Our Smart Optimization Program is no longer accepting new enrollees from Emerson, Honeywell Home, and Honeywell Home Total Connect Comfort. Participants with those thermostats will not be optimized after Dec. 30, 2021.
Make your smart thermostat even smarter!
Thank you for your interest in making your smart thermostat even more efficient with BGE’s Thermostat Optimization Program, referred to as eco+! Because heating and cooling account for up to 50% of the energy you use at home, optimizing your smart thermostat can help you boost comfort and save on energy costs.
*Source: energystar.gov
How to Enroll in BGE’s Thermostat Optimization Program
With eco+, applications to BGE’s Thermostat Optimization Program are submitted through your ecobee mobile app on Android or iOS.
Open your ecobee mobile app and set up eco+ for your home. Just make sure you have the latest version of the ecobee app.
Enter your utility information while enabling eco+ and select Enroll Now to apply to the program. Make sure to enable all three features, Feels Like, Schedule Assistant, and Smart Home & Away.
Receive a confirmation email that you are enrolled in the program. If you also signed up for Connected Rewards℠, you’ll receive a $50 eGift card for each device you enroll and another $50 eGift card, per device, each year you participate.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What’s the difference between BGE’s Thermostat Optimization Program and Connected Rewards?
Thermostat Optimization uses the eco+ features of Feels Like, Schedule Assistant, and Smart Home & Away to institute daily savings with minimal impact on comfort. The Connected Rewards Program focuses on the Community Energy Savings feature of eco+, which uses thermostat adjustments when electricity demand in your community peaks. These adjustments will be minor and infrequent but can have big impacts on the electric grid.
What are the eligibility requirements?
Participants must be BGE customer-members in good standing who have a heat pump or central air conditioning and who reside in a single-family residential home or individually metered townhouse or condominium. PeakRewards customers are not currently eligible for the Thermostat Optimization Program.
Participants must have a qualifying connected thermostat model that is connected to Wi-Fi internet. To be eligible, you must have:
- Wi-Fi network
- An approved ecobee Wi-Fi thermostat that controls the home’s heating and cooling systems
ecobee Thermostats:
- ecobee with voice control
- ecobee Smart Si
- ecobee 3
- ecobee 3 Lite
- ecobee 4
Thermostat Optimization (eco+)
Thermostat optimization is a process that uses your customized thermostat schedule along with data from local weather and your personal smart thermostat data to learn how your house reacts to various weather conditions. With these insights, your thermostat can automatically make customized adjustments for your home. The result? Additional energy savings while your home remains comfortable all year round. To participate you must have eco+ enabled with all three features, Feels Like, Schedule Assistant, and Smart Home & Away.
How is my data used?
Your data will enable BGE and Resideo to evaluate energy savings in residential homes in selected climate zones in the state of Maryland. Any information shared with BGE, Resideo, and eco+ will be subject to privacy terms.
How does weather impact my heating and cooling costs?
The weather has a significant impact on the thermodynamics of every building – changing the length of time it takes to heat up or cool down; the amount of heating or cooling loss through walls, windows and cracks; and the amount of energy required to keep occupants comfortable. For example, the amount of energy an air conditioning unit uses to cool a building varies with outside air temperature—the hotter it is outside, the harder the air conditioner has to work to keep the building cool.
Temperature, humidity, wind and heat from the sun are the next largest factors in determining how much you pay to keep your home comfortable. eco+ optimizes energy use and lowers energy bills by understanding current and expected local weather conditions, and how a home will react to them.
How do I unenroll from the Thermostat Optimization Program
To un-enroll or opt-out of the BGE’s Thermostat Optimization Program, please adjust your eco+ setting to remove one of the following features: Schedule Assistant, Smart Home & Away, or Feels like. This will terminate your participation. But you will remain enrolled in Connected Rewards.
If you want to keep eco+ enabled and un-enroll from BGE program please email BGESmartThermostat@icf.com.
EmPOWER Maryland programs are funded by a charge on your energy bill. EmPOWER programs can help you reduce your energy consumption and save you money. To learn more about EmPOWER and how you can participate, click here.
*Participating customer-members may enjoy heating and cooling savings up to 3 percent more than what is traditionally attributed to smart thermostats.