Save Money Now and Later With a Smart Thermostat

A smart thermostat is an easy home improvement project that adds to your quality of life, is cheap to install, and pays for itself by reducing your energy costs. Wifi connectivity lets you control a smart thermostat from your phone, even when you’re out of the house, or via Alexa/Google/Siri voice control. Sensors can detect when the house is empty and switch the temperature to an “eco” range, saving money. And, like any thermostat, it should ultimately keep the temperature the way you like it without constantly needing input from you.

Our flipped house came with a very basic thermostat that had none of these things. It wouldn’t even let you set a temperature range, forcing you to either be in “heat” or “cool” mode, which was annoying in the Texas springtime when you might need both systems over the course of the day. It had to go.

After some research, I decided on the well-rated ecobee3 Lite thermostat. It’s about $169 new at the time of writing, but I picked up a used (very good) one for $113. Check with your utility company for even greater upfront savings. Mine, Austin Energy, will give me a $25 rebate just for buying a smart thermostat and a further $85 if I allow them to tweak the temperature remotely during periods of high energy demand, so the device was essentially free.

Most reviewers give the top spot to either the ecobee or the Google Nest. I had a Nest in my rental and felt it was too clever – I always fought with its “learned schedule” and didn’t like that I couldn’t do something as basic as tell it to hold a temperature. But I’m finding the ecobee thermostat easy to use, with an intuitive scheduling system and straightforward features. I haven’t had to fuss with it much after setting it up, and it is easy to override when you want to step in.

For most people, replacing a thermostat is a 15-minute DIY job in which you pull the old one off the wall and swap the wiring into the new one. The ecobee3 Lite will come with guides and walkthroughs to help you get it right. It’s a cheap up-front purchase, saves money on utility bills, is better for the environment, and makes life more convenient.