How to Turn Off Your Nest Thermostats Seasonal Savings Program

Smart thermostats are gaining in popularity as more and more homeowners look for ways to lower their energy costs. These accessories can be programmed to conveniently maintain the temperature in your home in line with your regular schedule. They also have the means to learn comfort preferences over time. For this reason, you can make big savings on your energy bills by ensuring that your home is only heated or cooled when you need it.

Google’s smart thermostat is the Nest, and lots of homeowners are satisfied with its features and all-around efficiency. But one feature–the Seasonal Savings program–is making trouble as opposed to supporting your HVAC system. Constant issues are pushing homeowners to figure out how to disable this feature. We’ll present the concerns some people are having with Seasonal Savings and include instructions for how to opt out of the program.

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

Google designed the Seasonal Savings program to help homeowners enhance their energy efficiency. For maximum HVAC use in the summer and winter, it will automatically adjust the thermostat to satisfy your preferences with energy efficiency. The program is supposed to run without disrupting your sense of comfort, setting up the biggest changes when you’re away or sleeping. Sadly, this isn’t the case for numerous people taking part in the program.

In fact, there are claims that the program is sporadic and difficult to use. Homeowners are concerned that the program is even increasing their energy bills instead of lowering them. And when they decide to disable or opt out of Seasonal Savings, they’ve found the way to do so is difficult to find or entirely missing. In some cases people have even noted it being flipped back on after it was disabled.

Smart thermostats are intended to improve the efficiency of your heating and cooling. While automatic temperature changes are a common feature in smart thermostats, it shouldn’t ignore your favored settings. If the Nest isn’t meeting your comfort preferences, shutting off the Seasonal Savings program is the correct move.

But First, Why Is This Happening?

Homeowners are complaining that the Seasonal Savings setting was running on their Nest thermostat without their consent. Why can a smart thermostat you operate dismiss your settings and enroll in the program? It might be because of an energy-efficiency program you registered for with your utility company.

These agreements help you raise your home’s energy efficiency. They can include rebates on new equipment or special discounts for renewable energy systems. But most people are alarmed to find out they also grant your utility company remote access to the thermostat. If the power grid is under a heavy load, the utility company can control your thermostat and raise the temperature. You may be having issues with the Seasonal Savings program because a utility company is making use of this remote access.

But what if the program is defective or just dismissing your preferences? Whatever the reason might be, you don’t want a feature to raise your energy use without your consent. We’ll review how other users have disabled the Seasonal Savings program.

How to Disable Your Nest Thermostat’s Seasonal Savings Feature

A number of people have experienced trouble shutting off the Seasonal Savings feature. While the location of this setting might be different based on your specific Nest model, other users are worried that Google is deliberately making it tougher to disable Seasonal Savings. To make sure you can opt out no matter what, we’ll describe the ways other users have found success.

1. 1. Overriding Seasonal Savings: Manually adjusting the temperature should override the Seasonal Savings program, but many users have discovered this isn’t entirely accurate. If you see your Nest persistently reversing your changes, you’ll probably want to shut off the feature completely.

2. 2. Shutting off the program from the Nest app: Your phone or tablet’s Nest app should have a History option and a Settings option. Google points users to their History to turn off Seasonal Savings, but other people have located this option under Settings. Once disabled, the setting is temporarily off until the subsequent summer or winter.

3. 3. Stopping the program from the Nest thermostat: Your thermostat should also feature a History option where you can disable Seasonal Savings, but some homeowners state the disable option is not there.

4. 4. Opting out before the program launches: The Seasonal Savings program is only obtainable around summer and winter. Your smart device is supposed to receive a notification when the program is about to start, allowing you the chance to opt out.

When Seasonal Savings is on, your Nest is supposed to feature a small yellow symbol of a leaf. If a Nest is struggling with issues and the Seasonal Savings icon is absent, your problem could be with yet another setting entirely.

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

Alternative options on Nest smart thermostats besides Seasonal Savings can result in counterintuitive temperature changes. If these features are active during Seasonal Savings, even disabling the program may not stop the thermostat from making changes. Thankfully, these settings can be turned off. You’ll also have options if the headache is a third party like a power company.

5. 5. Switching off Auto-Schedule: The Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat both give you the Auto-Schedule feature, using their capability to study your preferences to establish the perfect schedule. Going into Settings and shutting off Auto-Schedule should prevent other automatic adjustments such as Seasonal Savings.

1. 1. Disabling auto switching: Nest thermostats might still flip to eco temperatures if you possess an auto-switching setting like Home & Away Routines or Home/Away Assist. These functions automatically regulate the temperature when the thermostat assumes that no one is home.

6. 6. Leaving the utility company’s energy agreement: Because your energy provider could be remotely controlling your Nest thermostat, cancelling the agreement should take away remote access. You can obtain the complete details of these agreements from your energy provider.

7. 7. Reaching out to Google support: If nothing else works, calling Google’s technical support could be of assistance. Staff can guide you to resetting the Nest or finding the proper setting to disable Seasonal Savings.

If the Problem Continues, Your Thermostat May Be Malfunctioning

There’s always the risk a Nest smart thermostat is just malfunctioning. Electrical issues or software glitches can cause all sorts of problems, including an obnoxious Seasonal Savings program. If you suspect the problem is isolated to your personal thermostat, an experienced technician will be able to help. After all, smart thermostats are still a worthwhile investment for your home’s energy efficiency.

If you’d like local assistance for your smart thermostat in the U.S., contact the heating and cooling experts at Service Experts Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing. They can help you figure out the ideal way to shut off an uncooperative Seasonal Savings program on your Nest thermostat.