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Is Your Local Energy Company Giving Out Free Smart Thermostats?

By Laura Tucker
Free Smart Thermostats Featured

If you haven’t jumped all the way into the smart home concept, here’s an easy way to at least dip your toe in: your local energy company may be giving way free or discounted smart thermostats. You can get started by implementing one in your home, then keep adding on to your smart home collection.

Tip: Here’s how to pick the best smart thermostat for your home.

Also read: The Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up A Smart Home (For Under $1,000)

The Benefits of a Smart Thermostat

The benefits of smart thermostats are plenty, but mostly, you don’t need to get up out of your chair to adjust the temperature up or down. It’s as simple as that: there’s no need to leave your chair.

But it goes much further than that. You can also adjust the thermostat from anywhere. You can turn the heat down while you’re at work, then turn it back up when you’re on your way home. Sure, many old-fashioned analog thermostats will allow you to set a schedule, but what if you get out of work early or are coming home from a long vacation? You can easily do it on the fly with a smart thermostat.

Free Smart Thermostat Ecobee

Additionally, most either work with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or another voice assistant. You can make those temporary changes by just asking Alexa or saying, “Hey Google.”

They also work as smart speakers, though they aren’t the quality sound you’re looking for. I was certainly surprised when I was asking my Echo speaker to play a song, and it started playing on my thermostat. It also shows the current weather and weather forecast.

How Can I Get My Own Smart Thermostat?

Getting your own smart thermostat can be as easy as googling the name of your energy company and “free smart thermostat.” I googled both my electric company and gas company. They both provide smart thermostats and other products at discounted rates ($75 to $100 off) for qualified customers. They have other products as well, such as water-saving, weatherization, and power strips.

I’ll note here that I did not receive my ecobee smart thermostat from my energy company. Similarly, I received it in a package deal from our heating and air company when we had a new air conditioner and furnace installed. That’s an option, too, if you’re looking to upgrade.

Free Smart Thermostats Control Temperature
Image source: Unsplash

The immediate question you may be asking is why these companies are giving out free or discounted products. It’s energy savings, plain and simple. While free thermostats save energy, they also save money for you. Not running your heat or air 24/7 and only when you need it saves you money and saves on energy as well.

I can report that with the energy-saving methods of installing updated windows, aluminum siding, and a new furnace/air conditioner with a smart thermostat, we reduced our electric bill in the summer by half.

If your local energy company isn’t running any freebies or deals on smart thermostats, Google Nest Thermostat is often listed for a discount.

Image credit: Amazon ecobee images taken by Laura Tucker

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Laura Tucker
Laura has spent more than 20 years writing news, reviews, and op-eds, with the majority of those years as an editor as well. She has exclusively used Apple products for the past 35 years. In addition to writing and editing at MTE, she also runs the site’s sponsored review program.

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