February 9, 2026 · 4 min read · By the Duality team
Denver’s weather does something most cities don’t: it swings 30 to 40 degrees between afternoon and 3 a.m. A schedule that uses that swing is the cheapest efficiency upgrade there is, and it costs nothing if your thermostat already has one.
The winter schedule
- Wake, 6 a.m.: 68°F
- Leave, 8 a.m.: 62°F
- Return, 5 p.m.: 68°F
- Sleep, 10 p.m.: 64°F
The Department of Energy’s number is about 1% saved per degree per eight hours of setback. In Denver that’s roughly 10% off the heating bill for a schedule like this, more if your house is well insulated.
The summer schedule
- Wake: 74°F
- Leave: 80°F
- Return, 5 p.m.: 76°F
- Sleep: 74°F
Set the “return” step to start an hour before you get home. Denver evenings cool fast; a lot of nights you can open windows and shut the AC off entirely by 9.
Myth one: “It costs more to reheat the house than to hold the temperature”
It doesn’t. A furnace burns the same gas per minute whether it’s holding 68 or climbing back to it. Holding the house warm all day just means burning that gas all day. The only exception is a heat pump with electric backup strips, where a big jump can trigger the expensive strips. For those, use smaller setbacks (3 to 4 degrees) or let the thermostat’s “adaptive recovery” handle it.
Myth two: “Cranking it to 80 heats the house faster”
It doesn’t. The furnace has one speed. Setting 80 just means it overshoots the temperature you wanted and wastes the difference.
If you don’t have a programmable thermostat
A smart thermostat installs in under an hour, learns your schedule, and lets you fix a forgotten setting from your phone at the airport. Xcel Energy usually rebates a chunk of it. We can add one during any visit.
Got a quote?
Free second opinion. No pressure, in writing.
Put in the age and the quote, see how we’d think it through, then decide on your own time.