CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One Houston Reddit user began noticing some strange changes in his home. His smart thermostat was being adjusted to change temperatures, but no one inside his residence had ever touched it.
The Reddit board user says he found at least eight other families on the popular social media site that were going through the same issue.
Before long, other people across Texas were commenting on the post about how they have experienced the same exact thing with their smart thermostats.
Some Reddit users say this also occurred during the Texas Freeze. After raising the temperature in order to warm up their house, the smart thermostat would enter an "energy savings event" and switch back down to at least 60 degrees.
Now, smart thermostats are being remotely adjusted by Texas power companies during the heat wave to meet demands. This revelation comes just after ERCOT issued conservation appeals last week.
Officials say if you're enrolled in specific energy-savings programs, chances are you may have noticed your smart thermostat automatically going up a few degrees.
Texas energy companies assure customers that they can opt-out of temperature adjustments at any time; however, some smart thermostat users have said they could not do so.