In other words, if you are conscientious and turn the t-stat down when leaving home and at night, and don’t crank it way up when you are home, will you save a lot with a programmable t-stat? Thanks for your input.

I am renting a basement apartment – the tenant upstairs tends to leave the furnace off all weekend when they go away leaving me to freeze with just a space heater to keep it warm. The furnace is accessible from my apartment – is there anyway I can turn it on from downstairs?
Talking to the people upstairs doesn’t work – I think they do it on purpose as we don’t get along. The landlords are useless as well.

We shut off and removed the heater (simple white unit) in my bedroom to install a laminated floor. Since we reinstalled the heater, it just keeps on heating to over 27C even if my programmable thermostat is set at 15C. What gives?