Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation will give you a $75 bill credit for signing up for Rush Hour Rewards. Plus, you’ll receive an additional $4 bill credit at the end of the season for each month you stay enrolled if you do not opt out of more than 5 events per season.

• In the summer, there will be a maximum of 36 rush hour events and each rush hour event will be no longer than 4 hours. Energy rush hours will start in May and end in October and will occur on non-holiday weekdays and weekends between 12:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m

• In the winter, there will be a maximum of 36 rush hour events and each rush hour event will be no longer than 4 hours. Energy rush hours will start in November and end in April, and will occur on non-holiday weekdays and weekends between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

• In both summer and winter, you’ll only get one rush hour event a day, and there will not be more than 3 rush hour events in a week.

• In the unlikely situation of a critical need on the electric grid, Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation may need to call a critical rush hour event. Critical rush hour events can occur at any time of day on weekdays and weekends.

Rush hour events happen when there’s an unusually high demand on the grid. During these events, your Nest thermostat will adjust your home’s temperature by up to 4 degrees, helping you to use less energy. If you start to feel uncomfortable, you can stop participating at any time by changing the temperature. 

Energy Rush Hours are like traffic rush hours. Just as traffic clogs up roads when everyone drives to work at the same time, Energy Rush Hours occur when everyone in a particular area turns on air conditioning (AC) or heating at once. Imagine what can happen when millions of people turn on their air conditioners during a heatwave. This, in addition to all the usual energy use in households (running the refrigerator, the TV, lights, computers, etc.) creates a peak in energy demand and increases costs.

To keep up with demand, utilities may need to bring additional power plants online. It’s expensive to run these power plants only for a few hours on a few days a year, so peak demand increases everybody’s costs.

There’s a better way. If enough people band together to reduce energy during these peaks they can become a virtual power plant. This lowers costs for energy companies and they’re willing to reward you for it.

GOOGLE RUSH HOUR REWARDS PROGRAM AGREEMENT

Welcome to the Rush Hour Rewards Program, offered by Google LLC (“Google”).

The Rush Hour Rewards Program allows you to take advantage of a program that your electric utility company, gas utility company, or other energy company, including their third-party contractors or agents (any and all of those entities collectively referred to here as your “Utility”) offers for adjusting your energy consumption during critical hours. Under the program, your Utility notifies Google of the existence of a Rush Hour Rewards event, causing Google’s servers to remotely inform your Google Nest thermostat (“Nest Thermostat”) to automatically change the temperature setpoint in your home on that day, without any manual intervention by you. You may override this temperature setpoint simply by turning your Nest Thermostat to a different temperature or by using the mobile or web application you regularly use with your Nest Thermostat.

As a Nest Thermostat owner, you are eligible to participate in the Rush Hour Rewards Program if you:

• are the residential electricity or gas service account holder at your Utility;

• have an 802.11 wireless (Wi-Fi) network at your Utility service address;

• have an active Google or Nest Account linked to your Nest Thermostat;

• meet any separate requirements set by your Utility;

• accept these terms and conditions.

Generally, in order to participate in the Rush Hour Rewards Program for any incentives your Utility offers during the summer season, your Nest Thermostat must be controlling an air conditioning unit at your Utility service address, and in the winter season, your Nest Thermostat must be controlling either a heat pump or a heating system, which uses electricity or gas as the primary source of heat at your Utility service address. Your Utility may have additional specific requirements.

Your Utility, Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation, has contracted with Open Access Technology International, Inc. to manage its program under the Rush Hour Rewards Program. When you accept these terms and enroll in the Rush Hour Rewards Program, you are also accepting the terms and conditions of Open Access Technology International, Inc. and your Utility (together your “Utility Program Terms”), which are located here: https://www.oati.com/Solution/Smart-Energy/Smart-Thermostat/Lumbee-River-EMC. If Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation or Open Access Technology International, Inc. changes their terms and conditions under the Rush Hour Rewards Program, you may need to accept their new terms, but the Google Rush Hour Rewards Program terms will remain in effect until Google notifies you of a change.

By enrolling in the Rush Hour Rewards Program, you agree that Google and/or its third-party contractors or agents have permission to access your Nest Thermostat and use your Thermostat Data (as defined below) to offer, enable, manage your participation in, provide support for, and improve the Rush Hour Rewards Program. Any additional Nest Thermostats installed at your Utility service address will be automatically enrolled in the Rush Hour Rewards Program.

You agree that Google can share information related to your Nest Thermostat with its third-party contractors or agents and your Utility as needed to offer, enable, manage your participation in, provide support for, and improve the Rush Hour Rewards Program. The information Google can share consists of your name, email address, service address, Utility account number, Nest Thermostat serial number, activation date, Google or Nest Account status, runtime data, temperature and humidity sensor data, set-points, device usage and technical data, and details related to your program eligibility, enrollment and participation, including any decision you may make to opt out of the program or to delete your Google or Nest Account (collectively, “Thermostat Data”). Any decision you may make to opt out of the program or to delete your Google or Nest Account will result in the automatic termination of your enrollment in the Rush Hour Rewards Program. Please note that if you unenroll in the middle of a season, you may no longer be eligible to receive incentives offered by your Utility.

Your enrollment in the Rush Hour Rewards Program will depend on your Utility approving your application. You understand that your enrollment request may be declined, or your enrollment terminated, if you do not satisfy eligibility requirements, if the information you submit with this Agreement is not accurate, or for any other reason. Your request for enrollment is voluntary and optional, and you are not required to be enrolled in the Google Rush Hour Rewards Program to use your Nest Thermostat. You acknowledge that Google is not providing you any compensation or other financial benefit for participating in the Rush Hour Rewards Program and that any incentive or compensation to you will be provided by your Utility. You release and hold harmless Google and its third-party contractors and agents from any liability, claim, demand, cause of action, damage or expense resulting from your participation in the Rush Hour Rewards Program.

These Google terms and conditions, together with your Utility Program Terms, form your agreement to participate in the Rush Hour Rewards Program. This agreement becomes effective when you submit your enrollment request and will continue until your participation is terminated.

If you use your Nest Thermostat with a Google Account, you are subject to applicable policies and terms listed here.

If you use your Nest Thermostat with a Nest Account, you understand that this program is offered by Google and agree to give Google permission to access, use, and share your Thermostat Data according to these terms.  Otherwise, you remain subject to applicable policies of Nest Labs, Inc. listed here. You can learn more about migrating your Nest Account to a Google Account here.

You may cancel your participation in the Rush Hour Rewards program by calling Google at (855) 469-6378.