I’ve seen the Wyze thermostat has been in the “process” of getting its energy start compliance approval for the past 4 years according to different posts I’ve seen over the year. Since then I haven’t heard or seen anything about any updates.
Any ideas on when it’ll get the seal of approval? My local energy company offers rebates for energy star compliant thermostats and it’s frustrating because I don’t want to purchase a different brand since I’m invested in the Wyze ecosystem.
I can only tell you that it is still not Energy Star certified.
I am guessing it won’t be anymore, but they have not publicly stated what the obstacles were.
I do know a lot of other users have told Wyze that if they go through with it, they would ditch their Wyze Thermostat because Energy Star certification requires a company to allow the thermostat to be controlled by the local power company with “Demand Response Programs” and lots of people do not want to allow that since it basically means the power company can remotely turn off or turn down your AC or Heater whenever they want, and several people have expressed that they don’t want that.
I don’t know if that is why they stopped going through with it or if it involved other factors, but after recently having my local power company install something to reduce my AC power use, I think I personally slightly lean toward supporting them not being compliant now. It sucks when the house is hot and the power company is fiddling with things to not work how you want them to.
That’s not quite how I would interpret this FAQ:
Are ENERGY STAR-certified smart thermostats suitable for demand response programs?
Yes. ENERGY STAR smart thermostats must be able to work with utility demand response programs, but there are no specific required responses. In addition, the functions need not be in use in every installation for ENERGY STAR certification or for energy savings.
The “no specific required responses” says to me that a thermostat doesn’t have to do what the power company says…but then what does it mean that the thermostat “must be able to work with utility demand response programs” anyway? I guess even the EPA’s messaging isn’t entirely clear (which doesn’t surprise me), so I can totally understand why potential customers would be reluctant to purchase such a device.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.