You're in the Top 25% of Nest thermostat Users in your Area - Nope!

[MrStubs]

My monthly report about being in the "Top 25% of Nest Thermostat Users" could be useful if I knew the method of determining how the 25% is calculated. 

Yes I 've read other posts that explain I'm better than 75% of the other users in my area, and that is clearly obvious albeit not useful for me.  This is my motivation to create this topic that's been asked before.

In my case for the month of Dec '22, the average Nest Thermostat owner in my area earned 6 Leafs and I earned 30 Leafs.  Am I really only somewhat better than average in my attempt to reduce my usage?  My calibration Is I should in the Top 10% or better.

For specifics, in the heating months in Michigan, we are 66F max during the day, and 60F at night or when we are away.  Our home is 2700sqft, built new in 2021, with name brand energy saving technologies.

So, what the magic formula to determine the 25%?  The "30 Leafs compared to 6 Leafs" matches our lifestyle.  That should be a correlating factor that we're doing much better than the Top 25%, but I guess not.  Time to set temps to 50F max and 40F setback at night - maybe that will change it?  Water freezes at 32F - I could drain my plumbing if I need to go still lower and achieve a better ranking!

Seriously though, who really knows what specific/actual input criteria is used to determine the 25%?

[Jenelyn_O]

Hi MrStubs,

Thanks for reaching out — I'm sorry for the delay. We'd like to check it further. Could you fill out this form and let me know once you're done?

Regards,

Jenelyn

[MrStubs]

"Form" completed but it wasn't asking for anything new or specific.  Please see my comment about 2 stage / variable speed furnaces below.

[Jenelyn_O]

Hi MrStubs,

Thanks for additional information.  Upon checking, our team has sent you an email, please check your inbox or messages for the updates. Also, continue the conversation there as I'll be locking this thread after 24 hours.

Best,

Jenelyn

[MrStubs]

Additional info to ponder:  I have a 2-Stage furnace and a variable speed fan.  If the calculation for "Energy Used" is primarily driven by Thermostat calling for Heat, then this could easily be the reason.    I will review my home configuration that was provided to Nest, but I don't recall anything about Furnace BTU output or multi-stage furnace. 

[MrStubs]

I hoping this thread stays active.  Nest has provided a few links that helped a little, but still not specific enough:

• How the Nest thermostat savings calculator works
• Thermostat Energy History 
•  How the Home Report accounts for changes in your energy use

If this thread locks down, then all I know is that I've entered all the Nest requested information to provide the calculation (home sq ft, location, etc.).

In the summer, the calculation seems correct.  We set our AC quite high, like 78-80F and use it just to get the humidity out of the air.  We get those Leafs awarded for every day of the month and rank "in the Top 5-10% of all Next user in your area". 

Our Nest thermostat knows we have two Stage furnace and reports when it's running One or Two stages.    There is no data entry available on the app for BTU stages or even the overall furnace size.   i can easily see the root cause being that the calculation doesn't account for this and therefore it looks like the furnace is doing full afterburner when in reality it's just loafing along at half-burner and half fan speed to maintain the house temp of 66F in Winter. (and setback to 60F and night).

I go poof if this thread down - too bad to close it out so soon.