Tips and Tricks

Your guide to Smart Thermostats

Comfort at your fingertips & savings you can enjoy

Did you know that heating and cooling are a home’s biggest annual energy costs? A smart thermostat uses motion and occupancy sensors to make automatic adjustments to maximize your energy efficiency. Whether you own or rent your home, a smart thermostat is a smart investment that can pay for itself and provide you greater comfort and control.

Baseboard smart thermostats offer you a great solution to help better manage energy consumption and overall comfort room by room. For homes heated primarily with electricity, space heating uses an average of 7,000 kWh a year – which is about 40% of the average annual household usage.

If you have an eligible HVAC or baseboard smart thermostat, you can join myEnergy Rewards and get rewarded up to $75 when you enrol your device. By joining the program, participants help improve reliability and enable a greener Ontario.

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How an HVAC or baseboard smart thermostat helps you save

From sunrise to sunset and season to season, a smart thermostat automatically keeps your home comfortable while saving you energy and money.

Benefits of Smart Thermostats

Automated savings

  • Automatically adjusts to save energy when you’re away
  • Reduces energy costs by up to 15% per year

1

Convenient comfort control

  • Adapts itself for optimal comfort when you’re home
  • WiFi-enabled for remote control from your smartphone or tablet

2

User-friendly design

  • Simple do-it-yourself installation, often in 30 minutes or less
  • Offers easy-to-use controls and programming

3

See your usage

  • Get real-time usage reports and savings tips
  • Provides automatic system alerts and service reminders

4

Smart support

  • Learns your daily routines and temperature preferences
  • Works with other smart home devices and systems

5

Eco-friendly

  • Helps reduce your home's carbon footprint
  • Most models are ENERGY STAR®-certified

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Here’s how smart thermostats adapt temperatures during winter in a household with a typical 9-to-5 work schedule:

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7 A.M.

You wake up to a nice warm room.

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9 A.M. - 5 P.M.

After leaving for work, it automatically turns the heating down.

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6 P.M. – 11 P.M.

You come home to a warm home.

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11 P.M.

It turns itself down while you sleep.

Smart solutions for baseboard heating

If you use electric baseboards as your primary or secondary heating source, baseboard smart thermostats give you greater control of your energy consumption and comfort throughout your home. This new technology (also known as line voltage smart thermostats) offers easy-to-use smart functions with some devices including helpful features like:

Remote Control

Scheduling

Zone Control

Eco-Modes

Voice Assistance

Geo Fencing

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Get up to $75 off baseboard smart thermostats

If you already have this technology at home, you can join our myEnergy Rewards program for incentives up to $75. Program participants help enable a greener Ontario and improve reliability.

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Explore these Canadian brands to learn more

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What to look for when shopping for a smart thermostat

With many options to choose from, finding the right thermostat for your lifestyle is easy with the following guide.

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If you have a larger home

Look for a smart thermostat that comes with remote sensors to control the temperature in multiple rooms.

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If you’re a design lover

Some smart thermostats come with a large, colourful display and a full touchscreen.

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If you’re a frequent flier

Many smart thermostats come with mobile and web applications, giving you control and insight into your energy usage remotely and in real time.

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If you’re building or buying a new home

If you’re taking possession of a newly built home, be sure to ask if a smart thermostat is a standard feature.

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If you’re on a budget

Not every model has the ability to learn your habits and preferences. For a lower price point, look for one with fewer features.

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If you want smart hub integration

Choose a smart thermostat that can link with your connected lightbulbs, speakers and other smart home products.

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If you have a heat pump

Maximize your energy savings by pairing your heat pump with a compatible smart thermostat. It constantly monitors heat pump performance and helps minimize the use of auxiliary or backup heating mode.

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If you have baseboard heating

Discover comfort, control and energy efficiency with baseboard smart thermostats. With helpful smart features like scheduling, you can control your energy use in each room.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between a programmable thermostat and a smart thermostat?

Programmable thermostats require manual adjustments, while smart thermostats adjust automatically, based on occupancy, indoor/outdoor temperatures and user preferences.

Is a smart thermostat worth the money?

A smart thermostat can pay for itself in as little as one heating and cooling season, depending on the weather and your energy use habits.

Are smart thermostats compatible with all heating systems?

Most standard electric, natural gas, propane and oil furnaces will work with a smart thermostat (always check the manufacturer’s compatibility information before purchasing!). Newer heat pump systems may only be compatible with select models.

How much energy can I save?

If it costs an average of $150 per month to heat or cool your home with a manual thermostat and a natural gas furnace, a smart thermostat could save you up to $20 a month, or $240 per year – not to mention improving your home comfort and lowering your carbon footprint, too.

Get rewarded today, for a better tomorrow

Join the growing community of over 25,000 myEnergy Rewards participants today. Get rewarded up to $185 when you enrol eligible smart devices – Plus, you help improve reliability and enable a greener Ontario.

Learn More
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