Hive by British Gas

[terry]

I see that British Gas have rebranded their Remote Heating Control as Hive Active Heating...

https://www.hivehome.com/

It now controls hot water as well as heating (not sure how though) as it says your install needs a single thermostat.

I wonder whether the Safe and Secure system will also be moved onto the Hive branding, and whether they will ever work together as one instead of needing 2 hubs.

[james.elson]

More worryingly, Safe and Secure seems to have entirely disappeared from British Gas's website. I was about to order a replacement key fob. This is not good news at all.

James

[bazza2000]

Hey guys,

For those of you who are interested, I've just started a forum dedicated to the British Gas Hive products, starting to get some good interest and BG have contacted me direct to offer support and possibly some insider info in the future depending on how well the forum develops.

Come and have a look and ask away.

http://britishgashive.freeforums.org/

Thanks,

[roobarb!]

Watch the video. If I thought I needed a Hive system at the start of the video, I've been convinced out of it by the end!

So, my car breaks down and I wonder about my heating, do I? Save that 20p and put it towards the repair of my Mini? The user interaction required by this system is why it won't be a success. I want my heating system to work things out for itself, not have to be prompted by me. That's why Nest has been so popular.

Don't panic about the Safe and Secure, I'm sure it'll reappear. This is another AlertMe-powered system, by the way.

[roobarb!]

More information!

I spoke to BG yesterday about all this, as I have a Safe & Secure system as well as the AlertMe-own one. They are "no longer promoting Safe and Secure as a product", or in other words, they've probably decided to get out of the 'security' side of things and just do energy. However, they are still supporting and supplying devices for Safe and Secure. They have "no plans" to discontinue the system.

The person I spoke to believed that the removal of devices from their store was a mistake; they are still available and can be ordered by phone according to the prices here. Very disappointing on the security front; I like the AlertMe products in that line and it's a shame they're not actively selling it any more. It may well open up the field for other providers in the future, though - or more likely, it'll all feed into the revamped Hive product line at some point.

What's a little more galling is that it also leaves current BG customers with the "Remote Heating" product out in the cold (oh, the puns!). The new Hive product range is actually the same technology, just rebranded with some new peripherals. Does anybody recognise this little doodad?

Hive Hub

hivehub.png (22.5 KiB) Viewed 19785 times

Same device, just talks to a different server.

Anyway, that's the change as I can see it. No good news for Safe & Secure customers, bad news in for Remote Heating customers, fine news for new customers, no change for AlertMe customers.