On January 15th 2014 after much research I placed an order for the Nest Thermostat. The premise behind the the Nest Thermostat is that it learns your behavior and creates a schedule based on your activities. The longer the thermostat is in place the more it learns which in turns gives you a better outcome. You can learn more about Nest by visiting their website, www.nest.com.
The goal of the nest thermostat for me beyond having a cool device I could control with my phone (The nest connects via Wifi and allows you to control it from afar) is to save money on my electric bill. My apartment complex recently switched electric companies and the new company is not as consumer friendly as the previous. The challenge I faced was the removal of the option to pay budget amount on my electric bill each month. I am now forced to pay the full amount of each bill instead of an average amount each month.
As it turns out I picked the worst possible time to switch thermostats and see a savings in my electric bill. The switch over to the new electric provider disrupted a years worth of data that I could compare the old thermostat to the new thermostat. It also turned out to be one of the coldest winters in Ohio in 20+ years with air temperatures reaching negative readings before the wind chill was factored in to the equation (10 degrees never felt so warm). As a result of these conditions I am not sure that this bill is the most accurate reflection of the cost savings possible with the Nest.
My apartment is a 2 BR 2 BA with 1080 Sq. Ft. according to the website. The complex is comprised of 1 and 2 Bedroom apartments.
The picture below shows that for the period from November 2013 – February 2014 I used an average of 730.33 kWh with a daily average usage of 26.08 kWh. My average bill during this time was $92.17. The community average as reported on my bill was 1,118.67 kWh a month with a daily average usage of 39.95 kWh. In the first full month of use I saw a decrease in the amount of kWh used which in turn reduced my bill to the lowest for a full month of use (November 2013 was only 18 days).
The results are encouraging that the Nest is doing the job it was designed to do which is to learn my behaviors and create a schedule that is effective. I am also unlike other people I have found out as for the heat I prefer the heat between 64 and 66 F which is also contributing to less use. At this point I need to see how the Nest handles the upcoming months and gather more data to make an informed decision. I wonder how it will handle the cooling in the Summer.