1. Heat only the rooms you use
Heating individual rooms instead of maintaining the same temperature throughout your home can help reduce unnecessary energy consumption.
Working from home? Instead of increasing the central heating temperature for the entire house, a Mill Smart WiFi panel heater can provide additional warmth in your home office.
For example, maintain a comfortable 21°C in your home office during working hours (08:00–16:00) and lower the temperature to 18°C when the room is unoccupied.
The Mill app allows you to control temperatures room by room, making smart electric heating particularly useful for:
- Home offices used during working hours
- Bedrooms requiring additional warmth
- Guest rooms used occasionally
- Hobby rooms and other spaces used at specific times
Tip: If you use gas central heating, electric supplementary heating may help you reduce heating in other parts of your home. However, electric heaters consume electricity, and overall cost savings depend on how much central heating you can reduce, your home’s insulation and your electricity and gas prices.
2. Create a smart heating schedule
Why heat a room when nobody is using it?
Smart heating schedules automatically adjust room temperatures based on your daily routine, helping prevent unnecessary heating when you are asleep, away or using another room.
With the Mill app, you can create weekly heating schedules with different settings for Comfort, Sleep and Away modes.
For example, you could set your home office to:
- 08:00–16:00: Comfort mode at 21°C during working hours
- 16:00–08:00: Reduced temperature at 18°C when the room is not in use
- Weekends: Lower temperature when the home office is unoccupied
This reduces heating demand outside working hours without requiring manual adjustments.
Mill Predictive Heating™ takes smart scheduling further. This technology learns how quickly your room heats up and automatically calculates when heating should begin to reach your preferred temperature at the scheduled time.
Rather than heating unnecessarily early, your heater adapts to the room’s heating characteristics to provide warmth when you need it.
Tip: Create different heating schedules for rooms with different usage patterns. A home office, bedroom and living room rarely need the same temperature at the same time.
3. Choose the right room temperature
Lowering your thermostat by even 1°C can reduce heating energy consumption.
For many living spaces, a temperature between 18°C and 21°C can be a practical starting point, depending on personal comfort, activity and individual needs.
For example, reducing your living room temperature from 22°C to 21°C reduces the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. This lowers heat loss and the energy required to maintain your selected temperature.
If you primarily use one room during the day, consider keeping other rooms at lower temperatures where appropriate, while maintaining sufficient background heating to avoid moisture and condensation problems.
How does Mill PID Wattage Tech™ work?
Compatible Mill Smart WiFi electric heaters feature Mill PID Wattage Tech™, an intelligent heating technology designed to maintain a stable room temperature.
Instead of relying only on traditional full-power on/off cycles, the technology continuously adjusts the heater’s power output based on heating demand.
This helps:
- Maintain a more stable indoor temperature
- Reduce unnecessary temperature fluctuations
- Prevent temperature overshoots
- Adjust power output according to heating demand
By maintaining your selected temperature more precisely, Mill PID Wattage Tech™ helps optimise how electricity is used for heating.
Tip: Start by lowering your usual room temperature by 1°C and monitor your comfort and electricity consumption over several days.
4. Monitor electricity consumption in the Mill app
Understanding how much electricity your heater uses is an important step towards more energy-conscious heating.
The Mill app provides energy consumption statistics for connected heaters, allowing you to monitor electricity use and compare different heating schedules and temperature settings.
This helps you identify when and where you use the most electricity.
How much electricity does an electric heater use?
Electric heater consumption depends on its power rating, operating time and heating demand.
A traditional 1,000W electric heater consumes 1 kWh when operating continuously at full power for one hour.
Here are three examples of electricity consumption and estimated operating costs:
Heater power | Full-power operating time | Electricity consumption | Estimated cost |
500W | 5 hours | 2.5 kWh | €0.68 |
1,000W | 5 hours | 5 kWh | €1.35 |
1,500W | 5 hours | 7.5 kWh | €2.03 |
Example calculations based on an illustrative electricity price of €0.27/kWh. Actual electricity prices depend on your energy contract. These examples assume continuous operation at full power.
How much electricity does a Mill Smart WiFi heater use?
