Last year, I purchased an ecobee Smart Thermostat with Voice Control through the PSE&G Smart Thermostat Rebate Program. I admit that the great price was what initially caught my attention and that without the rebate I probably would not have replaced my old programmable thermostat. Now that my family and I have been living with our smart thermostat for nearly a year, I can say that it was a great purchase because its numerous features have helped us get a real handle on our energy use and the convenience of having it in the house has been a huge benefit. We are also saving money on our energy bills!
Before purchasing the ecobee, I struggled with programming our thermostat. Honestly, I was never sure the program was set to run the right way. There were many times that we would override the program and then forget to reset it (or we would forget to program it at all). But with my new ecobee, the programming is straightforward. You can set up the schedule right on the thermostat or do what I did, and download the app for your phone. I can change or override the program while I am out of the house- so on very cold or very hot days, I can just pull out my phone and change the settings on the fly so I always come home to a comfortable temperature.
One of my favorite ecobee features is that Amazon Alexa is built-in. In a busy house like ours, I can just call out for Alexa to have the ecobee raise or lower the temperature. The ecobee even has a built-in speaker for Alexa, which my daughter loves because she can ask Alexa to play music through the thermostat, which is located just outside her bedroom.
Like many homes, we have rooms we use a lot and some rooms that just get hotter in the summer and colder in the winter. It’s always been a challenge for us keep the entire house comfortable. But our ecobee came with a remote sensor that links to the thermostat by Wi-Fi. We put it in our living room because that is where we spend most of our time as a family. Today, we are more comfortable temperature-wise than we have ever been. Our ecobee is even smart enough to detect when nobody is home and change the temperature settings to save even more energy.
I know that, for many people, the upfront cost of these thermostats can seem expensive. The good news is that PSE&G has re-launched its popular Smart Thermostat Rebate Program. Many of the popular brands and models are included in the program.
My family and I have had a wonderful experience with our ecobee. However, there are a number of equally great smart thermostats available through PSE&G’s Smart Thermostat Rebate Program that have similar features to fit your individual needs and budget. If you’re a PSE&G customer and want to find a smart thermostat at a great price, I encourage you to check out the PSE&G Marketplace and see if there is a model for you.
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