Do you like waking up - or coming home - to a warm, cozy house in the winter or a pleasantly cool home in the summer? If you want to stay comfortable without busting your budget, a programmable thermostat may be the answer.

A programmable thermostat can help you use energy more efficiently and save money on your bills by automatically adjusting your home's temperature based on settings you select. The thermostat can pay for itself within two years and continue to save you money in the future. (Customers who heat with gas generally save more from using programmable thermostats.)

You can automatically set a thermostat to have your home at a set temperature when you get up in the morning and different temperatures while you are gone during the day, when you get home, and while you sleep. Some models allow you to have different settings each day of the week. Others allow five-day/two-day settings to cover the workweek and the weekend.

With convenient multiple settings, you get precision control to match your lifestyle. You don't have to remember to reset your thermostat, and you stay comfortable while saving energy and money. 

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.