HOUSTON — Direct Energy, one of North America’s largest energy and energy-related services providers, announced that it has teamed with Nest to offer its electricity customers a solution for managing home and small business energy usage through an offer that includes the Nest Learning Thermostat.

The partnership represents a commitment by Direct Energy to bring Nest’s Learning Thermostat to its markets in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, New England, and Canada.

“We’re focused on giving customers across Canada and the U.S. greater convenience, control, and empowerment in managing energy use in their homes and small businesses, along with competitive low rates,” said Badar Khan, Direct Energy president and CEO. “The Nest Learning Thermostat is an innovative product that helps Direct Energy deliver not just electricity, but a real boost in household and small business management power.”

“Small changes in Nest’s settings — made automatically or with fingertip control via a mobile app — can make a big difference in energy use and costs,” said Manu Asthana, president, Direct Energy Residential. “This partnership with Nest allows us to bring to bear the resources of not only our residential business, but also our commercial and home services businesses to ensure that our customers are receiving the full benefits of the Nest Learning Thermostat.”

According to Nest, its thermostat automatically adjusts temperature settings based on learning customers’ energy use patterns and eliminates programming hassles by creating a personalized temperature schedule.

“In partnership with energy providers, the Nest Learning Thermostat, along with Nest energy services, has saved an incredible amount of energy,” said Ben Bixby, general manager, Nest Energy Services. “Following our successful partnership with Direct Energy in Alberta, Canada, we are excited to expand the relationship and bring our energy-savings solution to even more people across North America.”

In some markets, Direct Energy will also offer customers other incentives for the Nest Learning Thermostat, as well Nest’s Rush Hour Rewards™ and Seasonal Savings™ services. Rush Hour Rewards helps people earn money or credits from their energy provider by using less energy during peak demand periods. With Seasonal Savings, a Nest Learning Thermostat uses its knowledge of a customer’s schedule and preferences to make gradual temperature adjustments to help save energy. Both services are powered by Nest’s proprietary Auto-Tune™ technology and offered only through Nest’s energy partners.

For more information, visit www.directenergy.com.

Publication date: 6/2/2014

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