Optimal Heating – our best and most affordable heating solution for housing companies
With Optimal Heating, your housing company uses heating energy more smartly and at the most affordable hours, fully automatically and without affecting the daily life of the residents. Join us and enjoy lower heating energy costs and promote the green transition.
Save your housing company’s heating costs with smart optimisation
Optimal Heating is our new, innovative heating solution for apartment buildings and row houses. With Optimal Heating, the buildings owned by our customers consume heating energy more smartly and at the most affordable hours, fully automatically and without affecting the daily life of the residents.
The housing company reaps the full benefits of Optimal Heating
- The energy price is €1.25 per MWh (incl. VAT 25.5%) lower than in the current Monthly Heating Property basic product.
- Compared to the Monthly Heating Property product, the housing company saves on average 4–5% in heating costs, as Optimal Heating’s learning algorithm proactively controls the housing company’s energy consumption based on the weather at that moment and weather forecasts.
- The housing company’s energy usage is optimised to times when more affordable, renewable energy is available. In this way, your housing company can contribute to the green transition. In addition, the temporal optimisation of energy usage and production will reduce heating production costs for all Helsinki residents.
How does Optimal Heating work?
In Optimal Heating, the housing company’s heating energy consumption is directed to hours that are more affordable for the customer and when there is a large supply of heating energy available. This control is carried out by a connection device which is installed in the housing company’s existing heating system and uses a learning algorithm. The unit controls the heating proactively, interpreting the properties’ characteristics and taking into account the outdoor temperature, local weather conditions and weather forecasts. This allows us to reduce the overheating of buildings, especially in the spring and autumn. The average annual energy savings is 5%.
In the daily life of the housing company’s residents, optimisation can be seen as the elimination of unnecessary overheating, resulting in more comfortable living conditions and lower heating costs.
How does Helen benefit from the optimisation service?
As a company, we are committed to making our energy production carbon neutral by 2030. By preventing overheating and optimising production and consumption, we can reduce the need for energy production and schedule the production of thermal energy so that it uses renewable forms of energy more. Overall, we reduce both our own and our customers’ CO2 emissions, which contributes to achieving our carbon neutrality goal.
Purchasing phases
Collecting initial data
When Optimal Heating is available, you can choose it through the Yritys Helen service. Fill in the information about your property’s heating and building automation, requested on the form. Based on the information you have provided, we will determine whether Optimal Heating is compatible with your property’s district heating equipment.
Login to the Yritys Helen service
If you have already registered for the service and cannot find your housing company’s district heating contract information in the service, you can go to our website for instructions on how to add the information.
Instructions for adding a housing company’s district heating contract information (see section 1)
Ensuring compatibility
We will assess the compatibility of your housing company’s current district heating equipment with Optimal Heating based on the technical information you have provided. If we need any further information to ensure compatibility or to install the connection device, we will ask you for it using an email form. For some of the information, support from the maintenance company may also be required. If necessary, we will also survey the technical facilities of the housing company.
If the housing company is compatible, we will provide the housing company and the property manager with a contract confirmation for selecting Optimal Heating as well as with the product terms. The lower energy price will enter into force at the beginning of the month following the contract confirmation. We will also agree with you on the installation of equipment for Optimal Heating.
After ordering the service
When the contract confirmation has been sent, the lower energy price will enter into force for the housing company at the beginning of the following month.
We will agree with the housing company on the installation of the equipment required for Optimal Heating. There may be delays in installation work depending on the demand for the service. After the installation, the control algorithm learns about the property’s operation for approximately 2 weeks (during the heating season) before the actual optimisation starts.
After the learning period, your housing company will be able to fully benefit from Optimal Heating’s smart heating energy control, lower energy costs and reduced overheating. The housing company and the property manager can monitor the realised benefits through the Yritys Helen service.
More information
The pricing of Optimal Heating consists of the fixed fee and the energy fee. The fixed fee is determined in the same way as for our basic product (Monthly Heating Property). The monthly pricing of the Optimal Heating energy fee is €1.25 per MWh lower than Monthly Heating Property.
Optimal Heating pricing / Optimilämmön hinnasto (in Finnish) (pdf)
Get familiar with the product terms of Optimal Heating.
