My 'smart' thermostat made my electric bill go UP by $40 last month

I installed a Nest knockoff in my apartment in Phoenix thinking it would save me money by learning my schedule. Instead it kept cranking the AC to 68 every afternoon because it 'sensed' I was home, even when I was at work. Has anyone else had a 'smart' device actually make your situation worse instead of better?

3 comments

3 Comments

lewis.mila26d ago

Oh man, that's rough lol. I had basically the same issue with mine when I first got it. What finally worked for me was turning off the auto-away and auto-schedule features entirely and just setting it on a fixed timer like a normal programmable thermostat. I work weird hours so I set it to hold a higher temp during typical away times and only cool down right before I'm actually getting home. The "learning" part never learned my actual schedule, it just guessed wrong all the time and made everything worse.

alicemurphy26d ago

Ugh @lewis.mila same thing happened to me, that auto feature is the worst.

-1

phoenix_bailey25d ago

Yeah for real, that "smart" stuff is just a gimmick half the time lol. I had the same problem where my thermostat thought I was gone every afternoon when I was just napping on the couch. Switching to a basic schedule with manual overrides saved my electric bill and my sanity.