this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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[–] CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I thought this article was going to shit on the practice but was happily surprised that it does not. It's a good way to not only save on your bill, but it also reduces grid strain, in turn (theoretically) lowering maintenance costs for infrastructure.

Of course, it mainly only works if people are able to override (because then they wouldn't sign up at all) and it doesn't do much against huge data centers. Luckily in my area, there aren't any, but I'm sure I'm still paying part of their cost somewhere else.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

A lot of people who live in WA just won't be affected. Plenty of the housing here still uses baseboard heaters and doesn't have AC.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this affects the more wealthy who can afford newly constructed/newly renovated/upgraded homes because they are the ones who have HVAC systems with smart thermostats.

[–] CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago

It definitely won't affect everyone.

They do make smart baseboard thermostats now, although I've not used them. One of the first upgrades to my house was replacing the 1950's oil furnace with a heat pump. It's probably already paid for itself, especially with how expensive diesel is these days.

Relevant Technology Connections video: https://youtu.be/0f9GpMWdvWI

[–] tidderuuf@lemmy.world -1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yes you will suffer at times and all so billionaires can make a few extra billion off of data centers.

Washingtonians voted for this and your elected representatives had a choice to send the bill of data centers back to the tech companies but thought it wasn't a priority.

Your bottom dollar is not their priority.

[–] CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 months ago

Someone didn't read the article and thinks that it's shitting on the practice, I see.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Im curious, what it is you think people voted for here?

[–] CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They once told me something about how ICE was able to come to blue states because of gun control (and deserved it because of the gun control laws).

Oh, and another time, they claimed that a tax for billionaires (like the one recently passed for WA) would be moved to the lower bracket once the billionaires all moved away, even though that didn't happen in NYC. Funny that they're complaining about billionaires in this thread, while saying we shouldn't tax them in another. Almost like they just like to disagree with anything democratic legislatures pass.