How to wire a smart switch - 2 gang switch box?

Question

I'm adding a smart switch with dimmer into a 2-gang switch box. I wanted to double check my assumptions based on the currently wired switch - please see attached picture. I'm changing out the old dimmer switch (right side).

1) Ground wires are clear, they are bare copper.

2) Neutral wires are clear - they are the bundled white wires pointing up. The new switch requires a neutral, so I should choose the neutral wire coming out of the right side and then rebundle the remaining 2 neutrals?

3) On the old switch, the red/white wire is nutted together with the black wire. The red/white wire should actually have been unused and capped, as this is not a 3-way switch. The black wire from the switch is then connected to the hot wire?

4) The red wire from the old switch should be the load wire... that is pigtailed with a short black jumper wire into the load screw of the left side switch. Is that possible? Or do I actually have a pigtailed hot wire situation?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm going to disregard some of the questions about the existing switch because they aren't relevant except for purposes of learning, and I'm not sure I understand them clearly. You can simply remove that switch because you know the hot comes from the other switch, and the load is the remaining black which presumably leads to the fixture.

You're on the right track except that your assumptions in number 2 are incorrect. You would not remove any of those whites from the bundle. Doing so would probably leave you with an open circuit. You'll need to add a pigtail from that bundle to your switch, which requires a neutral, whereas the original switch did not.