Last updated: 21 September 2026
By Stiv · Design, technology and personal finance
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
Nothing here is personal financial advice. Check compatibility with your boiler, and with a Gas Safe registered installer where wiring is involved, before you buy.
Six years to pay back, and what the smart part adds on top
Smart heating controls are sold on one promise, a smaller heating bill, and hardly anyone selling them says how long that takes to arrive. The Energy Saving Trust does. Fitting a programmer, a room thermostat and radiator valves to a home that has none costs around £600, and it puts the saving at about £100 a year in Great Britain. So you are roughly six years from being ahead. However, a smart thermostat added on top of basic controls has no independent saving figure at all. That is why every pick below comes with what it costs to run as well as what it costs to buy.
Pricing up the tado Smart Thermostat X?
The wireless starter kit with hot water control was £169.99 at tado when I checked, and the running costs are further down.
Section 01 / The basics
What heating controls a boiler should have
Four parts. Check which of them your home already has before buying anything smart.
To start with, the Energy Saving Trust sets out the minimum for a gas, oil or LPG boiler in its guide to heating controls. There are three parts for every system, plus a fourth if you have a hot water tank:
- A programmer, which decides when the heating comes on and goes off.
- At least one room thermostat, which switches the boiler off once the room reaches the temperature you set.
- Thermostatic radiator valves, the numbered dials on each radiator, which cut the flow to a room once that room is warm.
- A cylinder thermostat, if hot water is stored in a tank, so the water stops heating at the temperature you set.
Smart heating controls do the same four jobs. The difference, in short, is the internet connection. According to the Energy Saving Trust, that adds app control from outside the house, schedules that learn your habits, and geofencing, which turns the heating down when your phone leaves home. None of that replaces a missing radiator valve, though. If your radiators have plain on and off valves, radiator valves come before anything with an app.
If you are still choosing which ecosystem the rest of the house runs on, my smart home guides cover the hubs, plugs and speakers. This guide stays on heating.
Section 02 / The maths
The honest payback on smart heating controls
Around £600 to fit, about £100 a year back, and no independent figure for the smart part.
Every figure in this section comes from the Energy Saving Trust, and I read each one on its site on 21 September 2026. Every price further down was checked at the linked retailer on the same day.
The £100 figure. The Energy Saving Trust says installing heating controls could save £100 a year in Great Britain and £110 in Northern Ireland. Note that it covers heating controls in general: a programmer, a room thermostat and radiator valves. Put another way, it is not a figure for a smart thermostat, and nobody should present it as one.
The £600 bill. Meanwhile, adding a programmer, a thermostat and radiator valves on every radiator to a home with none costs around £600, according to the same page. If you already have a programmer and a thermostat, valves on every radiator cost around £370.
The six years. Put together, a home starting from nothing spends about £600 to save about £100 a year. That is roughly six years before the controls have paid for themselves, and longer if an installer quotes above the average.
What a smart thermostat adds on top of basic controls
A smart thermostat bought on top of working controls has no independent saving figure behind it. The Energy Saving Trust puts it directly: whether smart heating controls save you money depends on how you control your heating now. In practice, if you already come home to a timed schedule and turn the dial down at night, an app adds convenience more than savings. If the heating runs whether anyone is in or not, geofencing and remote control have more to work with.
Consequently, a smart thermostat at £119 to £219 earns its place through control first, with any saving as a bonus. Of course, the makers publish their own saving figures, and I cover what those are based on in the limitations section.
Payback in years on the three upgrades the Energy Saving Trust prices, from its own cost and saving figures. Tap or click the chart to open it full size.
Around £600 to fit, about £100 a year back: roughly six years before heating controls pay for themselves.Energy Saving Trust figures
Section 03 / Smart thermostats
Four smart thermostats, and what each costs to run
The purchase price is only half the number. Two of these four sell a monthly plan on top.
tado Wireless Smart Thermostat X starter kit, £169.99 at tado.
tado Wireless Smart Thermostat X (2nd gen) starter kit
The kit pairs a wireless temperature sensor, which you put in the room you care about, with Programmer X, which wires in at the boiler and switches the hot water as well as the heating. It also works with Alexa, Siri and Google, speaks Matter and Thread, and runs on a battery you recharge over USB-C. tado says the charge lasts all winter.
