British Gas has launched an app that enables users to control their central heating from their iOS or Android smartphone or Tablet. Customers can use the app to adjust their heating, set a schedule for their home’s temperature, and even turn their boiler on and off via text message. Research from British Gas shows that people who leaving their boiler on whilst at work or away for the weekend pay on average an extra £140 a year. Pricing for remote heating control, including installation, starts at £149 when bought with a new central heating installation, £199 for other customers with existing British Gas Energy or British Gas Services accounts, and £229 for new customers.

The product includes a wireless-enabled programmable thermostat, a home hub and installation by a British Gas engineer. The home hub connects via an Ethernet cable to the home broadband router. The service therefore requires a fixed home broadband connection, a spare port on the router and a spare plug socket close to the router. In trials, British Gas says that 95 per cent of customers rated the solution easy and intuitive to use. There’s more information here. LINK TO www.britishgas.co.uk/remote

“With the British weather as unpredictable as ever, remote heating control will give customers greater peace of mind by allowing them to schedule and adjust their heating on the go, so they only need to heat their home when they need to,” says British Gas Smart Homes managing director, Dean Keeling.