Enervee is pleased to announce that our utility marketplace deployments now feature a zero to 100 Enervee Score on each of the roughly 160 thermostat models with current retail offers. The highest scoring thermostats have smart features that can help consumers save money and energy.
Enervee’s proprietary, patent-pending Enervee Score has been proven to empower consumers to choose energy saving products. The scoring system has been extended to a growing number of product categories, most recently EV chargers and, on June 16, 2021, thermostats.
The method to objectively score thermostats was developed by Enervee, using publicly available data, and vetted by leading thermostat manufacturers. Enervee also worked with manufacturers to ensure the accuracy of the product information used to calculate the score.
Enervee’s scoring system for thermostat uses a rank-weight based algorithm to calculate energy and cost savings from a combination of 14 thermostat features, with thermostats with higher savings getting a higher score. These energy savings features span the following functionalities:
- Programmable capability
- Time-of Use
- Demand Response
- Energy Efficiency (Occupancy Sensor, Phone Connectivity, Filter Indicator, Voice Control...)
According to the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative, the role smart thermostats play in helping owners reduce their energy usage is the #1 consumer benefit, with bill savings close behind [1]. The highest scoring products not only save energy; they also include features that allow customers to take advantage of demand-response (DR) programs and optimize heating and cooling costs, taking into account tiered time-of-use (TOU) rates – both of which can cut energy bills. While an individual consumer may not have access to DR and TOU rate programs at present, these smart features may deliver future value.
Among the features that Enervee studied, one of the most important smart grid features when it comes to cost savings is time-of-use capability, which allows the user to shift their heating and cooling load to take advantage of favorable utility prices.
The Enervee Score of a thermostat, which reflects the sophistication of smart-grid functionality, can also be used as a proxy to identify models eligible for utility incentives. Thermostats that score above 70 have at least one feature from the above-mentioned functionalities, while products with Enervee Scores of 90 and above capture most of the energy and cost savings benefits from the functionalities.
Notes
[1] SECC (June 2021): Smart Home And Energy Data: What Do Consumers Want?
