Texas Family Wakes Up Sweating After Energy Company Turns Up Smart Thermostat
In case you've been out of state, earlier this week ERCOT asked Texans to conserve power through today (Friday, June 18th). They cited that a significant number of forced generation outages combined with potential record electric use for the month of June has lead to tight grid conditions.
I'm with my pal Melz when he said, "I really think ERCOT's "conservation call" is more of a "Hey, don't blame us, we warned y'all" deal to shift the blame to the PEOPLE who naturally are going to BOOST their energy when its hot/cold. But in reality, the GRID is still sub-par which is ERCOT's responsibility.
So back to the energy company using smart thermostats to crank up ACs; according to KVUE when Deer Park resident Brandon English got home from work on Wednesday, his house was too hot.
“(My wife) had it cranked it down at 2:30,” English said. Then his wife and their daughters laid down for their afternoon nap. “They’d been asleep long enough that the house had already gotten to 78 degrees,” English said. “So they woke up sweating.”
Turns out that the English's smart thermostat was part of a home security package called "Smart Savers Texas." It's operated by a company called EnergyHub, and the company took it upon itself to adjust thermostats during periods of high energy demand.
“Was my daughter at the point of overheating?” English said. “She’s 3 months old. [babies] dehydrate very quickly.”
The loss of control was enough for this family, according to English they will be withdrawing from the program, "If somebody else can manipulate this, I’m not for it,” he said.
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