The subscription catch. Adaptive heating, geofencing, pre-heating before you get home, open window detection and the Energy IQ cost reports all sit behind tado AI Assist at £3.99 a month. As a result, the first year costs £169.99 plus £47.88, or £217.87, if you want the features that do the automatic saving. The free app still gives you remote control and room schedules. Also, the USB-C charging cable is not in the box. Full specifications are on my tado Smart Thermostat X page.
For a home with a hot water cylinder that wants heating and hot water in one app
£169.99, plus £3.99 a month for AI Assist
Hive Thermostat, £119 at Hive.
Hive Thermostat
The Hive Thermostat keeps a physical dial where tado and Nest have touch surfaces. The box holds the thermostat, a receiver that wires in at the boiler, and four AA batteries. In addition, Hive lists it as compatible with most UK gas and LPG systems, and with most oil boilers. It also speaks OpenTherm, which tells a compatible combi boiler how much heat is needed, so the temperature stays steadier.
The Hive+ question. First, the thermostat works without a plan. Hive+ then adds budgeting tools, a schedule assistant and an extended warranty for £3.99 a month or £39.90 a year. Hive+ members also get 15% off the thermostat until 5 October 2026. However, Hive says the schedule assistant does not yet work with multiple heating zones or with Hive Radiator Valves. Anyone planning to add Hive valves later therefore gets less from the plan.
For someone who wants to turn a dial by hand and still have the app
£119, Hive+ optional
Google Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd generation), £219 at the Google Store.
Google Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen)
In practice, the Nest learns when you turn the heating up and down and builds a schedule from it. Also, the box includes the Heat Link, which is the part that wires in at the boiler. Google lists combi, system and heat-only boilers, hot water tanks, wet underfloor heating and OpenTherm among the systems it works with. Finally, the warranty is a two-year limited one.
The support question. This is the third generation, and it is the Nest Learning Thermostat the UK Google Store sells. Meanwhile, Google ended support for the first and second generation models on 25 October 2025, including the 2014 European version. Those thermostats still work on the wall, but Google's own support page says they lost app control, remote changes and voice assistant links. In other words, a £219 thermostat depends on Google keeping its app side running. See the Nest Learning Thermostat page for the specifications.
For a household that never keeps to a written schedule
£219
Drayton Wiser 1 Channel Smart Room Thermostat Kit (2nd generation), £210.63 at Wiser.
Drayton Wiser Smart Room Thermostat Kit (2nd gen)
Wiser is the app-controlled range from Drayton, which cites 75 years of making heating controls. Specifically, the 1 Channel kit is a hub plus a room thermostat, meant for a combi boiler where hot water comes on demand. Drayton states there is no subscription fee and gives a three-year warranty. In addition, the same hub runs Wiser radiator thermostats, so a room-by-room setup stays in one app.
The sale price. It was £210.63 on 21 September, which is 15% off the £247.80 full price. Yet at full price it is the most expensive of these four. Homes with a hot water cylinder need the 2 Channel kit instead, which was the same sale price that day.
For someone who wants every feature without paying monthly
£210.63, was £247.80
Section 04 / Radiators
Smart radiator valves, room by room
A thermostat controls the boiler. A valve controls one room, so a spare bedroom can stay cool while the living room is warm.
tado Smart Radiator Thermostat X starter kit, £139.99 at tado.
tado Smart Radiator Thermostat X starter kit
The starter kit is one smart valve plus the Bridge X that connects it to the internet, with six adapters for different valve fittings. After that, extra valves are £59.99 each. The valve charges over USB-C instead of taking AA batteries, and tado says each room reaches its target within 0.5°C.
The price per room. For example, kitting out five radiators comes to £139.99 plus four more valves at £59.99, which is £379.95. That is about the Energy Saving Trust's £370 for fitting ordinary valves to a whole house. Again, the charging cable is not included, and the automatic features need AI Assist.
For a house with rooms that sit empty most of the day
£139.99 for one valve and the bridge, then £59.99 a valve
Hive Radiator Valve, £59 at Hive.
