Is your partner, roommate, or spouse changing the thermostat behind your back, or arguing with you about the thermostat setting? You are not alone! The temperature in your home is causing a lot of heat – literally – among household residents. According to Indiana Michigan Power’s newly released Thermostat Rumble survey, the temperature in your home can become a true rumble complete with espionage, distraction techniques, lies, cheating, and even sabotage.
“I&M’s first ‘Thermostat Rumble’ survey was a fun way for our customers to take a look at how households deal with one of the most noticeable uses of energy, which is heating and cooling our homes,” said Katie Davis, vice president External Affairs and Customer Experience at I&M. “The survey was also a way to mark October’s Energy Awareness Month and inform customers about the different energy-saving programs that are available to them.”
I&M is Powering the Next Energy Saving Idea by surveying how our customers set the temperature of their homes during October’s National Energy Awareness Month. National Energy Awareness Month encourages the government and companies to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability and managing the nation’s energy resources. The company surveyed customers through email, through Next Door (a hyperlocal social network for neighborhoods) and on Twitter.
Who sets the dial?
According to the survey, half of the respondents said they controlled the thermostat, while the other 50% said it’s a mutual decision or even an all-out brawl on who sets the dial.
“My wife and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary and one thing I’ve learned over the last 10 years, the rule of ‘happy wife, happy life’ definitely applies to the thermostat,” wrote one person that took the survey.
They may be right, as the survey also showed that the temperature setting in a home was likely to be the biggest thing to spark a disagreement among those living in the household. It ranked as more contentious than who was going to handle cooking dinner or take out the garbage.
Sabotage to win the rumble
But what really makes this a rumble? Well, that would be the sabotage.
Some of those in your household might not be telling the whole truth when it comes to the thermostat. Nearly 60% of respondents admitted that even if they lose the discussion over where to set the temperature, they have changed the thermostat when their spouse, partner or roommate was not looking.
Some customers even went to pretty far lengths to keep others in the household fooled.
“I was able to figure out how to manipulate the thermostat at our former house to fool my husband into thinking we had the heat or air turned at the temperature he wanted,” another survey respondent wrote.
So what, at the end of the day, is the ideal temperature?
Well, there wasn’t a clear consensus among those that took the survey. In fact zero respondents liked it above 74 degrees, 50% thought it should be set between 70-73 degrees and 40% liked it at 69 or below.
Energy Savings
So how does this help customers?
When asked to choose, over half (55%) of survey participants said being comfortable is most important to them over saving money. Around 39% of participants consider costs, while the rest said saving energy is most important to them.
”These results highlight that when it comes to the thermostat, it’s not one size fits all,” said Davis. “Our goal is to help our customers find the best balance of comfort and savings when it comes to heating and cooling their homes.”
Other survey findings include:
- 75% of respondents only adjust the thermostat once a day, or not at all.
- 25% of respondents say they will change the temperature up to two or three times a day.
- 82% of respondents don’t have a smart thermostat in the home.
Save Money on Winter Heating
In the winter, the majority of customers’ electric bills go directly to the furnace. If the thermostat is set a little lower during winter months, it can reduce heating costs about 3% for each degree of adjustment. Changing the temperature from 72 degrees to 68 could lower energy bills by up to 10%, and those savings can be significant.
One more way customers can save is by switching from a conventional thermostat to an energy-efficient smart thermostat. That alone can save you up to 12% on heating and 15% on cooling. A smart thermostat learns what temperature the customer likes and builds a schedule around it. Smart thermostats provide proven energy savings and environmental benefits.
Being smart about how you control your home’s temperature settings helps you save energy, lower your energy bills, and stay comfortable. Saving energy doesn’t have to be hard. There are hundreds of ways to save energy every day.
