are not used frequently can be set at a lower temperature, saving money and reducing your own personal carbon footprint.
And with its companion app, customers will have full control over their thermostats from the convenience of their smartphones or tablets. Temperatures, schedules, and the ability to monitor energy usage are all easily accessible from their smart devices.

In addition, the Switchee app provides valuable insights into your energy usage, allowing you to track your consumption and make changes to save money on your energy bill. This is particularly useful for those who are conscious about reducing their carbon footprint and want to live a more sustainable lifestyle by optimising their energy efficiency.

Switchee will truly benefit our customers by saving money, bringing convenience and accessibility and lowering their home's overall CO2 emissions.

But, how can Switchee help us to provide extra support?

Switchee is able to aggregate thermostat data and report its information back to us through a secure web-based dashboard. 

This means that at a glance, we will be able to monitor how our homes are performing in relation to energy consumption and provide support if they are not performing optimally or efficiently. With Switchee, it will be possible for us to measure the effectiveness of a home's heating system by providing data on things such as how long it takes for the boiler to heat up. This information will be invaluable and allow us to further identify homes which may be requiring routine maintenance or boiler repairs.

Moreover, the regular fall of a home's internal temperature to below 18°C (whilst it is occupied), could be an indication that a customer is experiencing fuel poverty, and as such, allow us to provide extra support to better take care of our customers and their welfare. 

This future-proof, innovative technology is truly remarkable. We are thrilled and excited to be a part of a project of this nature, which will bring with it a variety of benefits for our homes and customers alike. We look forward to seeing how it can positively affect our future.

Speaking on behalf of Aspire Housing, Alice Kirkham said,

“We are currently implementing a range of energy-saving measures for our customers and Switchee will help us evidence how these are working. It will help our asset management, customer care and sustainability teams identify what more can be done to reduce maintenance, improve property thermal efficiency and highlight where there might be fuel poverty issues, particularly over the winter months... “Our entire business is onboard. Although it’s a small project initially, the results will be extremely informative and help form future housing development and improvement strategy as well as benefiting our customers.” 

Alice Kirkham, Head of Assets and Sustainability at Aspire Housing