Hive Radiator Valves, and the Wiser alternative
Hive's valve is £59 and comes with three adapters and two AA batteries. It needs a Hive Hub, and Hive says the original Hive Hub 1 does not support the valves. Check which hub you have before ordering. Alternatively, Wiser's own radiator thermostat is £59.99 and runs from the Wiser hub, or £167.99 for a three-pack.
If you are not in either ecosystem, the Aqara W600 in my smart home starter kit guide works over Matter, so it lands in Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa instead.
For adding room control to a thermostat you already own
£59 (Hive), £59.99 (Wiser)
Section 05 / Electric heating
For a plug-in heater, a smart plug
With electric heating, a plug with a timer does the programmer's job for one heater.
Tapo P110M smart plug, £9.99 on Amazon.
Tapo P110M smart plug
The P110M adds schedules, an auto-off timer and energy monitoring to anything you plug in, and it works with Matter, Apple Home, Alexa and Google. For a heater, the energy monitoring is the useful part, because it shows what the heater actually draws. TP-Link also lets you set the plug to cut off above a power level you choose.
The 2,990W limit. TP-Link rates the plug at a maximum of 2,990W and 13A, though. A heater rated at 3kW is above that, so read the rating plate on the heater before you plug it in. In addition, the plug only switches the power, so the heater's own thermostat has to be set sensibly too. There is more in my Tapo P110M review.
For a flat or an office heated by one plug-in heater
£9.99
What a smart plug saves on standby
My first-generation HomePod draws about 4 watts when it is doing nothing. Switching it off at a smart plug for eight hours a night saves 32 watt-hours a night, which adds up to about 11.7kWh a year. At a round 25p per kWh, that is about £2.92 a year, so a £9.99 plug takes about three and a half years to pay for itself. Off for 12 hours a night instead, it saves about £4.38 a year and pays back in just over two years. Your own unit rate is on your bill, and the October rates are in my price cap guide linked further down.
However, the plug draws power too, all day and all night. TP-Link does not publish a standby figure for the P110M. If it drew half a watt, that would be about 4.4kWh a year, or roughly £1.10, which takes a big bite out of a £2.92 saving.
By comparison, the Energy Saving Trust puts the saving from turning appliances off standby across a whole home at around £45 a year in Great Britain. So a smart plug earns its keep on a cluster of devices on one extension lead, such as a TV, a games console and a soundbar, rather than on one small speaker. Check each device first, though: the trust notes that some TV recorders need to stay on to record, and fridges and freezers need power all the time. My smart plugs guide covers which plugs to use.
Section 06 / Automations
Smart home automations that cut heating waste
The saving comes from heat that never gets used: an open window, an empty room, a heater left on.
Open window detection. A smart radiator valve with this feature turns the radiator down when it senses a window has been opened. On tado, Advanced Open Window Detection is one of the AI Assist features. For plug-in electric heaters, the Ecodesign rules for local space heaters make the maker state on the product information sheet whether a model has open window detection. So check that line before you buy a heater.
Window sensors and automations. Alternatively, a contact sensor on a window can switch off a heater's smart plug the moment the window opens, through an automation in Apple Home, Google Home or Alexa. The same works on a back door that gets left open. My smart home starter kit guide prices a door sensor and explains which hubs can run battery sensors.
Matter. Matter is the standard that lets one device work in Apple Home, Google Home and Alexa at the same time. On this page, tado describes the Thermostat X range as Matter and Thread-enabled, and the Tapo P110M is Matter-certified. As a result, you can change which app runs the house later without replacing the heating kit. Look for the Matter logo on the box.
Are infrared heating panels cheaper to run?
The Energy Saving Trust describes infrared heating as direct electric heating that warms people and surfaces rather than the air. It says a well-controlled system will probably cost less to run than standard electric panel heaters, but that there is little research to confirm this. It also warns that lower air temperatures can bring condensation, damp and mould. For a home on mains gas, the running cost is the catch: under the price cap, a unit of electricity costs over three times as much as a unit of gas. Therefore an infrared panel suits a room you heat on its own, such as a home office, rather than replacing the boiler.
