District heating fell 10% — and the weather doesn’t explain it

The starting point: heating was adjusted according to phone calls

Before the change, heating in the building was adjusted the way it is in most comparable properties: the maintenance company came on site and turned the control up or down based on what residents reported. There was no measurement data on the actual indoor temperatures of the apartments, so the adjustment was based on guesswork.

For Holmala, the measure of success was simple.

Once the phones stopped ringing, things were fine.

The problem was not just the workload. A report could not be verified without a visit: the maintenance technician went to the apartment with a thermometer and often found the indoor temperature to be normal. Roughly speaking, in about half of the reports there was nothing actually wrong with the temperature.

No real balancing projects had been carried out before — only adjustments to the manifolds and thermostats of individual apartments.

The decision: the trial began in a building that was not a problem case

The initial impulse came from ClimaPri getting in touch, and the presentation that followed. The driver was cost: heating is the single largest expense item in a property.

Ikaalisten Kiinteistökonsultit manages rental housing companies wholly owned by the City of Ikaalinen. They could have picked a building that consumes considerably more district heating. The choice nevertheless fell on Rahkolankuja 20, which was not a particular problem case. The reason was partly practical: the company’s financial position was the best of these, and the project could be financed from cash reserves without additional funding. Partly it was a deliberate test setup.

If the system delivers savings in this property, then in a property where more heat is consumed the saving is likely to be even greater.

Decision-making was straightforward. The city’s rental housing companies share the same professional board, made up of civil servants and property managers. A project grounded in numbers is relatively easy to justify to a board like that, even if the promised figures are met with healthy scepticism: even a ten per cent saving adds up to a significant sum over ten years.

Commissioning: two weeks, little disruption

Rahkolankuja 20 is the first district-heated property to which ClimaPri’s heating control unit has been delivered. In March 2026, underfloor heating thermostats, a supply water control unit and remote-read water meters were installed. About two weeks had been set aside for the work, and it was done in that time.

The most visible part for residents was the water meter installations, which caused occasional water outages. The heating-side work was barely noticeable in daily life, and no complaints were received. The project did not take up a significant amount of the property manager’s own working time.

Nothing really took us by surprise. No problems, no trouble.

First observations: the differences between apartments narrowed

When the system was switched on in March, the first observation was the spread between apartments. Some apartments were at the right indoor temperature, some were cool and some clearly too warm.

Some apartments were at 24–25 degrees inside. The spread was really large.

Underfloor heating reacts slowly, so levelling out took a while. In late March and in April the highest apartment-level readings began to fall, and the overheating in individual apartments has since disappeared.

On the energy side, the first comparable month was April. The monthly average outdoor temperature was practically the same as in April 2025, meaning the heating demand was as high as a year earlier. District heating consumption still fell by 10 per cent. So the weather does not explain the drop.

Water consumption has turned to a slight decline. Consumption-based billing began at the start of July, and the first bill is generated in October, covering July–September consumption. Holmala expects the effect to show more clearly only once residents have seen their first bill.

The everyday change: the pointless maintenance visit is not made

In the property manager’s work, the most significant change so far is not the saving but the fact that a “too cold” report can be checked before anyone sets off to drive over.

Now the apartment’s temperature is checked remotely. The resident gets an answer immediately, and no maintenance visit has to be made just to verify it.

Reports are filtered in two directions. If an apartment really is cold, the matter can be sent straight to corrective work without an intermediate inspection visit. If the indoor temperature is normal, the resident gets a substantiated answer right away. According to Holmala, this also brings cost savings through property maintenance, even if it is hard to itemise in euros.

What is expected from the winter

The real results will only be seen after the heating season. Holmala monitors the apartments’ indoor temperatures regularly and records the realised district heating energy every couple of months in order to compare it with previous years.

If we get a saving of over 10 per cent, I will certainly be satisfied.

Holmala considers 10–15 per cent realistic. He also expects that in the first winter there may be more resident reports than before: if an apartment is used to 23–24 degrees, 21 degrees can feel cold. He believes genuine fault reports will fall clearly.

A recommendation to a colleague

On the basis of the first six months, Holmala’s assessment is clear. There have been individual fault situations, but the remote connections have worked and technical support has resolved matters quickly.

I can warmly recommend it. Communication has worked well and issues have been resolved quickly.

At this stage, the Ikaalinen experience is a starting shot. Indoor temperature differences between apartments have narrowed, unnecessary maintenance visits have fallen and district heating consumption has turned downwards — but the decisive evidence will only come after the winter. We will return to it in May 2027.