You’ve Got This Leave your (thermostat) worries behind

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It’s your home. It should be a place where you can focus on family and friends, not thermostats. Luckily, our technology is getting smarter — and the new smart thermostats are downright geniuses. Fortunately for us humans, it doesn’t take a brainiac to benefit from a smart thermostat to increase your home’s comfort and reduce energy use.

19.6 million users can’t be wrong

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, 19.6 million smart thermostats were installed in the U.S. by the end of 2023—something that helped the nation use 1.4% less energy on heating and cooling than it otherwise would have. That may not sound like much, but considering that almost half of all the energy you use at home goes to heating and cooling, it really adds up.

This trend will only accelerate. The number of installed smart thermostats is expected to reach 38.3 million in 2026, saving up to 15.5 terawatt hours of electricity — equivalent to the CO₂ emissions from powering 1,412,095 homes for a year. That’s a lot of savings for you and your family.

Turn up the convenience — and the benefits

Cutting your home’s energy use and saving money is easy with a smart thermostat. These Wi-Fi- enabled devices learn your family’s heating and cooling preferences and can automatically adjust your home’s temperature based on that learning.

You may be thinking, “That sounds great, but what does that really mean for me?” Glad you asked. Let’s say you’re someone who likes to keep the temperature cooler at night for sleeping but someone else in your home prefers it nice and warm when you get out of bed in the morning. Your smart thermostat can do that for you. And if you normally turn the heat down before you head out for work, your thermostat will learn that, too. You get comfort and savings, without having to lift a finger. Pretty neat.

Smart thermostats also let you control your home’s temperature on the go using a mobile device.

Imagine your family from Florida is arriving at your home for a visit while you’re still at the office. Your thermostat is normally at an energy-saving setting while no one’s home. Do you want to spend the evening listening to a debate about your home’s comfort? Forget about it. With a smart thermostat, you can quickly and easily tweak the temperature from your mobile device. Crisis averted.

Or say you’re halfway to Ocean City for a summer getaway when someone in your family reminds you that you forgot to turn the thermostat up a few degrees to save some money. In a flash, you can raise the temperature and get back to planning your crab feast.

A word to the wise. There’s a big difference between a smart thermostat and a programmable thermostat. While the two can do many of the same things, you have to manually enter all the settings in a programmable thermostat yourself. In other words, you or someone in your family will have to program it. Not so with a smart thermostat. It learns your preferences and does the work for you.

Save. Then, after you save, save some more.

Ready to purchase a smart thermostat of your own? Check out the BGE Marketplace, where you can get rebates of up to $100 on a variety of smart thermostats. And you’ll keep saving for years to come thanks to reduced energy use.

Not a DIYer? No problem.

While the handiest member of your family may be able to install your smart thermostat on their own, it’s even easier to have a pro do it for you. And, bonus: You won’t have to debate who the handiest member of your family is. Take a look at BGE’s Quick Home Energy Check-up and HVAC Tune-up programs to see how you could get a smart thermostat installed at no additional cost to you — while discovering even more ways to save on energy costs.