{"id":569464,"date":"2021-06-21T13:52:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T17:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=569464"},"modified":"2021-06-21T13:52:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T17:52:33","slug":"as-texas-faces-heat-wave-power-companies-are-automatically-raising-the-temperatures-on-smart-thermostats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-texas-faces-heat-wave-power-companies-are-automatically-raising-the-temperatures-on-smart-thermostats\/","title":{"rendered":"As Texas Faces Heat Wave, Power Companies Are Automatically Raising The Temperatures On Smart Thermostats"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fas-texas-faces-heat-wave-power-companies-are-automatically-raising-the-temperatures-on-smart-thermostats%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=569464&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1233512930.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>Texas is currently facing a summer heat wave, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) asked residents to turn up the temperatures on their thermostats, suggesting Texans set their thermostats to 82 degrees at night.<\/p>\n<p>The move has been mocked on social media, but now residents have noticed their smart thermostats are being controlled remotely by the energy companies. KHOU 11 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.khou.com\/article\/news\/local\/texas\/remote-thermostat-adjustment-texas-energy-shortage\/285-5acf2bc5-54b7-4160-bffe-1f9a5ef4362a\">reported<\/a> late last week the neighbors in Houston have found their homes hotter than where they set them:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"24\">\n<p><em>When Deer Park resident Brandon English got home from work on Wednesday, his house was hot.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c(My wife) had it cranked it [sic] down at 2:30,\u201d English said. \u201cIt takes a long time for this house to get cool when it gets that hot.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>English\u2019s wife and their daughters decided to take their afternoon nap earlier in the day.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThey\u2019d been asleep long enough that the house had already gotten to 78 degrees,\u201d English said. \u201cSo they woke up sweating.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Without anyone touching it, they said their thermostat was changed while they were sleeping, making their home unbearably hot.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWas my daughter at the point of overheating?\u201d English said. \u201cShe\u2019s 3 months old. They dehydrate very quickly.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Shortly after waking, English\u2019s wife received an alert on her phone saying the thermostat had been changed remotely for the purpose of a three-hour \u201cenergy saving event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>KHOU 11 reported that the family\u2019s smart thermostat had been installed a few years earlier as part of their new home security package and that the thermostat could be enrolled in a program called \u201cSmart Savers Texas,\u201d operated by EnergyHub.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe agreement states that in exchange for an entry into sweepstakes, electric customers allow them to control their thermostats during periods of high energy demand. EnergyHub\u2019s list of its clients include TXU Energy, CenterPoint and ERCOT,\u201d the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>English unenrolled from the program once he learned about the outside control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want anybody else controlling my things for me,\u201d he told KHOU 11<\/p>\n<p>Erika Diamond, EnergyHub\u2019s vice president of customer solutions, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/texas-energy-companies-remotely-raised-smart-thermostats-temperatures-2021-6?amp\">told<\/a> Business Insider in a statement that the company can increase thermostats by up to four degrees during energy saving events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring a demand-response event, Smart Savers Texas increases the temperature on participating thermostats by up to 4 degrees to reduce energy consumption and relieve stress on the grid,\u201d Diamond told the outlet, adding that \u201cthe ability to reduce energy consumption is critical to managing the grid, in Texas and nationwide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The attempt to control residents\u2019 used energy comes months after the Texas power grid was overloaded during winter storms, an event that left <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/millions-without-power-in-texas-energy-prices-climb\">millions without power<\/a> and increased electric bills to more than $10,000 a month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/millions-without-power-in-texas-energy-prices-climb\">in some cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As The Daily Wire previously reported:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"8\">\n<p><em>The cold southern weather created a situation where fuel demand increased at the same time production capabilities were stymied. Energy prices went up as a result. The electric grid struggled to keep up with the need, which made some utilities enforce blackouts.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas is currently facing a summer heat wave, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) asked residents to turn up the temperatures on their thermostats, suggesting Texans set their &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280863,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1233512930.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"As Texas Faces Heat Wave, Power Companies Are Automatically Raising The Temperatures On Smart Thermostats","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-569464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-1233512930.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"As Texas Faces Heat Wave, Power Companies Are Automatically Raising The Temperatures On Smart Thermostats","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}