20 April 2021, Edinburgh, UK: Delta-EE, the specialist new energy market research consultancy, today releases its Connected Homes; State of the Market 2021 report that reveals connected climate control expenditure reached €718 million - up 10% versus 2019. Approximately 4.4m devices were sold in 2020, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though COVID-19 negatively affected the first months of 2020, the rest of the year saw steady growth. Lockdowns catalysed household investments in house improvements, including connected climate controls, helping total customer spending to rise from €670 million to €718 million. These sales were driven by around 3 million households across Europe purchasing the connected climate controls, up from 2.7 million in 2019, largely in the UK and Germany.

Ricardo Lopez, Connected Homes Research Manager at Delta-EE, says "COVID-19 had brought our attention closer to our home - quite literally - with many of us looking more closely at our household's climate. The demand for efficiency and connectivity skyrocketed and we don't expect it to slow down any time soon. So far in 2021, we have already seen record sales in January and February for many connected climate control providers and we anticipate this trend to continue, with 23% market growth per year on average for the next three years."

Smart thermostats continued to drive the lion's share of sales, accounting for more than €400 million of consumer spend. Connected thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) and connected electric heating were the next most popular choices, accounting for €128 million and €65 million respectively.

Lopez comments "As the world moves towards a greener future, customer choices become more interrelated. When we consider smart meter functionalities, the penetration of electric heating and air conditioning in countries traditionally warmed by gas boilers, and the growing uptake of EVs, we see that consumers can no longer make energy decisions in isolation - the growth of the connected climate control market is both a beneficiary and driver of that. As the market matures, devices manufacturers need to think strategically about the functionalities of their devices as a response to a more complex consumer demand."

Alongside COVID, key market drivers covered in the Connected Homes; State of the Market 2021 report include connected controls, connected home solutions platforms (such as Nest and Hive), HVAC connectivity, and smart meters.