For and against smart thermostats

Lisa Barber says:

You might think that getting a smart thermostat – which controls your heating from an app on your phone – would cause your energy bills to rise. After all, surely it’s far too tempting to keep yourself cosy by turning up the heating from the comfort of your duvet or sofa?

However, I find I actually spend my time turning my heating down. As I haven’t got to fiddle with the overly complicated control panel on the old thermostat, I’m much more likely to keep on top of making sure we only use the heating when we really need it.

Plus, my smart thermostat lets me control individual radiators. This means that when I’m in front of the TV of an evening I can spend a minute switching off radiators in any rooms I’m not using.

Being able to see the temperature in individual rooms is rather handy, too. It’s much easier to demand that your family put jumpers on if you know it’s already over 20°C. Whereas with our old thermostat, which lived in our draughty hallway, we never really knew what the temperature was and whoever was coldest would usually sneakily turn up the dial.

So for me, having a smart thermostat has definitely reduced the amount of energy I use.

Amy Hupe says:

I was tempted into getting a smart thermostat – not so much to cut my energy bills, but because of the added convenience. That said, I was interested to see if greater control and feedback about my consumption would encourage me to use less – it has not.

I really feel the cold, always seeming to be several degrees chillier than everyone else in the room. The ability to switch my heating on when I leave work, so the house will be cosy as soon as I walk in the front door, has proved stronger than my desire to reduce my heating bills.

My other half and I both have the app installed on our phones, and when we first had our smart thermostat installed we set out with firm resolve to remember to switch our heating off when we went out for the day at the weekend (when our heating is set to 20°C by default).

Sadly though, with nothing to remind us, we only tend to remember about half the time – the same as when we had a standard thermostat. While I feel motivated to turn my heating on when I’m cold, there’s little to remind me to switch it off when I don’t need it.

All in all, while I think it’s been great for convenience, I’m just not as engaged with my energy use as I am with my comfort, and getting a smart thermostat hasn’t changed that.

What do you think of smart thermostats?

If you already have a smart thermostat, tell us more about it – particularly if it has smart learning, as we want to know more about whether this actually works. If you don’t have a smart thermostat, do you think one would work for you?