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Did you know that your thermostat could earn you $445 in the next year?
If you live in California, this is totally doable — and easier than you might think. You just have to do two things: Install a smart thermostat, and sign up and connect your electric account with OhmConnect, a company that’ll pay you to save energy.
Combine the two and — pow! — it’s like free money in your bank account.
Earn $300+ a Year by Saving Energy One Hour a Week
Let’s start with OhmConnect. It’s a company that will pay you to save energy for approximately one hour each week.
Here’s how it works: About once a week, OhmConnect will text you and ask you to use less electricity for one hour. Yup — that’s just 60 minutes of unplugging your Keurig, holding off on laundry and adjusting your thermostat.
The more energy you save, the more money you can make.
The average OhmConnect user can earn around $300 per year, but some can make more than $1,000.
In fact, we talked to Tanya Williams, a stay-at-home mom from Visalia, California, who earned an extra $1,700 in just one year with OhmConnect.
Save Even More Money With a Smart Thermostat — and Get a Rebate From Your Electric Company
Now, let’s talk about the smart thermostat.
A smart thermostat allows you to control your thermostat from your phone, and it will also automatically adjust the temperature, depending on your patterns. Some models can even detect when you leave your home and will automatically switch their settings to save you more energy.
Do they actually save you money? The smart thermostat company Google Nest reviewed the electric bills of people before and after they installed one. It found that people saved an average of $131 to $145 per year.
And here’s an added perk: If you live in California, you can probably get a rebate from your electric company when you buy a smart thermostat.
For example, PG&E offers up to $100 in rebates, SDG&E offers up to $70, and Southern California Edison will give you up to $75 in bill credits.
OhmConnect + Smart Thermostat = Peak Savings and Earnings
Let’s put this all together now.
Once you sign up for OhmConnect and connect your electric account (it takes minutes), you can link up your smart thermostat to your account.
Then, when OhmConnect lets you know what time you should cut back on your energy this week, you can set your smart thermostat to automatically adjust, so you can maximize your energy savings — and OhmConnect earnings.
It’s easy and automatic.
So let’s add it all up: You can earn $300 (or more) a year from OhmConnect. Add in the money you’ll save on your electric bill, thanks to your smart thermostat plus the rebate, and you’ve just added an extra $445 to your bank account.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.