SolarCity customers are getting free Nest smart thermostats

With its Rush Hour Rewards program, Nest uses a clever system to not only cut power costs for utility companies, but benefit consumers as well with some enticing rewards. Now the Google-owned company is looking to do the same thing with the actual generation of the power itself by partnering with SolarCity to provide people with Nest Learning Thermostats.

Smart thermostat maker Nest has plenty of experience helping utilities manage peak demand through its Rush Hour Rewards program, which involves pre-cooling participating homes in anticipation of an energy rush hour and throttling AC usage during such a period. This spares the utility company the high cost associated with bringing additional power plants online while earning the user a sweet reward. Nest now intends to wield similar magic on the generation side of the energy equation. Rooftop solar installer SolarCity announced a partnership with Nest today in which it will give away 10,000 Nest Learning Thermostats to select, new customers in California. The campaign, announced in a blog post, requires that the customer have Nest-compatible central air-conditioning units. It is pertinent to note here that Google has invested more than $580 million in SolarCity over the last five years, with the latest investment coming as recently as February.