Unlike traditional electric heaters, Mill Smart WiFi heaters use intelligent temperature control and personalised heating schedules to optimise electricity consumption.
In a heating simulation conducted by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), a Mill Smart WiFi panel heater achieved electricity consumption as low as approximately 5 kWh per m² per month under specific test conditions.
The study also demonstrated that Mill Smart WiFi heaters can reduce electricity consumption by up to 30% compared to traditional electric panel heaters, depending on the conditions.
Actual energy consumption will vary based on insulation, outdoor temperature, room temperature and heating habits.
Read more about the NTNU study.
How can energy monitoring help you save?
Use the Mill app to compare different heating schedules and temperature settings.
For example, monitor your home office electricity consumption for one week at 21°C. The following week, try reducing the temperature to 20°C and compare the results.
Keep in mind that outdoor temperatures and other conditions can influence electricity consumption, so comparisons are most useful under similar conditions.
Tip: If you use both gas central heating and an electric heater, consider monitoring your total heating costs, including gas and electricity. Reducing gas consumption does not automatically mean reducing your total energy bill.
5. Use smart energy-saving features
Mill Smart WiFi electric heaters include intelligent features designed to help maintain comfortable temperatures while avoiding unnecessary heating.
Depending on the heater model and generation, these may include:
Open-window detection
When a sudden temperature drop indicates an open window, compatible Mill heaters can automatically reduce or temporarily stop heating.
This helps avoid unnecessary electricity consumption when ventilating a room.
Wattage cap
Wattage cap allows you to limit your heater’s maximum power output.
For example, a compatible 1,500W heater can be limited to 1,000W to reduce its maximum instantaneous electricity demand.
This can help manage peak power usage, although reducing maximum wattage does not necessarily reduce total electricity consumption in kWh.
Mill PID Wattage Tech™
Mill PID Wattage Tech™ uses a dimming thermotat replacing the traditional on/off thermostat. It holds a stable temperature and minimizes the costly overshoots.
By reducing temperature fluctuations and unnecessary overshooting, it provides more precise and comfortable heating control.
Mill Predictive Heating™
Mill Predictive Heating™ learns the heating characteristics of your room and calculates when the heater should start warming up to reach your desired temperature at the scheduled time.
This helps avoid starting the heating earlier than necessary while ensuring your room is comfortable when you need it.
Together, these technologies give you greater control over when and how electricity is used for heating.
Tip: Check your Mill heater’s product specifications to see which smart features are available for your model.
Is electric supplementary heating cheaper than gas central heating?
For many households in the Netherlands, an important question is whether electric supplementary heating can help reduce heating costs compared to gas central heating.
The answer depends on how the heating systems are used.
A conventional electric resistance heater converts nearly all the electricity it consumes into heat. However, electricity can cost more per unit of delivered heat than gas central heating or a heat pump.
This means electric heating is not automatically a cheaper alternative to gas heating.
Electric supplementary heating may be useful when you only need extra warmth in one room and can reduce the central heating temperature elsewhere in your home.
For example, if you work from home in a small office while the rest of your house is unoccupied, a room heater allows you to control the temperature of that space independently.
However, whether this reduces your overall energy costs depends on the electricity used by the heater compared with the energy saved through reduced central heating.
For larger areas or continuous whole-home heating, a heat pump is generally a more energy-efficient electric heating solution.
The key is to choose the right heating solution for your home and use it only when and where it is needed.
Conclusion: Smarter heating, less unnecessary energy use
Saving energy with smart electric heating comes down to three simple principles: heat the rooms you use, maintain the right temperature and avoid heating when it is not needed.
Whether your home uses gas central heating, a heat pump or electric heating, Mill Smart WiFi electric heaters provide flexible room-by-room temperature control.
With automatic heating schedules, energy monitoring, Mill PID Wattage Tech™ and Mill Predictive Heating™, you can maintain comfortable indoor temperatures while managing electricity consumption more precisely.
By combining smart heating technology with thoughtful heating habits, you can reduce unnecessary electricity consumption and enjoy comfortable warmth exactly where you need it.
Smart heating. Comfortable living. Better control over your energy use.
