English appears to have enrolled the thermostat, operated by the company EnergyHub, in a program known as “Smart Savers Texas,” KHOU 11 notes. The program, which customers have to opt-into, allows power companies to remotely adjust thermostats when energy demands are high in exchange for an entry into a sweepstakes. Other power companies have been known to offer customers reduced billing costs for entering similar programs.
so they opted in