Does it end up using more power? Or less? If it's less, why would they want that (we pay less)?
At least in my area you can opt into a program that lets your power company turn off your hvac during times of low energy availability. You can’t really do that with old fashioned thermostats.
Oh ok that makes sense. It could be opted out tho?
In my case I bought an ecobee through my power company with a rebate that made it like $50. I did not have to utilize that feature, maybe it would be required for the free ones.
I believe utility companies are incentivized to help you save energy because: 1. They’ll probably get some government grants by doing so (just my guess). 2. They want to avoid energy surges which is their biggest problem (think Texas winter electricity outage). They are not afraid of people using too little energy because heck, almost everyone needs to use energy regardless. 3. They want to spread out your energy usage to make it more consistent throughout the day. Almost same point as one, but with a different twist. This helps them to probably make more money without investing more money into the infra. 🤣
Makes sense now
Smart thermostats are cheaper than building new power plants. The government makes the utilities offer energy efficiency programs. The utilities don’t do anything out of altruism.
Smart thermostats allow you to program for less energy usage while you are away from home. This means less energy being used. Which translates into less power plants to build and more reliable electricity. Saves you money and saves the power company money. Also, the state rewards the power company for energy conservation efforts.
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Cmon. If the product is free, you are the product
I know that but I want to know in what ways
Your data. Also a lot of them will offer to control your climate for you to save you money and probably themselves as well