Installers And Hive Have Beef :Truth & Retrofit Dilemma
Hive Stung By Less Than Sweet Launch With Aira
Your news might be influenced by where you get it from. If that comes as a surprise, I am sorry.
Depending on where you consume updates about retrofit, you might have heard that Swedish Eco Giant Aira has partnered with Hive, the heating control company owned by Centrica, who own British Gas.
If you run a google news alert for the story, you'll be easily able to locate over 22 websites that report on construction, building and sustainability news that have repeated, some verbatim i.e. without changing the words, the Press Release issued by Hive and Aira.
Further investigation might reveal 7 weekly and monthly news letters, some responsible for large UK industry events that have repeated the press release in their updates in their 'newsletters'.
So why have a small, but very vocal group of heat experts and pump installers taken up arms against this news?
Is it because it's presented as news and is more like 'creative marketing'.
Is it because the retrofit sector, which needs to keep itself squeaky clean in order to influence public opinion is in fact, hanging out some dirty linen?
First, let's see one of the responses, from industry influencer Nathan Gambling;
Why Reporting Matters
Aira is, after receiving a huge wedge of investment in a prime position to develop it's technology into the UK market. A market which is set to grow at over 1 million households every year for the next 15 years. That isn't an estimation, that's a target we set ourselves for electrifying our country's heating. It's maths.
It's common sense from a business perspective, that if you want to break into a lucrative market, you partner with a company which already sits, slap bang in that market. It is, to quote their own press release, a "strategic partnership". That means there is mutual benefit.
So why does the presentation of the news come with calls from some quarters to get the Competition Markets Authority involved?
It's the way its repeated in 'news outlets' not reported. There is a difference.
The Competitions Markets Authority are unlikely to get involved as making big claims couched in truth isn't a market manipulation. But it doesn't win you any friends.
What Is The Best Heat Pump?
This query is searched for in the UK, every month. And I'll let you into a secret. There isn't one. It doesn't exist. Because a heat pump is only as good as the installer who puts it in, the heat expert who plotted the energy use and the designer that monitored the performance.
There is an open source register, anyone can look at that shows some of the highest performing heat pumps.
Some heat pumps are manufactured in a way that means they perform better than others.
It is known in government, that many of the heat pump manufacturers are manufacturing systems which operate just at the margins of the performance required to pass benchmarks in Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS).
As government money is being spent on accelerating the install of these systems the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero wants them to do better.
So it asked for a review, which needs to be completed before March 2025 but the very people who are best placed to answer this review, the sort of people that you see installing pumps at the top of the Heat Pump Monitor site, are busy doing the work.
We can only hope that they participate. Because if manufacturers, who let's be clear, are not the bad guys - can make more money from just passing the MEPS, they are going to keep manufacturing 'just good enough' units. They are running businesses, not charities.
What's The Buzzkill About Hive?
Lets' just say, it's not a popular choice amongst high grade installers. It's a system which doesn't make full use of the opportunities to regulate all the control and functions a heat pump needs to run well.
In simple terms, it's more of an off and one kinda thing.
But the Aira and Hive partnership is not an announcement telling the UK that all Aira heat pumps will be installed with Hive controls. It is not an announcement that Hive is the best choice for controlling your heat pump. It isn't.
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Social Forums Get Pretty Agitated About Hive and Heat Pumps
The opprobrium, uproar, ball aching bad news about this story. Is. Journalists repeating and amplifying a press release creates a perception. Which isn't necessarily quite right.
The 'best' heat pump, is almost certainly one of the more expensive on the market. Not Aira. The best controller, is not going to be a Hive.
Hive is not a brand new product. So it's likely, if Centrica are running the company properly, that newer systems will continue to appear. They have a captive market, so it makes sense.
It's Me Not You
It's a sad day when a whole industry has just a few voices who are prepared to speak out and highlight errors, mistruths or exaggerations.
But this time, I think it's a good point to reflect that you have a choice to follow feeds that give you accurate fair reporting.
And any journalist who continuously copy and pastes press releases, without analysis, interviews or reaction. Is probably going to be replaced with AI anyway.