At a glance / Side by side
Smart heating controls compared
Price on the day I checked, what it costs after that, and what it needs to work.
| Pick | Price | Ongoing cost | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| tado Smart Thermostat X kit | £169.99 | £3.99 a month for AI Assist features | Wiring at the boiler; USB-C cable not included |
| Hive Thermostat | £119 | Optional Hive+ at £3.99 a month or £39.90 a year | Wiring at the boiler |
| Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen) | £219 | Not stated | Heat Link wiring at the boiler |
| Drayton Wiser 1 Channel kit | £210.63 | No subscription fee | Combi boiler; 2 Channel kit for a tank |
| tado Smart Radiator Thermostat X kit | £139.99 | £3.99 a month for AI Assist features | Extra valves £59.99 each |
| Hive Radiator Valve | £59 | Optional Hive+ | A Hive Hub, not Hub 1 |
| Tapo P110M plug | £9.99 | None | A heater under 2,990W |
Section 07 / Before you buy
Three non-smart fixes that help smart controls work
A smart thermostat cannot keep heat in. These three can, and two of them have Energy Saving Trust payback figures.
An 80mm hot water cylinder jacket
The Energy Saving Trust puts a cylinder jacket at about £30. It also says adding an 80mm jacket to a tank with only 25mm of foam built in can save £45 a year in Great Britain, so it pays for itself inside a year. The Mangers 80mm jacket was £32.99 on Amazon in the 42 by 18 inch size, and other sizes start at £30.99. Measure the tank's height and girth first so the jacket covers all of it. If you have a combi boiler, you have no tank, so skip this one. The trust's advice on insulating tanks and radiators covers the fitting.
Draught-proofing
The Energy Saving Trust says draught-proofing windows, doors and floors could save around £55 a year in Great Britain. Professional draught-proofing of a whole house costs about £250, which is a payback of four and a half years, and DIY strips cost less. Its draught-proofing guide covers where draughts get in and how to seal each one. For the free habits that go with it, my winter energy saving tips cover the behaviour side.
Radiator reflector foil
Reflector panels sit behind a radiator and bounce heat back into the room instead of into the wall. However, the Energy Saving Trust says they help most on uninsulated solid walls, and only behind radiators on external walls, and it publishes no saving figure for them. The VOUNOT 10 metre roll was £19.99 on Amazon, with 4.5 out of 5 from 1,030 ratings when I looked. So it is cheap and sensible on a solid wall, but I cannot tell you when it pays back.
Section 08 / Your tariff
What your energy price does to the maths
Every payback figure above moves with the price you pay per unit of gas.
After all, heating controls save units of energy, and the price of each unit decides what that is worth in pounds. Meanwhile, the new Ofgem price cap takes effect on 1 October 2026. My October 2026 price cap guide has the new unit rates and standing charges, so I have not repeated them here. If you are deciding whether to lock in a price before the winter, my guide on whether to fix your energy tariff covers the named fixes and their exit fees. For supplier switching and the Octopus tariffs, everything sits in my Octopus Energy guides.
A higher unit price shortens every payback on this page, and a lower one lengthens it. Therefore, treat the six years as a guide rather than a promise.
Section 09 / Help with the cost
The Warm Homes Plan and heating controls
Help is coming for some households, but not all the terms are published yet.
The government's Warm Homes Plan, last updated on GOV.UK on 18 March 2026, sets out close to £15 billion of public investment in home upgrades. The Energy Saving Trust says that for people on low incomes, it will include fully funded support to install heating controls. It also describes low and zero-interest loans for homeowners regardless of income. However, the government says it will publish the loan scheme's eligibility details later in 2026, and the trust says it will update its guide when it knows more.
So if your household income is low, check what support you qualify for before paying around £600 yourself. In the meantime, the trust's page on what the Warm Homes Plan means for you is the one to watch for the details.
Section 10 / Limitations
What smart heating controls cannot fix
Insulation, radiator valves and subscriptions decide more of your bill than the app does.
