Aira: Sheffield heat pump firm launches major partnership with smart home device provider Hive

The firms said that as part of the new partnership, Aira’s heat pumps will scale across the UK through customer referrals from Hive, in a move the brands said could dramatically increase heat pump adoption in the UK.

Dan Rosenfield, managing director of Hive, said: “Domestic heating is one of the largest emitters of carbon in the UK which is why we’re collaborating with other like-minded businesses to address this challenge and help customers make the switch to a lower-carbon future.

“Our partnership with Aira brings together the best of British tech and innovative Scandinavian design to provide customers with more choice in how they electrify their home heating.”

The partnership comes during a critical time in the UK energy transition.

Although heat pump installations were at a record high in 2024, at 60,000, the UK is still far away from achieving the Government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028.

Around 25 million homes in the UK are thought to still be heated with gas boilers.

The announcement also comes shortly after the Government’s relaxation of planning permission restrictions for heat pump installations in the UK and alongside increased funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme – taking the overall budget for the scheme this financial year to £205m. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems

Aira said that switching to one of its heat pumps could save customers up to 29 per cent on heating costs over 20 years when switching from a gas boiler.

In March of last year, the company announced that it was launching a pay monthly plan for heat pumps with a 15 year guarantee in a bid to increase adoption across the UK.

At the time of the launch, Aira described the scheme as an “industry first”.

Martin Lewerth, Aira Group CEO, said, “In some of the coldest parts of Europe such as Scandinavia, heat pump technology has been widely used to heat homes for decades, and yet, nations like the UK are still in the very early stages of adoption.

“Building on Hive’s leadership in the smart home space, this partnership will help solidify heat pumps as a cleaner and more affordable heating solution for UK households, increasing awareness and accessibility - and ultimately supporting the clean-energy transition.”

Hive’s smart home technology is used in around two million homes. The company says it has saved over 1.6 billion kilos of carbon emissions through its technology, and saved customers over £490m in energy costs since it was launched.

According to a report from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero last year, 18 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 came from heating homes.

The report notes that the main source of these emissions is from burning natural gas to heat homes.

The Climate Change Committee has estimated that £162bn in additional investment will be needed from 2020 to 2050 for installing low-carbon heating in existing UK homes.