Thermostat energy savings project: Are you wearing a sweater while your pastor is sweating?

July 26, 2024 Brian Flatgard

By Duane Gilson, Spirit of Hope in Mesa, AZ

When I first took over monitoring the utility bills for the church, I noticed that all of the thermostats (15 of them) were non-programmable and set to run at the same temperature all the time. I went over the last few years electrical bills and found out our annual bill was about $14,000.

SRP was offering up to $150 per thermostat if we installed programmable thermostats. I purchased and installed the thermostats. All I needed to do was fill out a form and attach the receipt for the thermostats. They paid the entire cost of the units.

Immediately we noticed the church was more comfortable because we had control over the temperature in each room and could turn the temperature up or down depending on the schedule for that room. The thermostats would also switch between heat and cool automatically so on those days in spring and fall when you need heat in the morning and AC in the afternoon we were covered. The thermostats also had the ability to set a password so people could only change the temperature in the room for meetings, but not change the programming.

A few months after installing the new thermostats, I checked the electric bills and they were down significantly. After one year our annual cost had gone from over $14,000/year to around $8,000/year. This was a $6,000 dollar savings with no cost to the church.

A few years later SRP offered another program to upgrade to a thermostat with WIFI. They would pay up to $200/thermostat if you purchased an approved device. I found a device that had the features we wanted, including remote temperature sensors. I found them on sale at the manufacturer's site for less than $200. I purchased the units and installed them. I then signed them up to be part of the SRP rebate program. They sent me a check for the units and give us a $25/year credit each year on our account for each thermostat. Each year we save energy and get a $375 credit for doing it.

The new units have a nice feature. They can be programed from your phone or computer. This makes adjusting schedules for meetings or events at the church easy. The remote temperature sensors were useful in controlling the temperature in different areas of the sanctuary without relocating the thermostats. In our sanctuary there are 8 thermostats on the back wall. Even though each AC unit heats or cools a different area of the church, all read from the back of the church. This made for large temperature differences because the windows behind the altar would cause that side of the sanctuary to be warm, while the back the area was cool. Now all units run to the temperature of the area they control.

With the new thermostats we were also able to go on the Time of Use plan offered by SRP for businesses. On average we save about $1500 a year using this plan.

As of March 1st of 2024, our bill is now at $782/month, where on March 1st of 2023, we were at $880/month.

Our annual bill was down to $8000/year, but with rate increases it has crept up to just over $9,000, but our usage has stayed the same or has decreased over the same period.

Improve your church building’s comfort, save money on electricity, care for creation, and use promotions to help pay for it in one project. Now that’s good stewardship!

Handy links to some power company promotions in GCS: