topic Re: Controlling during peak hours in Nest Thermostats

Controlling during peak hours

Sowatzkek — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 14:53:57 GMT

I live in Phx part time and when I’m not there, I would the ability to turn my air completely off during the peak electrical hours 4-7pm to avoid huge electrical bills. I was thing of using a Shelly 1 mini WiFi relay off the 24v feeding the nest and control the cooling wire with the programmable relay. In other words open the relay between 4-7pm so the heat pump will not receive a signal during these hours and not run.

Is this something that anyone has done successfully? Can someone provide a wiring diagram?

Re: Controlling during peak hours

humbertogarcia — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 19:24:02 GMT

Hi Sowatzkek,

Thank you for posting in the community and for sharing your intended solution to save electricity! I understand your goal is to save on electricity bills by turning off your air conditioning during peak hours using a third-party relay.

Regarding the wiring diagram request, I cannot provide it for this custom setup, as it is not officially supported and could lead to safety issues or void your warranty.

The good news is that Nest thermostats have built-in features designed for this exact purpose:

Rush Hour Rewards: Automatically adjusts your home's temperature during peak electrical hours in partnership with your utility company.
Time-of-Use Scheduling: Lets you program a custom schedule to turn off or adjust cooling during specific times, like 4-7 PM.
Eco Mode: An energy-saving mode you can use to set a higher cooling temperature when you're away.

Feel free to check the help article “How a Nest thermostat helps save energy” in order to learn more about the above-mentioned features.

I highly recommend exploring these safe and effective supported features to manage your energy consumption. If you have any questions, I'm here to assist you.

Regards,

Humberto

Re: Controlling during peak hours

Sowatzkek — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 19:55:53 GMT

Thank you so much for getting back to me. However, the rush hour reward program through APS allows them to control when they turn on and off my thermostat. If they don’t turn it off, it could cost me as much as $19 kWh. This is like allowing the fox to guard the chicken coop. I would like to control my energy usage. I can do this with all my other devices. The Nest thermostat is the only device I can’t programmablly turn off and on. Please let me know if I’m missing something

Re: Controlling during peak hours

humbertogarcia — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:04:44 GMT

Hi Sowatzkek,

Thank you for clarifying your specific concerns, especially regarding the control over your energy usage and the high cost during peak hours. I completely understand your desire to maintain absolute control over your AC and avoid unexpected charges, and your analogy of the 'fox guarding the chicken coop' clearly conveys your sentiment.
Google Nest thermostats allow you to create a custom temperature schedule that changes throughout the day and week, typically to align with your electricity provider's peak and off-peak rate periods.
In order not to create a longer than desired response, please notice that the information of your interest can be found in the following help articles:

Temperature schedules for the Nest thermostat: here you’ll find temperature presets information.
How Nest thermostats learn: here is the information about the Home and Away feature.

Please read them thoroughly and feel free to post any clarifications you may need about the steps suggested. I’m pleased to assist you.

Regards,

Humberto