The longer answer depends on where you live, how you heat, and what type of thermostat you're replacing. Here's all of it.
What Are You Actually Spending on Heating and Cooling?
Before you can calculate savings, you need a baseline.
Heating and cooling are about 52% of the energy a typical US home uses, but only about 40% of what it spends on energy, according to EIA data. Space heating runs largely on cheap gas, while lighting, appliances, and electronics run on expensive electricity.
The average US household spent $1,884 on energy in 2020, the latest EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey. About 40% of that, roughly $757, went to heating and cooling. Energy prices rose about 36% from 2020 to 2025.
That puts heating and cooling at roughly $1,030 a year at 2025 prices. That's the part of the bill your thermostat directly controls.
That's the number that matters.
What Do Smart Thermostats Actually Save?
Two independent government sources put the savings potential in the same range.
The US Department of Energy says homeowners can save up to 10% per year on heating and cooling by adjusting their thermostat 7–10°F for 8 hours per day. That's the underlying savings from temperature setbacks, which a smart thermostat automates reliably.
The EPA's ENERGY STAR program independently verified an 8% reduction in heating and cooling costs for certified smart thermostats.
Eight to ten percent. From two Tier 1 government sources, independently arrived at.
What you'll hear from thermostat brands is different — 12%, 15%, even 23%. Those figures come from manufacturers' own marketing materials, not independent verification. Worth knowing before you compare.
What Does 8–10% Mean in Dollars?
At today's energy costs, with about $1,030 a year in heating and cooling spend:
- At 8% (ENERGY STAR verified): about $82 a year
- At 10% (DOE's upper estimate): about $103 a year
A reasonable range for the average US household: $80 to $100 a year.
You'll still see the EPA's "$50/year" figure cited on older pages — including the EPA's own FAQ. That number was calculated against an older, lower energy cost baseline. The savings percentage is still valid. The dollar translation needed updating.
What about high-cost homes? The dollars depend mostly on how you heat. EIA's estimate for the 2025–26 heating season, before any summer cooling: about $1,749 for an oil-heated home and $1,972 for a propane-heated home in the Northeast. In those homes, savings run to $140 to $180 a year. A gas-heated home averages about $686 for the season, which is why the national number is lower.
Why Smart Thermostats Outperform Programmable Ones
If you have a programmable thermostat, you probably don't use it as designed. That's not a personal failing — it's how programmable thermostats work in the real world.
The ACEEE/Cadmus utility study found that 51–78% of programmable thermostat users overrode their programmed schedule regularly, effectively defeating the device's purpose. ENERGY STAR actually suspended its certification program for programmable thermostats in 2009 because field performance was so inconsistent with theoretical savings.
Smart thermostats remove the human failure point. The savings don't depend on you remembering to set a schedule, lower the temperature before bed, or change the settings before a trip. Geofencing detects when you leave and switches to Away automatically. Scheduling works because the device handles it.
If your current thermostat is a programmable one you've mostly ignored, your savings upside is at the higher end of the range — not because smart thermostats are magic, but because an unused programmable thermostat is functionally the same as a manual one.
Where CliQ Fits
CliQ is $69.99, with a free App and no subscription. Its schedule and Away mode do the job these numbers are based on: setting the temperature back while you sleep or you're out.
ENERGY STAR certification is in process, so the 8% above describes certified thermostats as a category, not a CliQ result. DOE's up to 10% comes from the setback itself, on any thermostat that actually runs one.
What Affects How Much You Save?
The 8–10% figure is a national average. Your number could be higher or lower depending on a few factors.
What you're replacing matters most. Upgrading from a manual or ignored programmable thermostat gets you the full savings — because you're starting from zero setback behavior. Upgrading from a smart thermostat you already use well means a smaller delta.
Climate and fuel change the dollars. A home that spends more on heating and cooling saves more dollars at the same rate. DOE notes the percentage tends to run higher in milder climates, and it doesn't recommend deep setbacks for heat pumps.
Scheduling and Away Mode do the work. The DOE's 10% figure is based on an 8-hour setback per day — lower the temperature when you sleep, raise it when you get home. Set a schedule in the CliQ app once, and it runs automatically. Turn on geofencing and the switch to Away happens the moment you leave.
Demand-response programs add more. Some utilities pay $20–$50/year in bill credits for smart thermostat participation in demand-response programs — small automated setbacks during peak grid events. Your programmable thermostat can't do this.
The Bottom Line
The argument for a smart thermostat is straightforward. At current energy costs, a smart thermostat saves the average US household about $80 to $100 a year, and $140 to $180 in homes heated with oil or Northeast propane. Those are CliQ estimates, and the methodology is above. CliQ costs $69.99.
CliQ doesn't require a C-wire. Installs in minutes, often without tools.
If your energy bill has gone up over the past few years, a smart thermostat is one of the easiest things you can do about it.
Set it up once. The rest shows up in your bill.
Not sure if your home has a C-wire? Check in about 60 seconds →
No C-wire? Here's what that means for smart thermostat installation →
Sources
- US Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey: eia.gov
- EIA Average Monthly Bill — Residential: eia.gov
- EIA Electric Power Monthly: eia.gov
- US Department of Energy, Energy Saver — Programmable Thermostats: energy.gov
- EPA ENERGY STAR Smart Thermostat FAQ: energystar.gov
- EIA, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, household energy spending: eia.gov
- EIA, Short-Term Energy Outlook, Winter Fuels Outlook, Table WF01: eia.gov
- ACEEE/Cadmus utility field study (Indiana utilities) — smart vs. programmable thermostat comparison
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