What temperature do you set your thermostat when not home? (Houston: new home, water heater)

[Lbjen]

3,000 sq ft west facing home built in 2013, 2 AC units, dog and a cat at home all day, temp is set to 85 during the day and 79 when we're home. My bill is typically 750-1,000 kWh per month. It is 500-750kwh per month the rest of the year. If it gets hot we put on a ceiling fan.

[slackercruster]

winter low 50's. summer mid 80's. When home winter 64, summer 76

[gwarnecke]

When my wife and I are both out of the house, I let ours go up to 85. Program the thermostat to set temperature to 78 by the time we leave the office. It's usually close to 78 by the time we get home.

Our monthly usage with this strategy peaks at about 2200 kWh during the summer. Not too bad for a big, high-ceilinged old house.

[Lowexpectations]

4 story 3000 sqft ish

4th is always on 80
3rd 77 during the day 71 at night
2nd 77 during the day 75 in the evening until 10pm back to 77
1st 78 always

Electric tops out at 150.00-170.00

[Even Further]

last month was $145 which is the peak bill. 1820 sq ft 2 floor townhouse. 80 during the day, 74 at home/weekends, 71 at night.

[rb29335i]

the good thing is it will only be this high for a couple more months!

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by rb29335i

the good thing is it will only be this high for a couple more months!

Couple more months? This is the worst month right now, and September should see less sustained heat.

[Prey521]

When we're not home (3100sq ft, 2 stories, 2 zones, 1 AC unit), 77 Down/80 Up, when we are home, 74/77. My bill last month was $190.....would be less if I didn't run my workstation and XBoxes 24/7 LOL. My wife's a teacher so she's home all Summer with the kids so the AC is on for most of the day. This is our first full Summer in this new home that we had built last year, and man is it a lot more efficient than the 12 year old house we were renting last year, which was 2100 sq ft, single story and our bills were almost always over $250 in the Summer.

[NewYorkiforniainHouston]

1100 sq. ft apartment in an old azz building (circa 1970's)
my July bill was $88.52, 778kwh used.

But then again it's only me. The main breaker panel to the unit is in my closet, and I keep the stove, dishwasher and stacked w/d turned off at the circuit (I only use the stove occasionally and wash clothes 1x/week. I am the dishwasher). Also, all the living room electronics and lamps are connected to a light switch, which stays turned off when i'm not home.

I set the temp to 85 before I leave. When I get back home, the AC usually shows 83 or 84. I like it cool when I sleep so i'd rather save my usage for when i'm sleeping so I put it on 72 and have a big fan blowing on me at night haha

I'm with TXU and trying to get up to 800kwh so I can get the $30 off per my plan. This month i'll put the AC to 70 at night and see what happens.

[deewin]

We set it at 82 when we're out of the house, 77 when home and 75 at night. For a one story 2400 sq ft we average around $60 dollars during the summer and $30 during the winter.