A leaky house. A thermostat decides when the boiler runs. Still, it cannot stop heat leaving through an uninsulated loft or a draughty floor. In a poorly insulated home, the boiler still has to run for longer to hold a temperature, whatever controls it. That is why the jacket and the draught-proofing sit on this page with payback figures, and none of the thermostats do.
The dull valve. Indeed, ordinary radiator valves are on the Energy Saving Trust's minimum list, and smart thermostats are not. A room nobody uses, turned down with a £59 valve or a plain one, is a saving no smart thermostat can make on its own.
The cloud. Equally, every smart pick here depends on an app and a company's servers. The first and second generation Nest thermostats lost app control in October 2025, and now work only from the thermostat itself. Similarly, any of these makers could do the same to a model in future.
The subscriptions. tado keeps its automatic saving features behind a £3.99 monthly plan. Hive also sells an optional one at the same monthly price. Drayton charges nothing monthly. Over five years, £3.99 a month is £239.40, which is more than the tado kit itself.
The makers' own saving figures. tado advertises an average 22% saving on heating, based on its own customers' data, and offers a refund if you do not save. Hive advertises up to £167 a year, based on a modelled medium-use household. Even so, neither is an independent test, and both say actual savings vary. Therefore, the Energy Saving Trust's £100 for controls in general is the figure I would plan around.
Smart heating controls: your questions answered
Do smart thermostats actually save money?
It depends on how you control your heating now, and the Energy Saving Trust says exactly that. If your heating already runs on a timer and a room thermostat, a smart thermostat mainly adds convenience. If it runs whether anyone is home or not, geofencing and remote control give it more to cut.
How much can smart heating controls save?
In short, no independent body publishes a figure for smart thermostats on their own. The Energy Saving Trust says installing heating controls in general, meaning a programmer, a room thermostat and radiator valves, could save £100 a year in Great Britain and £110 in Northern Ireland. By comparison, fitting all three from scratch costs around £600.
How much do smart heating controls cost?
On 21 September 2026, the smart thermostats here ran from £119 for the Hive Thermostat to £219 for the Nest Learning Thermostat, with the tado kit at £169.99 and the Drayton Wiser kit at £210.63 on sale. Smart radiator valves were £59 to £59.99 each. tado's AI Assist features add £3.99 a month.
Do I need radiator valves as well as a smart thermostat?
Yes, at least ordinary ones. The Energy Saving Trust lists thermostatic radiator valves in the minimum controls for any boiler system. By contrast, smart valves are optional, and they make most sense in homes with rooms that sit empty.
Will a smart thermostat work with my boiler?
Check your own boiler before you buy. Hive, tado and Nest all publish compatibility lists, and the Wiser 1 Channel kit is for combi boilers only. If your boiler speaks OpenTherm, a thermostat that supports it can control the boiler's output more finely. Where mains wiring is involved, the Energy Saving Trust suggests getting quotes from at least three installers.
Do smart thermostats need a subscription?
Some do for their full feature set. tado puts geofencing, adaptive heating and open window detection behind AI Assist at £3.99 a month. Hive+ is optional at £3.99 a month or £39.90 a year. Drayton states Wiser has no subscription fee.
My house is cold anyway. Will smart controls help?
Probably not much. Controls decide when the heating runs, but they cannot keep heat in. Draught-proofing, a cylinder jacket and insulation come first, and the Warm Homes Plan may help with the cost if your income is low.
More things like this:
- How to read your energy bill - find your yearly gas use in kWh, which is the number every saving on this page is measured against.
- Energy switching bonuses - how switching bonuses work, if a new supplier is part of your winter plan.
- Google Nest Protect 2 - the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm that talks to your phone, worth a look for any home with a gas boiler.
- Gifts for homebodies - cosy ideas for people who would rather stay in when the heating goes on.
- Emma app - a budgeting app that tracks your energy direct debit alongside everything else you pay.
Disclaimer. Prices, stock and offers change, and so do energy prices, so every payback figure here is a guide rather than a promise. Savings figures come from the Energy Saving Trust unless a maker is named. This is not personal financial advice, and for wiring or boiler work a qualified installer is the right person to ask. This article contains affiliate or referral links. If you click through and sign up I may earn a commission or referral bonus at no extra cost to you. It does not affect my editorial view.
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