This week, Hydro-Québec, the nationalized company that provide electricity to residents of the province, has announced a major investment program to reduce electricity usage by using smart thermostats. I'm extremely worried about the life expectancy of those smart thermostats in the long run and whether it's a good use of public funds. I'm also not super thrilled of the amount of functional regular thermostats that will end up in landfills because of that initiative.
[1]https://news.hydroquebec.com/en/press-releases/2172/hydro-qu...
That doesn't mention the key detail of the Hydro Quebec smart thermostats: they keep remote control of the thermostat.
The whole idea is they can turn down your thermostat and sell the electricity to the US instead, or it was. Somehow they also encourage the adoption of electric cars, while also claiming we should save electricity. It's a very confused message.