Does Nest Thermostat Require a Subscription? (Cost per Month)

Nest thermostats are getting extremely popular these days, slashing peoples heating and cooling bills by 10 to 15%! But with all those savings, there must be a catch. Does Nest thermostat require a monthly subscription fee?

Does Nest thermostat require a subscription?

No, Nest thermostat does not require a subscription or equipment fee. There is a one-time charge for your Nest thermostat which gets you access to the full functionality of the device and app. Nest actually saves people 10-15% on their heating/cooling bill. It pays for itself in two years!

One confusing point worth mentioning is that Google does sell a subscription called “Nest Aware”. This is for Nest security cams – a completely different product, not related to the Nest thermostat in any way.

After you buy your Nest thermostat can you can set it up that same day and have access to all the benefits and features it has to offer.

Nest thermostat cost savings

You came here to figure out how much Nest charges each month only to learn that Nest actually saves you money.

The average US Nest thermostat owner cut their heating bill back by 10-12% and their cooling bill by about 15%.

That comes out to about $131-$145 dollars of savings, every year. This means that your Nest thermostat will likely pay for itself in just two years time!

In case you’re looking for some evidence, here is the white paper Google produced on this topic. Two of the three studies reviewed in that paper were independently funded and ran.

This paper is further supported by the fact that the EPA gave the Nest Learning Thermostat the first ever ENERGY STAR certification in 2017. Just two years after the white paper came out.

A lot of people get interested in smart homes and smart home products because they see them as convenient ways to cut down on energy costs.

Smart light bulbs, plugs and appliances all help, but at the end of the day the savings are minuscule compared to the savings you can get when you hone in your heating and cooling costs.

The thermostat on your wall controls over half your energy bill comes, so why not upgrade it?

How exactly does Nest thermostat save you money?

So what does the Nest thermostat do exactly to cut down on energy costs?

Well to start, Nest thermostats actually program themselves according to you and your families daily routines.

It learns how you make changes to the temperature in your home throughout the day and then mimics those over time, anticipating your heating and cooling needs automatically.

So, for example, if you like your bedroom cold before bed, your Nest will learn that and start lowering the bedroom temperature for you.

Another way Nest can save you money is by knowing when you’re in the home and when you’re not.

A ton of energy gets wasted each year because people don’t shut off their thermostats when they leave their home.

Nest thermostat has motion sensors built into it that can detect whether or not you and the family are home. And if you have the app on your phone, it can also determine your location from the phone’s GPS.

The good thing is it isn’t too sensitive, so if you go upstairs for an hour, the Nest won’t think you left.

But if its 9AM and the Nest hasn’t detected any motion for awhile it will assume you went to work and automatically turn on “away” mode.

Away mode is just a much more eco-friendly mode that uses less energy. You can save a ton of money by not heating and cooling an empty house!

The final thing Nest thermostats do to save you cash is a bit more high-tech and algorithmic. Google is constantly making small tweaks to their software to gain efficiencies here and there.

For example, one such change involves turning off your AC but still running the AC’s fan. This allows the fan to better circulate all the cool air around the house without having to be “on”.

Another example are simple things like reminding you to change the filter on your AC. New, unclogged filters give you a little efficiency boost!

Energy rebates

And as if all of the cost and energy savings weren’t enough already, Google has partnered with a ton of local energy suppliers to get you a potential rebate when you buy and install a Nest thermostat.

Here is an example of a rebate available to me where I live:

“Eversource will give eligible customers a $25 reward to sign up for Rush Hour Rewards, a service from Nest that helps you use less energy during peak hours. If you stay enrolled, you’ll receive another $20 reward for every year you participate in rush hour events.”

More savings!

If you’re interested if there are any Nest rebates in your area, plug your zip-code into this tool and see what pops up.

Conclusion

Nest thermostats do not require a subscription or equipment rental fee. Once you buy the thermostat you immediately get full access to all its benefits and features.

In fact, Nest thermostats save users between 10-15% on their heating and cooling bills. That’s about $131-$145 dollars of savings, every year which means Nest pays for itself in 2 years!

Nest is able to save you money by:

• Learning, and eventually anticipating your thermostat changes throughout the day
• Turning on “away” mode when you and the family leave the home so that you are not heating or cooling an empty house
• Propriety software that makes small changes to the way your heating and cooling system work to gain incremental efficiencies

If those cost and energy savings aren’t enough for you, Google partnered with local energy companies to offer you an additional rebate.

You can just plug in your zip-code to their rebate tool and see what offers are available in your area.

How much money is Nest thermostat saving you every year? Let me know in the comments down below.