How to Automate Your Smart Thermostat for Time-of-Use Rates
If you live in a region that has adopted Time-of-Use (TOU) energy rates, you know the drill: electricity is cheap in the morning, but the moment 4:00 PM hits, the price skyrockets.
While running your dishwasher or charging your EV at night is easy, what do you do about your air conditioning? You can't exactly turn it off during the hottest part of the summer afternoon. However, by using a strategy called pre-cooling (or pre-heating in winter), you can leverage your smart thermostat to game the system automatically.
The Strategy: Thermal Mass and Pre-Cooling
Your house is essentially a giant thermal battery. The walls, the furniture, and the air all hold temperature. Pre-cooling involves dropping the temperature of your home below your normal comfort level right before the peak pricing window begins.
When the expensive peak hours hit, your thermostat raises the set point, meaning your AC won't turn on. Because your house was over-cooled, it will slowly coast through the peak hours, keeping you comfortable while avoiding peak energy charges.
How to Set It Up: Ecobee
Ecobee makes this incredibly simple through their eco+ suite of features, which integrates directly with many utility providers.
- Enable eco+: Open the Ecobee app, tap your thermostat, and select the eco+ icon.
- Time of Use Settings: Navigate to the "Time of Use" setting within eco+.
- Connect Your Utility: If your utility provider is supported, Ecobee will automatically pull in your rate schedule.
- Choose Your Savings Profile: You can adjust the slider from minimum to maximum savings. On higher savings, Ecobee will more aggressively pre-cool your home (dropping it 2-3 degrees below normal) before peak hours, and allow the temperature to drift higher during the peak window.
Pro Tip for 2026: If your utility isn't directly supported by eco+, you can manually build a pre-cooling schedule. Create a new "Comfort Setting" called "Pre-Cool" set to 69°F, and schedule it from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Then, schedule your "Home" setting from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at 76°F.
How to Set It Up: Google Nest
Google Nest handles this through its Rush Hour Rewards program and the built-in scheduling tools.
- Enroll in Seasonal Savings: If available in your area, signing up for Rush Hour Rewards allows your utility to tweak your Nest during extreme demand events, usually offering you a rebate in return.
- Manual Pre-Cooling Schedule: Because Nest relies heavily on its auto-learning algorithm, the best way to enforce pre-cooling is to explicitly set it in the schedule.
- Open the Google Home app (or Nest app), go to your thermostat's schedule.
- Drop a set point for 70°F two hours before your peak rates begin.
- Drop another set point at the exact start of your peak rates for 76°F or 78°F.
Nest's "Time-to-Temperature" algorithm will learn exactly how long it takes your AC to reach that 70°F mark and will start the system precisely when needed to hit the target right as peak pricing begins.
The Bottom Line
Automating your thermostat for TOU rates is one of the highest ROI (Return on Investment) automations you can set up in a smart home. It requires about five minutes of configuration in the app, but it can shave hundreds of dollars off your summer cooling bills while keeping your living space perfectly comfortable when you actually need it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing?
TOU pricing means your utility company charges more for electricity during hours of high demand (usually late afternoon and evening) and less during the night and morning.
Can Ecobee automatically handle TOU rates?
Yes, Ecobee has an ‘eco+’ feature with Time of Use integration that automatically adjusts your cooling schedule to avoid peak rates.
