okay you know before the break we asked
you what is the number one driver of
energy use for your home is it
technology whether time of use or
appliances and the answer is wait for it
B we've got to get answers about this
here to explain how you can reduce
energy costs and save money John Smith
with try Eagle energy welcome to the
show
thank you so weather is the biggest
driver whether it's the biggest driver
of your air condition right so it's
really it's not just the weather it's
what the weather drive so it gets really
hot we turn our air condition on and
that drives your electricity up you know
what and we're not getting a break I
mean what is today 99 degrees outside
how do we manage that we were kind of
chatting about this during the break I
feel like my eyes kind of cross over
when I'm in the shopping process and
thankfully here in Houston we can do
that that's right how do I know what I'm
looking at when I go to your website
there's there's two things I like to
tell people that you really drive your
savings one is shopping for the right
customer or the right supplier and the
right rate the second is you know
efficiency at home making your home more
efficient so shopping for us try Eagles
always been about being simple and easy
and easy understand so you got to be
really careful Amy Davis has some
stories about this back earlier in the
summer because our prices jumped in
Texas this year right so when you go to
places like power to choose triangle we
bundle our rate so there's no hidden
fees so the rate that you see with us is
the rate that you're going to pay so if
it's 10 cents and you use a thousand
kilowatt hours your bill is going to be
$100 it's not going to be $100 plus a
bunch of additional fees ok you guys
also do for your customers you do like a
it's like a weekly usage report right so
customers are able to better estimate
what their bill will be and our
customers love that we hear about it
doesn't go out the same time the same
day every single week it shows their
usage over the past week and so it
enables them to not only see what
they've been doing but also show them
what they can expect on their bill so
there's no surprises that's the biggest
thing is you don't get a bill and you're
surprised right and that's what you hear
a lot from customers when they sign up
for a rate that looks too good to be
true it probably is
well let's talk about some of the other
things to consider and we're shopping
basically for a provider what is the
when is the best time to sign up yeah
that's a great question you know a lot
of people because our bills go up in the
summer time that's when we like to shop
and so you
get into what I call the contract cycle
of you know your term starts in the
summer it usually ends in the summer
because we're on 12 24 36 month terms
the best time to shop for those
contracts is in the cooler months
because in the cooler months our rates
go down and you're signing up on a fixed
rate so that rate stays the same
throughout the year so when you sign up
in those cooler months that's when
you're gonna save you the most amount of
money over the life of your contract oh
that's an interesting strategy yeah what
about people who have been with the same
energy company forever as long as they
can remember I mean why probably stay
just because it's convenient and maybe
they don't know that you don't want to
think about it I mean you run into them
we do I think the biggest confusion
comes from people think that we control
their their actual lights going on and
off we're just the bill provider in a
deregulated market Centerpoint still has
all the poles in the lines so when it
goes out and we're almost smart meters
in Texas they know that your power is
out before you know it so you don't have
to worry about that right we're just
here to make it and provide you a better
rate and you get your bill from us and
that's really it the better who you buy
your energy from whether it's reliant or
anybody else
you're still the the electricity is
coming from Center Point oK you've got
this air filter do it like triggered my
but we need to replace all of ours at
home this is something that people
oftentimes overlooked you're saying do
it it'll save you money so again the
biggest driver of your electricity is
your HVAC your air condition the biggest
killer of your air condition is dirty
filters what happens we forget about
them number one number two we're at Home
Depot or Lowe's and we don't remember
the size that we need exactly always the
issue that's right so we partnered with
a company called filter easy it's been a
great experience our customers love it
you get a nice little discount from
signing up through try Eagle but what it
basically does is you sign up and every
30 or 60 days whatever you decide then
right-size shows up at your door remind
you to time to change and you've got
them there in hand I mean totally genius
yes absolutely that's and by keeping
your air conditioner running as
efficient as possible it helps keep
those bills lower less usage and let's
talk about this other prop here the
cameras gonna get a shot of it and this
is another way to really control when
you're not home or on vacation you're at
work so this is something that everybody
can basically add right that's right so
smart thermostat
everybody knows I've heard about nest it
ecobee is a great brand as well a
Honeywell makes them as well
the biggest difference between a
programmable thermostat and a smart
thermostat is this the program will
start thermostat I can have it set to be
78 degrees when I'm not home or 80 and
then at five o'clock when I'm coming
home drop back down to 74 the problem
with that is at 5:00 p.m. it tries to go
from 80 to 74 and it tries to just you
know users just pumps that HVAC mm yeah
the idea behind a smart thermostat is
they optimize daily to your local
weather and so it will start to pre cool
or preheat your home to where you're not
just pumping energy all at one time so
if I want to be 74 degrees at 5:00 p.m.
when I get home or 5:30 or 6:00 it
starts to pre cool earlier on a hotter
day a little less you know or later in
the afternoon on a not so cold or hot
day I apologize but so it just it uses
less energy that's really I mean that's
some people may find that a little
counterintuitive but it totally makes
sense though that it's much more
efficient to cool a house that's not
boiling but all thermal batteries if you
will but it basically turns your home
into a battery so it's a pre cool or pre
heat versus you know trying to pump all
that energy at 120 times a day and the
other cool things you mentioned I can
control this from anywhere in the world
on an internet connection through my
smart phone it's amazing it and you guys
have smart energy plans what are those
those are just the plans that actually
have these devices included into the
plan it's just bundled into the rate so
you don't worry about going out and
spending a couple hundred bucks on a
smart thermostat we actually bundled it
in and helped you get that thing
installed and you start to benefit from
all the advantages that is awesome yeah
really cool and they'll tell you the
other cool thing is you know I have
these in my home and our upstairs unit
wasn't working very well and I knew
about it but for my wife who was at home
knew about it because it actually starts
to alert you on your device on your
device so what this where's that doing
you can call the HVAC guys to get out
and fix it during the day they charge
you a lot more at night in the weekends
yes you don't know about it to the
nights in the weekend yeah there - John
thank you so much for stopping by and
the air filter thing that is genius
blowing it's a great idea try Eagle
energy by the way they do have a special
offer for the viewers we love here at
Houston life log on to try Eagle energy
calm and use the promo code what else
Houston life to activate the friends and
family discount John thanks again very
interesting combo all right thank you
both