Originally posted on Quora September 14, 2022
Once the sole domain of “conspiracy theory”, the reality that smart home tech allows remote monitoring and control of smart appliances by people other than the home’s residents has set in across the country as utility companies began remotely raising people’s thermostat to 78, 79, and sometimes as high as 80 F while locking them out from changing it in the middle of a heat wave last week.
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This is being done voluntarily for now. Apparently, the thousands of residents who got locked out of their thermostats had enrolled in energy conservation programs that offered rebates and other rewards in exchange for forfeiting their right to control their own thermostat whenever the utility company (or government) declares an “energy emergency.” For the 22,000 homeowners effected in Colorado it was done because they enrolled in a so called AC Rewards Program that offered a $100 enrollment credit and $25 annual rebates in exchange for control over their thermostat. This program currently has 46,000 participants across 4 states. In Texas, the conservation program is run by a company called EnergyHub that offers customers of TXU Energy in Dallas and Houston entry into a sweepstakes in exchange for control of over their thermostat during periods of “high energy demand.” Of course, what constitutes an “energy emergency” or “high energy demand” is a shifting goalpost that can be changed at the company’s or government’s sole discretion.