Get familiar with the technical description of the Optimal Heating product.
FAQ
Switching to Optimal Heating
Currently, Optimal Heating is available in residential apartment buildings and row houses in Helsinki. The newer your property's heat distribution equipment is, the more likely Optimal Heating is compatible with your property. We are continuously working to expand the compatibility of Optimal Heating with different properties and district heating equipment.
Optimal Heating can be purchased through Yritys Helen. Log in to Yritys Helen with your username and password. You can find the Optimal Heating checkbox both directly on the front page and in the “Lämmitys” (Heating) tab (“Tutustu ja täytä tiedot”, Learn more and fill in the information).
Log in to Yritys Helen service
Fill in the information about your property’s heating and building automation, requested on the form. For some of the information, you may need the help of your property manager or maintenance company. Immediately after you have filled in the information, Yritys Helen will tell you whether your property is potentially compatible with Optimal Heating, so the more precisely you fill in the information, the more accurately our service can assess it. If necessary, we will contact your housing company if we need further information to determine compatibility.
We recommend that Optimal Heating contacts be made through Yritys Helen. By logging in to Yritys Helen, you will immediately receive a preliminary assessment of your housing company’s compatibility and, thanks to a more comprehensive initial survey, we will be able to carry out the switch more quickly. However, you can also start the ordering process via our website form, if necessary.
Once you have entered your housing company’s information in Yritys Helen, we will process your order and contact you for further information, if necessary. Our goal is to ensure your housing company’s compatibility with the Optimal Heating product as soon as possible. Once your housing company’s heat distribution system has been found to be compatible with Optimal Heating, you will receive a contract confirmation for the Optimal Heating product. Your district heating energy price will be changed to a lower Optimal Heating price from the beginning of the following month.
After the contract confirmation, we will schedule the installation of Optimal Heating connection devices with your housing company. The installation schedule depends on demand. When the installation is complete, the equipment goes through a two-week learning period (during the heating season) in which it learns how to interpret the property’s characteristics and how to react to changes in the control curve and outdoor temperature.
After the learning period, the housing company will fully switch to smart heating control with Optimal Heating, utilising lower production costs and saving on the use of heating energy.
Yritys Helen’s selection path is our recommended way to start using Optimal Heating. The more extensively and precisely you fill in the information on the form, the better the assessment of your housing company’s compatibility with Optimal Heating will be. If you cannot find the answers to the questions yourself, you can try to find out the information through your housing company’s property manager or maintenance company. If the information cannot be found through the property manager or maintenance company either, select the option “En tiedä” (I don’t know) on the form. In this case, Helen will find out the information about your heat distribution equipment, on site if necessary.
Switching to Optimal Heating is entirely voluntary. If you do not request switching to Optimal Heating via Yritys Helen’s change tool or the form on the helen.fi website, your housing company will continue to use the district heating product you are currently using. You can see the details of your contract from the Yritys Helen service.
Optimal Heating is a contract valid until further notice, the first possible termination date of which is 12 months after the start of the contract. If you wish, you can switch back to your previous district heating product or another Helen district heating product 12 months after the contract confirmation.
You can terminate Optimal Heating and give up district heating in accordance with district heating's general terms and conditions.
Optimal Heating is not technically suitable for properties where heat use is optimised with another service or equipment. If your housing company already uses an optimisation service or equipment and you are interested in Optimal Heating, you should give up the current service during the deployment of Optimal Heating.
Of course! If your housing company is planning to replace the heat distribution equipment, it is a good idea to schedule the deployment of Optimal Heating at the same time. Contact us regarding your maintenance plans – we can offer you the most suitable solutions at the right time.
The older the heat distribution system, the less likely it is to be compatible with Optimal Heating. We check the compatibility of all older heat distribution systems individually during the survey process. If the compatibility of the heat distribution equipment with Optimal Heating proves to be challenging, we strongly recommend replacing the heat distribution centre. You can read more and order an equipment replacement price estimate here
Price and advantages
The deployment of Optimal Heating does not require an initial investment and there are no additional service fees for using it.
Optimal Heating’s pricing consists of a fixed fee and an energy fee, as with other district heating products. The fixed fee is determined in the same way as for our basic product (Monthly Heating Property).
