How Smart Thermostats Pay for Themselves Under Evergy’s New Plans by Beating the 4-8 PM Surge
If you have looked closely at your electricity bill in Kansas or Missouri recently, you might have noticed a significant shift in how you are being charged. The days of a flat rate for electricity are disappearing. Instead, we are entering the era of Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing.
For many homeowners, this feels like a hidden tax. But for the data-driven homeowner, it presents a unique opportunity. Evergy’s new rate plans function much like “surge pricing” with a rideshare app. Electricity is cheap when demand is low, but the price skyrockets when everyone turns on their AC at the same time.
Specifically, the hours between 4:00 PM and 8:00 PM on weekdays have become the most expensive time to cool your home. If you are running your air conditioner normally during this window, you are voluntarily overpaying for comfort.
There is a better way to operate your home. By combining the physics of “Thermal Banking” with the intelligence of a smart thermostat, you can maintain comfort while slashing your summer bills. Here is the financial case for why a smart thermostat is an investment, not a gadget.
Evergy’s Summer Peak Rates Penalize Standard Cooling Habits
To solve the problem, we first must understand the pricing structure. Under standard TOU plans, the cost of a kilowatt-hour (kWh) changes based on the clock. During the summer months (typically June through September), the grid is under immense strain in the late afternoon.
This is the “Super Peak” window. Everyone comes home from work, starts cooking dinner, turns on the TV, and cranks the AC to combat the late afternoon heat.
If you keep your thermostat at a constant 72°F all day, your AC unit is working its hardest exactly when electricity is most expensive. You are buying the bulk of your energy at the premium “surge” price. This is inefficient financial behavior. The goal is not necessarily to use less energy, but to buy that energy when it is on sale.
You Can Use Your Home’s Structure as a Battery for Cold Air
You cannot store electricity cheaply without a $10,000 battery system. However, you can store cold air. This concept is known in building science as Thermal Banking or “Pre-cooling.”
Your home contains thousands of pounds of mass: drywall, hardwood floors, furniture, and granite countertops. All of these materials hold temperature. The strategy is to supercool this mass when electricity is cheap (typically before 4 PM) and then let the house “coast” through the expensive hours.
The Strategy in Practice
Instead of fighting the heat during the peak, you get ahead of it.
- 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM (The “Charge” Phase): Electricity is cheap. Your smart thermostat drops the temperature to 68°F or 69°F. This feels cold, but it chills the structural mass of the house deep into the core.
- 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM (The “Coast” Phase): The price spikes. Your thermostat automatically adjusts the setpoint up to 76°F or 78°F.
Because you have “banked” so much cold energy in the walls and floors, the AC unit rarely turns on during this four-hour window. The house slowly drifts up in temperature, but because you started at 68°F, you are still comfortable at 7:00 PM without the AC compressor running.
Automation Is the Key to executing This Strategy consistently
You could theoretically do this manually by walking to the wall unit twice a day, but human nature is unreliable. You will forget, or you will get busy. This is where hardware like the Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium or the Google Nest Learning Thermostat becomes a financial asset.
These devices allow us to program this schedule with precision. Furthermore, they utilize algorithms to optimize the drift.
Advanced Features Like Eco+ Maximize the Savings
Modern smart thermostats do not just follow a schedule; they look at the weather. Ecobee’s “Eco+” and Nest’s “Seasonal Savings” features analyze the local humidity and outdoor temperature profile.
If the system sees that Tuesday will be a mild 80°F, it knows it does not need to pre-cool as aggressively. If it sees a 100°F heatwave coming on Thursday, it will start the pre-cooling cycle earlier to ensure the bank is full. This level of granular control is impossible with a standard “dumb” thermostat.
The Math Shows Your Smart Thermostat Will Pay for Itself in Two Summers
Let’s look at the Return on Investment (ROI). Many homeowners hesitate at the $200–$250 price tag of a premium smart thermostat. However, when viewed as an efficiency upgrade, the payback period is incredibly short.
Hypothetical ROI Calculation
Scenario: A 2,500 sq. ft. home in Kansas City.
Average Summer Bill (Traditional): $350/month.
Peak Usage: Approximately 30% of energy is consumed during the 4-8 PM window due to heat load.
The Savings: By shifting that heavy AC usage to off-peak hours (where rates are often 50% lower than peak), you can reduce the blended cost of your energy by 10-15%.
Monthly Savings: $35 – $50 per month.
Season Savings (June – Sept): ~$160.
If you purchase a smart thermostat for $200, you have effectively paid off the device by the middle of your second summer. After that break-even point, the device is essentially printing money for you every single month.
Furthermore, this does not account for the rebates often offered by utility companies for installing these devices, which can accelerate the ROI to less than one year.
Your Home Should Be a Financial Asset Instead of a Liability
We often think of smart home technology as a luxury—convenient, but unnecessary. In the context of rising energy rates and Time-of-Use billing, this mindset is outdated.
A smart thermostat is the brain of your home’s most expensive appliance (the HVAC system). Leaving that system to run blindly, without regard for the cost of energy at that specific hour, is a financial leak.
By installing a smart thermostat and programming it to respect the “4-to-8 Surge,” you turn your home into an efficient thermal battery. You stay cool, you support grid stability, and most importantly, you keep your money in your pocket.
Are you ready to stop overpaying for electricity?
At SmartHome Connect, we can help you select, install, and program the correct thermostat to maximize your savings under Evergy’s specific rate plans.
