Smart thermostats have seen a massive surge in popularity in recent years, but are they worth the investment?
Absolutely.
Smart thermostats are worth it for their money-saving features and convenience. These thermostats learn your daily patterns and adjust your heating and cooling needs accordingly. Once you’ve experienced the ease of changing your home’s temperature from your phone, doing it by hand will feel primitive.
Let’s take a closer look at what you need to know about smart thermostats and how they can save you money while keeping you comfortable in your home.
Can Smart Thermostats Save You Money?
Yes, ENERGY STAR smart thermostats can save you $50 per year.[1] Companies like Ecobee claim their customers saved up to $284 per year on heating and cooling costs by using eco+ smart features.[2]
But how much and how quickly smart thermostats can save you money depends on your habits. About half of the average American electricity bill comes from heating and cooling alone–over $900 per year.[3] This makes climate control the most significant contributor to your home’s overall energy usage.
How Do Smart Thermostats Save You Money?
Smart thermostats primarily save you money through automatic temperature control and insights that help you make informed decisions about your energy usage. Here’s a closer look at how smart thermostats do this.
1. Energy Usage Learning
Many Wi-Fi-connected thermostats learn your schedule and preferences, even knowing when you’re home. Once they’ve figured out your patterns, they automatically adjust the temperature setting based on your needs, often conserving energy and saving money on energy bills.
Depending on your prior usage with a regular thermostat, these savings can pay for the entire purchase price of a new smart thermostat in less than a year, with possibly a little left over for LED bulbs or other energy-saving innovations.
2. Auto Home/Away Feature
The “eco” or auto home/away feature on many smart thermostats saves money when you’re not home by automatically raising or lowering the temperature to levels you might otherwise find uncomfortable. Then, they adjust to be at your preferred temperature by the time you usually come back.
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3. Convenient Temperature Adjustments
Have you ever let the A/C or heater run solely because it was too inconvenient to get up and adjust it? With your smart thermostat controls only as far away as your phone, you can change the thermostat temperature from wherever you are.
4. Energy Usage Insights
Smart thermostats also provide key details into your energy usage patterns, revealing just how much energy it takes to keep your home cozy in the winter and cool in the summer. They provide helpful updates that show how much energy you’re saving (or spending) and give gentle reminders to try and conserve energy if your usage is above average.
Some of these devices even compare your A/C and heater use to that of the average household in your neighborhood.
How Do Smart Thermostats Work?
Smart thermostats automatically adjust temperatures based on your lifestyle and allow you to control your home’s temperature remotely. You can control the device via a smartphone app or the touch-based interface on the device itself—just like a traditional thermostat.
Many Wi-Fi-enabled thermostats learn your habits and preferences to develop an optimized heating and cooling schedule over time. It’ll take into account a variety of different factors, such as:
- When you and your family are home or away for the day
- What areas of the house are occupied, and when
- What temperature you like to keep the house at certain times of the day
- The number of people in your home
- Current weather conditions
If the thermostat’s automatic adjustments are missing the mark, simply open the app and turn the air up or down to a more comfortable temperature to help it learn your preferences.
How Much Do Smart Thermostats Cost?
Some smart thermostats cost around $100, while others exceed $500. The model, brand, and features greatly influence the cost. In addition to the upfront cost of the smart thermostat, there might be extra installation, tools, and materials expenses.
Some smart devices come with simple, easy-to-understand instructions and the necessary equipment for a quick home installation that you or a tech-savvy friend can handle.
For those who are unsure if they can effectively and safely install a smart thermostat, professional installation can cost up to $500, although the average is closer to $182.[4]
How to Save on Smart Thermostats
Some states and local city governments incentivize installing a smart thermostat with rebates, so be sure to search for rebates or other perks available in your area to help you save on a new device. Your energy provider might also offer exclusive discounts on smart thermostats, so check with them.
However, before ordering a smart thermostat, it’s important to understand the difference between the standard thermostat that came with your house (or apartment) and the new smart thermostat you’re considering.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Smart Thermostats?
