Can a Programmable Thermostat really make a difference?
Programmable thermostats are most convenient and affective for families that have a regular schedule. If you program your thermostat so that the temperature changes 5 to 15 degrees from your normal setting when you leave your house you can save from 10 to 15% on your heating and cooling cost. You can also do this at night in the winter time and turn up the heat an hour before you get out of bed.
One old theory was that the savings would not exist because the energy needed to bring the room back to the normal temperature is equal to the energy saved. Not true, as the temperature in the house approaches the outside temperature, less heating or cooling is needed to maintain the new setpoint and this is where all of the savings are. When it becomes time to get the house back to the normal temperature it takes less energy to do that then all of the energy saved while keeping the house at a temperature closer to the outside temperature.
Programmable thermostats cost from $50 to $100 or more. Make sure that the thermostat fits your application, if you have a heat pump with auxiliary heat strips you will need a thermostat that has a secondary set of outputs so that the heat strips come on when they should. Installing digital thermostats is one of the services that we provide. For our Georgia Power customers there is a $100 rebate for programmable thermostats, covering 50% of the cost and instillation.