Figured out my smart thermostat was costing me more by running AC while I was at work
Last month I was going through my energy bill from ComEd here in Chicago and saw I used 40% more power than the same month last year. I pulled up the app for my thermostat and saw it was set to kick the AC on at 3pm every day to pre-cool the place, but I do not get home until 6:30. So it was cooling an empty apartment for 3 and a half hours straight during peak rates. I switched the schedule to start at 5:45 and flipped the fan to auto, and my next bill came in $38 lower. Has anyone else found a sneaky setting on theirs that was working against them?