More than half of consumers across Europe surveyed by Delta-ee find connected home ‘energy’ appealing. Smart heating controls (smart thermostats and multi-zonal controls) topped the list at 70% in Germany, with smart lighting and remote diagnostics offering less appeal. Arthur Jouannic, manager of the Delta-ee Connected Home Service, says “this is encouraging given the low awareness of these products in the market”. [lightbox full=”http://www.delta-ee.com/images/delta_site_images/press_releases/Delta_ee_ConnectedHomeResearch_Sept15.png” title=”Ratio of respondents who found the products and services appealing”][/lightbox] The chart above shows the range of appeal for each product between the countries tested (Germany, UK, France and Sweden). Generally, customers in Germany showed…

VAT increase on low carbon heating products would have a huge impact on an already struggling market On the 4 June 2015, the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK has incorrectly applied the 5% VAT rate to the “supply and installation of energy-saving materials” in residential buildings. This includes lower carbon heating products such as heat pumps, micro-CHP and biomass boilers. Delta-ee has run independent analysis looking at the customer and long term market impacts of a potential increase of VAT on low carbon products. Steven Ashurst, Research Manager of the Microgen Insight Service at Delta-ee comments: “From…