Honeywell, a Fortune 100 company with operations in energy efficiency technology sector, said many homeowners in Turkey fail to implement technologies which cut heating bills and simplify the process, domestic media said. Results of a survey in Izmir, Istanbul and Ankara revealed 53% of respondents do not invest in reducing heating costs. A quarter heats the living space under the comfortable temperature level in wintertime and 63% in the category say they decide to do so in order to save, the company said in a press release.
Only 15% of homeowners use a thermostat to automatically set a suitable temperature and 70% of users in the given segment say the technology lowers bills, by an average of 19%, Hurriyet Daily News reported. Heating accounts for 16% of costs in Turkish households on average, Honeywell said. Heating bills average TRY 268 (EUR 82.7) per month – over a fifth of the national minimum wage, which the government raised last month by 30% to EUR 400. The majority of respondents, 52%, place gas costs in the winter in the categories of high and very high.