Hi SandyVirgina,
Thanks for posting in the community! Yours is an excellent and very important question, and you've come to the right place to get information on how to optimize your Nest thermostats for Nevada's new billing structure. I understand you are looking for a way to stagger the run time between your multiple AC units to keep your 15-minute peak electricity demand low.
You are correct that minimizing simultaneous high-power draws is the key to saving money under the new daily demand charge.
Currently, the Nest Thermostat does not offer a specific user setting to program one thermostat to wait for another to finish its cycle. However, there are two primary approaches we can explore to help you manage your demand:
A. Manual Schedule Staggering:
- Since each of your Nest thermostats learns and maintains a completely separate schedule, you can manually set staggered schedules in the Google Home or Nest app.
- For example, you could program Thermostat A to run its main cooling cycle from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM, and Thermostat B to run its main cooling cycle from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, thereby preventing both AC units from running at maximum power simultaneously.
B. Rush Hour Rewards/Demand Response:
- Google Nest partners with utility companies to automatically reduce demand during peak times—a feature called Rush Hour Rewards. This program is designed to precondition your home before peak times and then slightly reduce usage during the event to help the grid (and potentially earn you rewards or lower costs).
- Could you please confirm if you are currently enrolled in any NV Energy demand response or Rush Hour Rewards program?
Please try adjusting your schedules manually first, and let me know if you run into any difficulty or if you have any additional concerns.
Regards,
Humberto
