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Can AI really save you money on your heating bill? I spent two years testing to find out
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- DeepHorus
A two-year test in a 1930s solid-brick house found AI smart thermostats can cut heating bills, but savings are not guaranteed. The experiment compared manual control with a Tado X room-by-room system. It challenges claims of 25% average savings, or £180 a year.
Manufacturers promise cuts, but fluctuating energy costs make impact hard to isolate. The test bed was a 1930s solid-brick home with insulated loft. In winter 2024, setup used a 10-year-old Worcester Bosch combi boiler, a Hive thermostat with smart features off, and 13 standard radiator valves. The owner set morning and evening schedules and manually adjusted radiators.
This kept bills low but caused family discomfort and disputes. After controlling for hot water, manual control used 14,316.7 kWh of gas over 213 days from November to May—10-15% lower than previous years. The approach was laborious.
In summer 2025, the Hive was replaced with a Tado X system: 13 smart radiator thermostats, wireless thermostats in two largest rooms, and a programmer wired to the boiler. It manages heating room by room, turning off unused radiators to maximise boiler efficiency. The setup costs about £930, plus £80 labour for boiler wiring.
AI features need a £3.99 monthly or £29.99 annual subscription. Tado’s AI uses anonymised data from 1 million homes to learn heating rates. But the test boiler lacked OpenTherm, which could further cut consumption.
The experiment shows AI can help, but savings depend on home and boiler compatibility. Manual control delivered lower bills but at a comfort cost. Consumers must weigh upfront investment and subscription fees against potential savings. Future systems may improve as AI learns and more boilers support efficiency protocols. Homeowners should assess actual savings against costs.