The monthly pricing of the Optimal Heating energy fee is €1.25 per MWh lower than Monthly Heating Property.
No. The fixed fee is determined according to the same principles as for the Monthly Heating Property product.
We have tested the functionality of Optimal Heating in Helsingin kaupungin asunnot Oy’s (Heka) properties during the past year. The pilot project involved 250 Heka properties, and we received many good results from the test, both in terms of the user experience and the functionality of Optimal Heating itself.
As a company, we are committed to ambitious carbon neutrality targets.
In 2025, we will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent compared to 1990 levels and aim for fully carbon neutral energy production by 2030. This reduction goal will be reached by adopting electric boilers, sustainably produced bioenergy and electricity-powered heat pumps in district heating production.
Optimal Heating is directly at the heart of our strategy, supporting the green transition, a flexible district heating network and a carbon neutral future. The more properties owned by our customers join the flexible energy system and start using Optimal Heating, the greater the impact.
Optimilämmön ohjaus perustuu kiinteistön kaukolämpölaitteiston nykyiseen säätökäyrään, pyrkien pitämään sisäolosuhteet nykyisellä tasolla. Siten lopullinen energiankulutuksen säästö riippuu kiinteistön nykyisistä sisäolosuhteista ja kiinteistön rakennusteknisistä ominaisuuksista. Keskimäärin Optimilämpö vähentää energiankulutusta noin 4-5 % vuositasolla, mutta on myös mahdollista, että Optimilämpö lisää kiinteistön energiankulutusta joidenkin kiinteistöjen osalta.
Optimal Heating control is based on the current control curve of the property’s district heating equipment, with the aim of keeping the indoor conditions at the current level. Consequently, the final energy consumption savings depend on the property’s current indoor conditions and the building’s technical properties. On average, Optimal Heating reduces energy consumption by about 4–5%, but it is technically possible that Optimal Heating will increase the property’s energy consumption for some properties.
The lower energy price will be available to you from the beginning of the month following the contract confirmation. Your housing company will start saving heating energy as soon as the Optimal Heating systems have been installed and deployed. As part of the deployment, the equipment’s learning algorithm goes through a two-week learning period, which is carried out during the heating season. The greatest savings usually occur in the spring, when the sun starts to heat the property.
During the spring, we will publish Yritys Helen reporting views, in which the representatives of the housing company, i.e. the members of the Board of Directors and the property manager, can monitor the heating energy consumption of the housing company and the savings achieved through Optimal Heating. This reporting will give a comprehensive view of the benefits you receive through Optimal Heating.
Log in to Yritys Helen with your browser and select the “Lämmitys” (Heating) section in the left-hand menu. If you cannot see your property’s information in the service, add the property’s information to the service according to the instructions.
Deployment and maintenance
In order to determine the compatibility of your housing company with the product, we need your housing company to provide us with information about its current heat distribution centre. The more accurately you can answer the technical questions (possibly with the help of the property manager and the maintenance company), the faster we can carry out the switch to Optimal Heating.
Once the information has been received, Helen will take care of the installation of the additional equipment and the installation costs. All your housing company has to do is enjoy the new, smarter heating and the savings it brings.
The deployment of Optimal Heating is completely free of charge for our customers. As part of the deployment, we will install Optimal Heating connection devices in your housing company’s heat distribution system. The devices analyse the property’s heat demand and consumption. Both the connection devices and their installation are free of charge.
Optimal Heating requires a router installed in the heat controller and, if necessary, an interface converter. If the property’s current heat controller does not meet the necessary requirements, we will install a completely new heat controller in the heat distribution centre. The above-mentioned equipment is always considered separately for each property and depends on the age and technology of the current heat distribution equipment. Helen will take care of the installation costs of this equipment.
All connection devices installed for Optimal Heating (router, possible interface converter and possible heat controller) become Helen’s property.
The heat distribution centre remains the property of the housing company, as before.
You can learn more about district heating equipment on our website
From the resident’s point of view, the deployment of Optimal Heating will not change the contact channels. You can proceed as you have done in your housing company before, i.e. direct the contacts to the property manager or the maintenance company, for example. If necessary, the property manager or the maintenance company can direct fault and problem enquiries to Helen.