Heating and Cooling Tips

Stay comfortable and save

KUB customers have great options to learn how to conserve energy and save money:

  • Take advantage of a free online energy audit through the TVA energy right ® Program. The online audit offers extensive information on efficient products, as well as calculators for finding your potential savings.
  • Make your home the best it can be! Get your eScore at 2eScore.com to find out how energy efficient your home is and what you can do to improve it. TVA eScore advisors will audit your home and rate its energy efficiency [1 to 10]. You get a report with recommendations to help you conserve energy and save money and a list of available rebates for improvements. You can participate in eScore multiple times—possibly with multiple rebates—until your home is a “10.”

Register online (www.2eScore.com) or by phone at 1 -855-2eScore (1-855-237-2673)

Set Your Thermostat on Savings

The first step in saving money with heating and cooling is to set your thermostat for savings. KUB recommends a setting of 78 in the summer and a maximum of 68 in the winter. Each degree change saves you 1 percent on your heating or cooling bill.

  • Try wearing extra layers in the winter and thinner, loose-fitting fabrics in the summer to stay comfortable without having to adjust the thermostat.
  • Consider a programmable thermostat to customize the settings to your schedule. It can pay for itself in two years and continue to save you money in the future. You can change your thermostat manually as well. Just be sure that you don't turn a heat pump's thermostat back up by more than three degrees at a time to avoid reheating with expensive auxiliary heat—unless you have a newer programmable thermostat that doesn't use auxiliary heat to re-heat. However, lowering your gas heat's thermostat 5 degrees can have a big impact.
  • Set your thermostat higher or shut the unit off (depending on your unit, plants, pets, etc.) if you'll be out of town in the summer. If you'll be out of town in the winter, setting the thermostat at 55 degrees will keep the pipes from freezing. When you return, don't turn a heat pump's thermostat back up by more than three degrees at a time to avoid reheating with auxiliary heat.