Nest thermostats are increasingly popular smart temperature control devices. They help regulate the temperature of a house or apartment to reduce heating bills by 10 to 20%. But you’re probably wondering: Does a Nest Thermostat require a monthly subscription?
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Does the Nest Thermostat require a subscription?
No, the Nest Thermostat does not require a subscription or setup fee to work. A Nest Thermostat is bought once and used for as long as you want. However, it requires connecting to your home’s WiFi network. A Nest smart thermostat saves 10-20% on your energy bills. The investment pays for itself in 12-24 months.
What is the Nest Aware subscription for?
As you have noticed, Google offers a subscription from $6 per month called “ Nest Aware”. This monthly subscription concerns smart devices of the video type (cameras) and the subscription is used to keep the history of videos recorded in the cloud. So there’s nothing to do with the Nest Thermostat, which doesn’t store large amounts of data and is therefore free to use.
You can use a Nest Thermostat without a subscription as soon as you buy it.
Does the Nest thermostat require an internet subscription
While a Nest thermostat does not require a Nest subscription to operate, you do need a classic internet subscription or an internet connection with Wifi to be able to use this Nest thermostat.
This can be your AT&T, Verizon, Xfinity or other internet provider subscription. A Wifi mobile internet connection will not be enough. You need a permanent home connection. Your smartphone can be useful to control the thermostat remotely.
Types of Nest Thermostats
Nest thermostat, Nest E and Nest learning of different generations and versions, so there are several references. In case you are not sure what is your current Nest version, you can verify check here.
The current best version is the Nest Learning. It is the latest version at the moment.
Save money with the Nest connected thermostat
Now that you know that a Nest thermostat works without a special subscription, you can buy one and save on your heating bills.
According to an analysis study by Nest (I couldn’t find any serious independent studies), in the United States, the thermostat would save 10 to 12% on your heating bill and 15% for air conditioning.
This represents a saving of 131 to 145 dollars per year. That means a Nest Thermostat quickly pays for itself. Some user testimonials on the internet mentioned 30% savings!
Edit: with rising energy costs, a thermostat becomes profitable within few months versus 1 to 2 years before.
How much to save in Europe / UK
What concerns the United States can also apply for Canada but with regard to United kingdom and Europe, I estimate that the energy saving would be even greater and faster for 2 reasons:
- energy in Europe is more expensive because they are consumer countries and not producers (USA: 0.175 kWh against Europe: 0.253 kWh according to globalpetrolprices.com)
- Energy (for heating) consumes more in Europe than air conditioning in America (+25 to 40%)
The more expensive the energy, the faster the investment in a Nest Thermostat will pay for itself. Which is the case for Europe, UK and also for Canada with almost the highest energy consumption per capita in the world.
This is one of the reasons why the emphasis is on energy savings with incentives for insulation, changes of boilers, etc. Moreover, many people are interested in smart devices because they allow savings to be made passively.
Automatic closing of roller shutters at nightfall, smart light bulbs, sockets, heating and other smart devices are useful for saving money, but the best money-saving ratio remains a thermostat.
While heating and hot water are responsible for more than half of your annual consumption, a good, well-adjusted thermostat can save a lot of money.
How the Nest thermostat saves you money?
How can a Nest connected thermostat reduce energy costs?
Programming, 2 options:
- Set the Nest thermostat manually according to your presence schedules and your weekly habits and it will execute your commands.
- Or rather, use auto-programming (enabled by default) and it will memorize for a few days the changes you make during the day. After his learning and analysis, he will program the thermostat himself.
More information about Nest programming on this page.
So, if you want to stop the heating around 9:30 p.m., this can be done automatically every day.
You can also set the heating down to 17 degrees while you’re away during the day. A lot of energy is wasted because people don’t turn off the heating when they’re away because they don’t want to be cold when they get home.
The smart thermostat also allows the hot water tank to be controlled with the On/Off or OpenTherm command
A thermostat allows you to automatically start up and reach the desired temperature when you return. Some Nest products are even equipped with a presence detector thanks to different sensors.
Away mode is an energy-saving and also eco-friendly mode. Why heat an empty house? This mode saves a lot of money, and in times of energy crisis, every gesture counts for the wallet and for the planet.
Peak hours, off-peak hours
If you are on a peak hours, off-peak tariff, you can save even more by activating the heating in advance during off-peak hours. Think about it!
Rush Hour Bonus Programs
This program is only for the United States and Canada as of now. You can configure the Nest thermostat by going to “settings / discounts”
To conclude
No, Nest thermostats do not require a specific subscription to work. You can use it immediately after purchase and without restrictions. However, yes it requires an internet subscription with Wifi to connect to your current internet network.
A Nest smart thermostat can save between 10 and 20% (or more) of energy consumption and therefore reduce the bill as much. This represents would represent 100 to 200 dollars per year of savings for a usual bill of 1000 dollars per year. A Nest Thermostat pays for itself in 1-2 years.
To program it, 2 solutions:
- Set it manually
- Let it analyze and learn from your habits then program itself and run automatically
How much money could you save with a thermostat? Do your math and take one for your home.
