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I made the money back heating my house in the bay area in 5 months. The Nest is just much better at using energy efficiently.

• VLM 13y ago
  That's a savings of $60 on heating per month, for five months. The laws of thermodynamics continue to be enforced regardless of bubble or not, so I think it quite impossible to save more than 10%. So you're averaging $600 or more to heat. Averaging... I live in Wisconsin where I would be hard pressed to spend $300/month during the worst imaginable weather (and this is five months... the worst imaginable weather is .. January. Three months earlier or later isn't too bad, back to $100/mo or less). With the recent polar vortex event settled right over my house, maybe this will be a $400 month for me... maybe not. I assume by "bay area" and spending $600/mo on heating you mean Prudhoe Bay on the north slope of Alaska?
  • dundun 13y ago
    They have a widget on the Nest store (https://widgets.nest.com/en/calculator/widget https://widgets.nest.com/en/calculator/widget) that estimates energy savings. According to that, a $250/year savings is possible in SF with electric heating and a house over 2000 square feet. Though, the range they provide probably means: a) It is a historically cold year for a prolonged period of time b) You set your heat to 80F all the time With gas heating, it looks almost impossible to save $250... unless you're heating an NBA arena.
  • seregine 13y ago
    In the Bay Area, electricity is priced in tiers, so depending on your usage you can spend 50% of your bill on 10% of the electricity. http://www.pge.com/myhome/myaccount/charges/ http://www.pge.com/myhome/myaccount/charges/
  • foobarian 13y ago
    You can get a Nest thermostat for $150 if you get a rebate.