Can smart thermostats save me money?

Yes, we recently evaluated smart thermostats and found they can help you control your energy usage, and ultimately save money.

What is a smart thermostat?
A smart thermostat is smart technology that is connected to your home’s Wi-Fi and designed to help you control your energy usage, ultimately saving you money. It does this by providing you the option to monitor and control your home’s largest energy user right from your smartphone or tablet, wherever you are. All smart thermostats have a smartphone app available, which makes it even more convenient for you.

Smart thermostat benefits

Smart thermostats provide customers with a number of features, including the ability to:

• Check the temperature in your home from your mobile phone;
• Turn the A/C on or off from anywhere, at any time;
• Track how long your A/C runs;
• Automatically adjust temperature settings based on your phone’s location or local weather; and,
• Receive alerts if your home gets too hot or cold.

Also, because they are connected to the internet, smart thermostats will get even smarter over time as manufacturers make software updates.

Having these conveniences available via your smartphone can also save you energy and money. And, in this day and age, who doesn’t want to save some money?

Learn about smart thermostats

We recently tested two types of smart thermostats in South Florida and found that both saved energy:

1. Non-automated thermostats only change the temperature if you tell it to, either on-demand or by setting up an optional preset schedule; and,
2. Automated thermostats observe your temperature preferences and after a learning period, program themselves.

Bottom line

Based on our research, single family homes saved, on average, 450 kWh per year or about $50.

At the end of the research conducted, our customers told us that they really appreciated the smart thermostat’s ease of use and convenience of this innovative technology.

With smart thermostats, you have the option to monitor and control your home’s largest energy user right from your smartphone, and that can definitely impact your electric bill.

More helpful tools for you

You can always see how adjusting your A/C affects your bill and find new ways to save by taking our Online Home Energy Survey. It works together with your personal Energy Dashboard to show you how much energy you use, down to the hour.