How to Deactivate Your Nest Thermostats Seasonal Savings Program

Smart thermostats are gaining in popularity as more and more homeowners look for ways to scale back their energy bills. These systems can be programmed to automatically regulate the temperature inside your home based on your day-to-day schedule. They also have the capacity to memorize any preferences over time. Subsequently, you can save money on your energy bills by seeing to it that your home is only heated or cooled when you need it.

Google’s smart thermostat is the Nest, and many homeowners are content with its features and all-around efficiency. But one feature–the Seasonal Savings program–could be stirring up trouble rather than improving your HVAC system. Persistent issues are forcing homeowners to figure out how to disable this feature. We’ll present the trouble some people are having with Seasonal Savings and offer instructions for how to opt out of the program.

Many Homeowners Argue the Seasonal Savings Program Isn’t Working Well

Google designed the Seasonal Savings program to help homeowners boost their energy efficiency. Around the highest HVAC use in the summer and winter, it will automatically adjust the thermostat to balance your preferences with energy efficiency. The program is intended to run without disrupting your sense of comfort, implementing the biggest changes when you’re away or sleeping. Sadly, this isn’t the case for numerous people enrolled in the program.

Instead, there are claims that the program is inconsistent and irritating to use. Homeowners are noticing that the program is even increasing their energy bills instead of shrinking them. And when they try to disable or opt out of Seasonal Savings, they’ve discovered the setting to do so is difficult to find or entirely missing. In various cases people have even discovered it being switched back on after it was disabled.

Smart thermostats are intended to strengthen the efficiency of your HVAC equipment. While automatic temperature corrections are a common feature in smart thermostats, it shouldn’t bypass your desired settings. If the Nest refuses to accommodate your comfort preferences, disabling the Seasonal Savings program is the best move.

But First, Why Is This Happening?

Homeowners are noticing that the Seasonal Savings program was running on their Nest thermostat without their permission. Why would a smart thermostat you control dismiss your settings and opt in for the program? It might be because of an energy-efficiency program you subscribed to with your utility company.

These agreements help you boost your home’s energy efficiency. They can come with rebates on new accessories or special discounts for renewable energy systems. But most people are surprised to hear they also allow your utility company remote access to the thermostat. If the power grid is experiencing a heavy load, the utility company can take over your thermostat and change the temperature. You could be having issues with the Seasonal Savings program because a utility company is making use of this remote access.

But what if the setting is faulty or just disregarding your preferences? Whatever the reason is, you don’t want a feature to double your energy use without your approval. We’ll walk you through how other homeowners have opted out of the Seasonal Savings program.

How to Disable Your Nest Thermostat’s Seasonal Savings Feature

A number of people have experienced trouble opting out of the Seasonal Savings feature. While the location of this setting may be different depending on your specific Nest model, other users are alarmed that Google is intentionally making it harder to turn off Seasonal Savings. To ensure you can opt out no matter what, we’ll include the ways other users have found success.

1. 1. Overriding Seasonal Savings: Manually changing the temperature should supersede the Seasonal Savings program, but numerous users have noticed this isn’t entirely accurate. If you see your Nest persistently undoing your changes, you’ll probably opt to disable the feature entirely.

2. 2. Shutting off the feature from the Nest app: Your phone or tablet’s Nest app is supposed to have a History option and a Settings option. Google directs users to their History to turn off Seasonal Savings, but other users have discovered this option in Settings. Once disabled, the feature is temporarily off until the subsequent summer or winter.

3. 3. Shutting off the program from the Nest thermostat: Your thermostat should also have a History option where you can disable Seasonal Savings, but some homeowners claim the disable option is not there.

4. 4. Opting out before the program launches: The Seasonal Savings program is only accessible in summer and winter. Your smart device should be sent a notification when the program is about to launch, giving you the opportunity to opt out.

When Seasonal Savings is engaged, your Nest will display a small yellow symbol of a leaf. If a Nest is struggling with issues and the Seasonal Savings icon is not visible, your predicament may be with yet another setting entirely.

Sometimes the Source Isn’t Seasonal Savings but Another Setting or Program

Different settings on Nest smart thermostats aside from Seasonal Savings can lead to counterintuitive temperature changes. If these settings are active during Seasonal Savings, even opting out of the program may not deter the thermostat from making alterations. Luckily, these settings can be switched off. You’ll also have options if the headache is a third party like your power company.

5. 5. Turning off Auto-Schedule: The Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat both give you the Auto-Schedule feature, using their capacity to learn your preferences to set the best possible schedule. Going into Settings and shutting off Auto-Schedule should stop other automatic adjustments like Seasonal Savings.

1. 1. Disabling auto switching: Nest thermostats may still shift to eco temperatures if you have an auto-switching feature like Home & Away Routines or Home/Away Assist. These functions automatically change the temperature when the thermostat thinks that everyone is out of the house.

6. 6. Opting out of the utility company’s energy agreement: Because your energy provider might be remotely controlling the Nest thermostat, nullifying the agreement should remove unwanted access. You can obtain the complete details of these agreements with your energy provider.

7. 7. Contacting Google support: If nothing else works, contacting Google’s technical support might be of service. Staff can steer you to resetting the Nest or finding the appropriate setting to turn off Seasonal Savings.

If the Problem Continues, Your Thermostat May Be Malfunctioning

There’s always the chance your Nest smart thermostat is just malfunctioning. Electrical damage or software glitches can result in all kinds of trouble, including an aggravating Seasonal Savings program. If you believe the problem is isolated to your personal thermostat, a knowledgeable technician will be able to help. After all, smart thermostats remain a valuable investment for your home’s energy efficiency.

If you prefer local service for your smart thermostat in the U.S., get in touch with the comfort experts at Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing. They can help you figure out the easiest way to stop an uncooperative Seasonal Savings program on your Nest thermostat.