As winter and cold weather approach, Leroy-Merlin unveils its home automation strategy. The housing giant is banking on energy, with an application capable of telling you how to reduce your bills, to popularize its objects for the connected home.
A year after launching connected modules to control its electric radiators, Leroy Merlin unveils around ten new connected objects intended to enrich its Enki ecosystem, now oriented around energy consumption.
The French housing giant says it has come to the conclusion that the connected home is of little interest to the general public, but that it becomes attractive when it comes to saving money on electricity bills. Leroy Merlin promises between 15 and 20% savings per year thanks to its new connected offer, which focuses on low prices and national distribution, in its stores, to compete with the offers of the many manufacturers specializing in connected homes.
Leroy Merlin launches “Coach Energy” to optimize consumption
In March 2024, Leroy Merlin updated the architecture of its Enki home automation platform to stabilize its performance and prepare it for new consumer needs. The company says it started from scratch, with more modern technologies, and recognizes that the old architecture was not up to par.
The new Enki application, available on iOS and Android, is greatly inspired by the application Apple Home. It highlights connected objects in a first tab, heating in another as well as automations (to turn everything off at once, for example).
One of its big new features is an “Energy” tab, a feature not found at Apple, Google or Amazon, to manage consumption in real time. Leroy Merlin says it has designed a home automation application adapted to the specific needs of the French, where the American giants must resort to a more universal solution, incompatible with certain European technologies (such as the pilot wire for our radiators).
In the “Energy” tab of the Enki application, you can connect your Linky meter in order to monitor your consumption more widely, even if you do not have any connected object.
If you have an Enki product (or an Enki compatible product, like Somfy for example), then the application becomes more interesting. In addition to giving details of the electricity consumed and the cost it represents, a feature called “Coach Energy” suggests some changes, such as lowering the temperature when electricity is most expensive, or purchasing Objects at Leroy Merlin to reduce humidity. The Energy Coach relies on Linky data, but also on all the data collected by the devices.
Ultimately, Leroy Merlin hopes to automate certain tasks, so that Enki itself makes decisions to lower your bills. The idea is that products self-regulate.
The only downside that is still relevant is that Leroy Merlin objects require the use of a physical hub, the Enki Connect box at 30 euros, to operate. To avoid creating network instability due to Wi-Fi, the company relies on the ZigBee protocol which allows objects to communicate with its box without having to use the Internet box directly. A good choice from the point of view of reliability, which requires the connection of an additional device.
The Enki box is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, but not yet with the Apple ecosystem. The upcoming Matter support, on which the Leroy Merlin teams say they are working, should make it possible to improve the compatibility of Enki devices.
Today, the Leroy Merlin application is designed to be used as the primary interface for controlling objects. Tomorrow, it could be a bonus for people used to other ecosystems. The French company, however, indicates that it sees itself as a « early follower »ready to follow the industry, rather than like a pioneer of Matter, to avoid getting burned.
Connected thermostat, thermometer and roller shutter switch… Leroy Merlin is expanding its offering
In addition to an already well-stocked offering (modules to control electric radiators, connected sockets, bulbs that change color, etc.), Leroy Merlin is launching new products compatible with its Enki brand under the Sedea and Lexman brands, which it owns.
Its new flagship product is a connected thermostat at 39.99 euros, competing with the very popular Netatmo product at 180 euros, to manage the temperature of your home with a schedule to manage from its application. The electricity bill should lose between 15 and 20% on averageor even more if you are not sensitive to the cold. Leroy Merlin is also launching a temperature and humidity sensor for 9.90 euros, to be placed in the room of your choice. (Note that you will need to add a control module at 39.90 euros to use the thermostat wirelessly, by connecting the module to the boiler.)
Other new products announced by Leroy Merlin: a motion detector capable of measuring temperature and humidity (25.90 euros), a wireless switch connected to trigger automation (which takes the form of a switch to hang on the wall, at 39.90 euros) and several switches and recessed sockets, to control a roller shutter (59.90 euros), replace a socket (39.90 euros) or a cable outlet (49.90 euros, with management of the pilot wire). Leroy Merlin is tackling the Celiane/Netatmo offer here, which aims to replace its sockets and switches with connected devices.
In addition to these products, Leroy Merlin is launching into the world of electric cars with its first charging station at 799 euros, capable of recharging a vehicle at 3, 7 or 22 kW. The product obviously integrates with its Enki ecosystem, with the possibility of monitoring the consumption of your car from the same application.
