Assessing the uptake of the Government’s “Help for Households” advice to reduce boiler flow temperatures in UK homes

Considering the rapid rise in energy costs due to the European energy crisis, the UK Government implemented an energy savings campaign called “Help for Households” in late 2022 that included advice to consumers to reduce the flow temperature of their boiler to 60°C to improve efficiency while preserving personal comfort. This work analysed user-defined set point flow temperature data from more than 50,000 UK boilers and compared the winters of 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 to understand whether these suggestions were implemented by the public and what the impact was. Results show that the percentage of households that set their boilers to 60°C doubled in winter 2022/2023, with estimated potential beneficial impact on more than 420,000 households. Findings clarify to what extent energy saving can be addressed by social change and behavioural-oriented public campaigns to guarantee energy security.