Thousands of homes could be left without heat if remote control company stops operating

On Tuesday, following an application by Sally O’Neill BL, for the company, Judge Mark Sanfey appointed a provisional liquidator so that efforts can be made to find a buyer for the Hub subscription service and protect 10,000 users. About 4,000 users pay for a subscription service and 6,000 are on the basic service without a subscription.

If the company stopped operating, it states that these services would “stop immediately” and up to 10,000 homes would be left without heat. Homeowners would have to call an electrician to bypass the system and install a new device before the heating system could be used again, Hub Controls says.

Judge Sanfey appointed Declan De Lacy of Azets Ireland as provisional liquidator with freedom to apply for additional powers if necessary before the case returns next month.

Oliver Hynes, who along with Barry Gavin is one of the company’s two directors, said in a sworn statement that at a meeting on April 22 he told the board that, in the interests of creditors, it had been decided to recommend that will liquidate the company. . It currently employs six people and is based in Tallaght, Dublin.

energy credits

In the petition, the company says that since 2019 it was able to offer the Hub Controller for free to consumers because the product qualified for energy credits under the “energy efficiency obligation scheme” operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). ). He also developed expertise in processing similar energy credits for electric vehicle charging companies.

Those energy credits in Ireland generated about €5 million in revenue between 2019 and 2023. The company said they were anticipated to continue until 2030, but in 2022 they were phased out under a new SEAI policy.

In December 2022, the company wrote to all users inviting them to sign up for a subscription service to continue using all its facilities while those who did not could continue using the basic service. A total of 4,000 signed up, but to break even, the company needed 5,750 subscribers.

Also in 2022, credits for electric vehicles were discontinued.

rescue efforts

Initiatives were taken to rescue the business, including seeking to increase the number of paying subscribers, seeking a partnership with the Climote company, restructuring loans and reducing costs.

It also set out to raise new capital and to facilitate a fundraising in the US, Hub Controls Global Inc was created in Delaware.

However, in early 2024, despite implementing cost reductions and loan restructuring, it failed to add clients and in fact lost some. The deal with Climote did not materialize and Climote itself went into liquidation last December.

The company also realized that a €606,000 debt it claims is owed by Bord Gais Energy would not be settled in the short term given that the debt was being contested and that lawyers had said it would cost more than €100,000 to carry. a case before recovering it.

It was also accepted that American investors had no interest in financing the Irish business.

However, it said that in the event a provisional liquidator is appointed, Hub Controls Global Inc has agreed to continue service to Irish customers for 28 days (until May 24) to facilitate the sale of the subscription service and protect the 10,000 users in total. It is also hoped that some of the six employees can be retained.

In addition to directing the publicity of the appointment of the provisional liquidator, the judge said that the Treasury, which is the largest creditor and which is owed some 927,000 euros in stored tax debt, must also be notified.