Nest Thermostat temperature adjustment features: Optimise energy savings and comfort

This article guides you through Rush Hour Rewards, Eco when away, Seasonal Savings and Nest Renew. Find out how each programme adjusts your home's temperature for efficiency and how to disable them for comfort.

Your Nest thermostat offers several intelligent features designed to help you save energy and reduce your utility bills without sacrificing comfort. Understanding how these features differ and work together can empower you to make the most of your Nest thermostat.

Rush Hour Rewards

Rush Hour Rewards is a utility-based programme that incentivises participants to decrease their energy usage during peak demand periods, often referred to as 'energy rush hours'. By collectively reducing consumption in an area, participants effectively form a 'virtual power plant', which helps to lower overall energy costs for utility companies and consumers. This programme is powered by Renew Home, in partnership with Google Nest and your energy provider.

Unlike Nest Renew, Rush Hour Rewards might involve larger temperature adjustments, typically up to 1°C or 4°F, during high-demand energy events. These significant temperature shifts are often applied over an extended duration, typically lasting three to four hours. Learn more about Renew Home.

Tip: There may also be a preconditioning period prior to the event to keep you comfortable.

Enrol in Rush Hour Rewards in the Google Home app

1. Open the Google Home app 

2. Access your device settings:
   1.  Tap Home    Climate   your thermostat.
   2. Tap Settings Nest Sense.
3. Tap Rush Hour Rewards your utility provider.
4. Tap Enrol in Rush Hour Rewards Enrol.

Unenrol from Rush Hour Rewards in the Google Home app

Important: Unenrolling from Rush Hour Rewards may take up to 24 hours to complete.

1.  Open the Google Home app 

2. Access your device settings:
   1.  Tap Home    Climate   your thermostat.
   2. Tap Settings Nest Sense.
3. Tap Rush Hour Rewards your utility provider.
4. Tap Unenrol in Rush Hour Rewards Unenrol.
   Optional: Once you successfully unenrol, you can tap Enrol in Rush Hour Rewards to enrol again.

Nest Renew

Nest Renew is an energy-savings programme powered by Renew Home in partnership with Google Nest. This programme is available in the continental United States (except Alaska and Hawaii) that enables your Nest thermostat to make small, automatic temperature adjustments called Energy Shifts. It intelligently shifts your energy usage to periods when the grid relies more on clean energy sources or when energy prices are lower.

This service enables effortless savings on utility bills, environmental benefits and community support by making minor, short-term temperature adjustments that align with optimal energy periods. To learn more about Nest Renew, go to Renew Home.

Manage Nest Renew enrolment in the Google Home app

Enrol in Nest Renew in the Google Home app

1. Open the Google Home app .

2. Access your device settings:
   1. Tap Home  Climate your thermostat.
   2. Tap Settings Nest Sense.
3. Tap Nest Renew Enrol in Nest Renew Enrol.
4. Tap OK.

Unenrol from Nest Renew in the Google Home app

1. Open the Google Home app .

2. Access your device settings:
   1. Tap Home  Climate your thermostat.
   2. Tap Settings Nest Sense.
3. Tap Nest Renew Unenrol in Nest Renew Unenrol.

Manage Nest Renew enrolment in the Renew Home portal

Turn off Energy Shifts through the Renew Home portal

1. Log in to your Nest Renew account.
2. Select Settings .
3. Under 'Energy Shift settings', turn off Standard savings or Time-of-use savings.

Unenrol your Nest Renew subscription through the Renew Home portal

1. Log in to your Nest Renew account.
2. Tap Settings  Manage Enrolment Unenrol my home.

Eco when away

This enables your Nest thermostat to automatically switch to an energy-saving Eco Temperature when it detects that no one is home. This feature appears as 'Eco' displayed on your thermostat or in the Google Home or Nest app.

Specific notifications may vary by model. For example, 'Eco when away', 'Eco hold' or 'Adaptive Eco' may be displayed. You also have the flexibility to manually activate Eco Temperature at any time, even when you're home, for additional energy savings.

While in Eco mode, your system will still operate to ensure that your home stays within the set 'Cool to' or 'Heat to' Eco Temperature ranges. Certain 4th gen Nest Learning Thermostats with Adaptive Eco will pre-heat to your comfort temperature within an hour of your return.

How to pause or turn off Eco when away

Google Home app

Pause Eco when away

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Home  Climate   your thermostat.
   • If Eco when away is active, it shows 'Automatically switched to Eco because no one is at home' below the thermostat dial image.
3. Tap Turn off next to the Eco when away message.

Turn off Eco when away

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Home  Climate your thermostat.
3. Tap Settings Eco when away.
4. Turn off Automatically use Eco when away.

Nest app

Pause Eco when away while active

1. Open the Nest app.
2. Select your thermostat.
3. Tap Mode in the lower left to set the mode to Heat/Cool.
4. Tap Eco in the lower centre to end Eco Temperature on all thermostats.

Turn off Eco when away

1. Open the Nest app.
2. Select your thermostat.
3. Tap Settings Home/Away Assist.
4. Turn off Automatically use Eco Temperature when no one's home.

Seasonal Savings

Important: This setting is currently available for Nest Thermostat (2020) and Nest Thermostat E. It will become available soon for Nest Learning Thermostat 3rd gen and Nest Thermostat E.

This is a short-term programme offered each summer and winter. If you opt in, Seasonal Savings will make small, gradual temperature adjustments (typically up to 1°C) to your thermostat’s schedule to optimise energy efficiency without sacrificing comfort. The programme runs for three weeks and will respond to temperature changes that you make to avoid temperatures that you find uncomfortable.

Turn off Seasonal Savings

Important: If you opt out or turn Seasonal Savings off, you won't be able to opt in to the programme again until the next season that it becomes available.

If you don't want to use Seasonal Savings, you can turn it off at any time.

Google Home app

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Home  Climate your thermostat.
3. Tap Settings Nest Sense Seasonal Savings.
   • If Seasonal Savings isn't available, it will say 'Inactive'.
4. If it's active, tap Leave Seasonal Savings.
5. To stop receiving future invitations, turn off Get notified about Seasonal Savings.

Nest app

1. Open the Nest app.

2. Tap your thermostat History .

   • If Seasonal Savings is running, you can check how many days remain.
3. Tap Stop.

Smart Schedule and Auto-Schedule

These are similar features that learn from the temperature adjustments that you make to optimise the temperatures in your schedule.

• Smart Schedule is an updated version of the algorithm only for the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen). It has the option to automatically make changes or provide changes as suggestions for you to review. Learn how to use Smart Schedule on your Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen).
• Auto-Schedule can only make changes automatically, and is available on the Nest Learning Thermostat (1st to 3rd gen) and the Nest Learning Thermostat E. Learn how to use Auto-Schedule on your thermostat.