Does my heat pump still save money in summer?
If you’ve noticed your heating hasn’t kicked in for a while, you might be wondering whether your heat pump (and the smart technology running it) is still doing anything useful. The short answer is yes. Here’s why.
Heat pumps don't take a summer holiday
It’s easy to associate heat pumps with winter. That’s when you feel them most – warming your rooms on cold mornings, keeping your home comfortable when temperatures drop outside.
But your heat pump is running year-round. Even on the warmest days of summer, it’s heating your hot water – and it’s doing that every single day.
Hot water doesn’t care what season it is. Showers, washing up, laundry – the demand is constant. And meeting that demand efficiently is where smart technology continues to earn its keep, long after the radiators have been switched off.
(Going away this summer? Homely’s holiday mode will pause hot water heating and protect your home from the cold while you’re gone – but that’s a topic for another post.)
WHY TIMING STILL MATTERS IN SUMMER
If you’re on a smart or multi-rate energy tariff, you’ll know that the cost of electricity isn’t fixed. It varies throughout the day – cheaper during off-peak periods, more expensive at peak times.
In winter, a smart system like Homely takes advantage of this by pre-heating your home when electricity is cheap and reducing usage during expensive periods. The savings are significant and easy to notice.
In summer, the same logic applies to your hot water. Heating a tank of water during a peak-price window costs meaningfully more than heating it during an off-peak one. Over the course of a year, those daily differences add up.
The question is: is your heat pump heating your hot water at the right time?
What Smart+ does differently
Homely’s Smart+ plan is designed to answer that question automatically – every day, without you needing to think about it.
Smart+ tracks your energy tariff and continuously optimises your heat pump schedule to make sure your hot water is heated when electricity is at its cheapest. In winter that means smarter heating schedules. In summer it means smarter hot water scheduling. Year-round, it means your heat pump is always working at the best possible time.
It’s simple, invisible, and consistently delivering value whatever the weather.
Based on independent testing at Salford Energy Labs, Homely can reduce heat pump bills by up to 31% per year for customers on a multi-rate or time-of-use tariff. That saving doesn’t switch off when the sun comes out.
Not on a smart tariff yet?
If you’re currently on a single-rate tariff, you’re paying the same price for electricity regardless of when you use it – which means you’re missing out on the off-peak savings that make Smart+ most effective.
Switching to a smart or multi-rate tariff is the first step. There are a growing number of options available, and Homely works with any smart tariff to give you flexibility. Once you’ve made the switch, updating your tariff details in the Homely app takes less than a minute.
The bottom line
Your heat pump is working this summer. With Smart+, Homely makes sure it’s working as efficiently and cheaply as possible.
For just £25 per year, Smart+ optimises your heat pump schedule year-round, so you’re never paying more than you need to for the energy your home uses.
Already on Smart+? You’re all set – Homely is handling the optimisation in the background, whatever the season.
