Newport City Homes is trialling new technology that will help it identify work that needs to be done to homes to make them more energy efficient.
The registered social landlord is fitting smart thermostats to158 homes in Bettws and Ringland over the next six months. Data will be measured before the homes have external wall insulation installed.
The devices monitor things like temperature, humidity and moisture in the air which can then be used to predict if cold spots are likely to form in a home.
Surveyors will monitor the data that is received and be able to contact customers if they are alerted to any issues. This includes humidity which can lead to damp and mould.
The work is being funded as part of £3.2m grant being given to Newport City Homes over the next two years from the Welsh Government’s Optimised Retrofit Programme.
The government will use the data to understand what work is effective in different homes to help the homes meet an EPC rating of C.
Vicki Farrow, Newport City Homes’ head of asset strategy and investment, said: “This technology will give us vital information to help our homes produce less carbon and be more energy efficient to minimise bills.
“They will be installed in homes where we will be doing certain types of energy-efficiency work to enable and be able to see the difference it has made.
"What we learn will help us make better decisions on future work programmes as we will have accurate up-to-date information on how heat flows around them.
“This is just a pilot project so it’s vital our customers continue to tell us about any damp or mould problems in their home as soon as they spot them.”