Renting? Ways to lower your AC bill in this heat

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As Central Texas bakes in unusually hot weather for mid-June, you may already be worried about what the heat will cost you when your electric bill arrives. Homeowners have the liberty to make big adjustments in efficiency, but renters aren't without options.

Meteorologist Nick Bannin spoke with CEO of SmartRent, Lucas Haldeman, about devices that even renters can take advantage of to keep the cost of cooling down.

Meteorologist Nick Bannin: Lucas Haldeman joins us today from SmartRent. Lucas, what smart devices can we buy to keep our electric bills lower, but also our homes more comfortable at the same time?

Lucas Haldeman, SmartRent CEO: Great. Hey, Nick. Yeah, the best thing you can do is look to buy a smart thermostat. That's the number one way we can control our utilities and not cool empty spaces, especially in the summertime. I would also look to upgrade your lighting so you can control your lighting, so you can have your lights come on and go off when you want them to, but they're not on when they shouldn't be.

Bannin: What things can renters do to make their apartments and places that are renting more efficient, while at the same point, not making drastic changes?

Haldeman: Yeah, it's harder to do it as a renter and that's part of why in our business, we work with landlords to let renters into this savings. But as a renter, you still have some options. I'd recommend, if your landlord hasn't, you should put a leak detectors, you should ask if you can put in a smart thermostat, you need to get permission to do that, but you should be able to do that. And you are eligible for the same rebates that other homeowners are in line for if you're able to do that.

Bannin: You mentioned rebates, what incentives are there for homeowners or renters to make these energy efficiency changes?

Haldeman: Yeah, nearly every utility company has some sort of program and typically, depending on the exact area where you live, you should check with your utility provider, but almost always it amounts to almost a free thermostat. So your utility company will almost allow you to upgrade for free.

Bannin: Smart thermostats being the top investment you should make, they would cost $200-300 without the incentives, but they can bring you big savings down the line?

Haldeman: Yeah, it can pay for itself in one or two months even and some some people are seeing even more savings, and that really depends on the size of your home. But everyone should be doing and it's good for your budget and it's also really good for the environment. Anything that's using electricity or gas in our home, if we're monitoring that and watching it, we're going to have savings and an environmental impact.

Bannin: Are all smart thermostats the same are there some better than others?

Haldeman: No, there's a lot of difference. So "smart" is a term that's easy to put on a sticker and put on a label but doesn't always mean the same. So when you're looking for a smart thermostat, make sure that it can be controlled by your smartphone, that there's an app that there's an interface so you can control it remotely and that's really what we think of as a true smart thermostat. There's lots of good options that fit that bill, but there's other ones that will say "smart" that really aren't that smart.