Smart thermostats are easy to use and can save you money, even though sometimes there’s a high initial outlay. Here’s a deeper look into the advantages and disadvantages of smart thermostats.
Pros of Smart Thermostats
- Temperature monitoring by room: Smart thermostats often have sensors you can put in different rooms. This can be useful in rooms like nurseries, where you want to make sure the temperature is just right.
- Money savings: Homes without programmable thermostats will likely see the biggest savings on their utility bills.
- Greater home comfort: Smart thermostats analyze what temperatures you like your home at during certain times, so you could find yourself feeling cold or hot less often.
Cons of Smart Thermostats
- High initial investment: While these thermostats can save you money in the long run, it could be one or more years before you see a return on investment.
- Installation hassles: While many smart thermostats advertise how easy they are to install, things never seem to go as planned when there’s tech involved. It’s possible the installation could take much longer than expected.
- No big savings in temperate climates: If your home stays at a fairly constant temperature, you probably won’t see that much savings by switching to a smart thermostat.
Smart Thermostat vs. Regular Thermostat: How Do They Compare?
Smart and regular thermostats allow you to adjust the temperature via a control panel on the wall somewhere in your home, but smart thermostats have tech features that take temperature control to new levels.
How They’re the Same
Both types of thermostats activate when the inside temperature drops below or rises above the set temperature. When this happens, the thermostat tells the heater or A/C to turn on and return the temperature to the set point.
Once the room reaches the desired temperature, the thermostat kicks in again, this time turning the heater or A/C off to keep the home’s temperature within the desired range.
How They’re Different
Your standard thermostat is “that box on the wall” that controls the A/C and heater. Besides occasionally turning a dial or pressing a few buttons, we rarely give it more than a few seconds of thought. We turn the thermostat on or off, and then walk away. But we have to keep returning to it whenever we want to change the temperature set point or switch between heating and cooling modes.
Smart thermostats learn your ways and can eliminate the need to keep adjusting the thermostat. Even if you have to make changes, you can do so from anywhere inside the house or out in the world.
As a bonus, some smart thermostats remind you to change your air filter, help you diagnose problems with your A/C unit, encourage you to make more energy-efficient choices, and generally take the mystery out of controlling the temperature in your home.
Who’s Not a Good Fit For Smart Thermostats?
Smart thermostats are probably not a good fit for people who are meticulous about finding ways to conserve energy.
If you’ve made a dedicated effort to reprogram your thermostat every couple of months, adjust the controls when you leave home, and generally try to keep the house warmer in the summer and colder in the winter, a smart thermostat will take longer to pay for itself. However, you may still find a smart thermostat worth it for the convenience factor alone.
If you’re less meticulous, you’ll probably save enough to cover the cost of a new smart thermostat within a few years.[1]
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The Benefits of Smart Thermostats Outweigh the Cost
Not only do smart thermostats provide an easy opportunity to make some cost-cutting habit changes, but they also give an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look into your actual energy usage. Every new iteration of this technology is more intuitive, user-friendly, and usually—more affordable.
Everyone can benefit from greater control of their A/C, but until smart thermostats came on the market, not everyone was capable of taking advantage of the many opportunities to save energy. Smart thermostats level the playing field for the average user.
For those looking to learn more about smart thermostats, we can help. As one of the leading energy providers in North America, Just Energy is committed to providing top-flight energy service and customer support. We also advocate for adopting green energy initiatives and technology like smart thermostats.
Sources:
- ENERGY STAR. “ENERGY STAR Smart Thermostats FAQs for EEPS.” Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.energystar.gov/products/heating_cooling/smart_thermostats/smart_thermostat_faq
- Ecobee. “Save more on your energy bill, automatically.” Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.ecobee.com/en-us/eco-plus/
- ENERGY STAR. Save on Heating Costs with ENERGY STAR This Season. Accessed February 22, 2025. https://www.energystar.gov/products/save-heating-costs-energy-star-season
- HomeAdvisor. “How Much Do Thermostats Cost To Install & Replace At Home?” January 29, 2025. https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/heating-and-cooling/install-a-thermostat/
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