Clean Energy Guidance on Apple’s new LG and Schneider Home Smart Thermostats works out of the box with a grid forecast, but it only knows what your electricity costs if you link your utility account in the Home app. Apple’s store pages for both thermostats say: “Your electricity rate plan information is also incorporated if you’ve connected your utility account in the Home app.”
Apple documents that step, and the switch that turns on Clean Energy Guidance, in its iPhone User Guide. Here is how it works and who can use it.
Who can use it
Location is the first limit. Apple’s Apple Home Collection press release says that “In the contiguous U.S., Clean Energy Guidance can shift heating and cooling to cleaner, lower-cost periods for users with a compatible utility plan.” Apple’s Grid Forecast guide adds that the forecast “is available only in the contiguous United States; it’s not available in Alaska or Hawaii.”
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The utility link has its own conditions. Apple’s guide titled “View electricity usage and rates on iPhone (participating U.S. providers only)” says you need “a residential electrical service with a participating utility provider,” and that “you must be the utility account owner or authorized user of the utility account.”
Apple’s guide does not print a list of participating companies. Instead, it says “Participating utility providers are listed under Available Providers. If your utility provider isn’t listed, this feature isn’t currently supported in your area.” The Home app itself is the place to check.
You also need Location Services on for the Home app and an internet connection for the Grid Forecast, according to Apple.
How to connect your utility account on iPhone
These are Apple’s documented steps:
- Open the Home app on your iPhone.
- Tap Home, tap the More button, then tap Home Settings.
- Tap Energy, then tap Connect Account.
- Pick your utility from the list under Available Providers.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to link your compatible electricity account.
Do not expect numbers right away. Apple says “Electricity usage data is typically displayed with a lag of 24 to 72 hours.”
On a Mac, the path is the same: in the Home app, click the More button, click Home Settings, click Energy, then click Connect Account.
What the link adds
Once connected, Apple says the Home app lets you:
- View your home electricity usage over time and see how it’s trending.
- See how much electricity you used during cleaner and less clean periods.
- Learn more about your rate plan and, on a time-of-use (TOU) plan, see whether it is currently a peak or off-peak time, plus how much you used during lower- and higher-cost periods.
- With rooftop solar, see when you drew from the grid and when you sent a surplus back, and how those imports and exports varied across rate periods.
That is the data the thermostats lean on. Apple’s release says the Home app “displays usage insights over time, including peak and off-peak rate information.”
How to turn on Clean Energy Guidance for your thermostat
Apple’s guide describes the feature this way: “Home can adjust the thermostat by small amounts to help reduce electricity usage while energy sources are less clean.”
- Open the Home app on your iPhone.
- Tap Home, then tap your thermostat.
- Tap the Settings button.
- Turn on Optimize for Clean Energy.
To stop it, follow the same steps and turn Optimize for Clean Energy off. The guide frames this around “your compatible Matter thermostat,” not only the two Apple Home Collection models.
Adaptive Temperature is reached the same way. Apple’s steps are to tap your thermostat, tap the Settings button, tap Adaptive Temperature, then choose a temperature range for your At Home, Night, Away and Extended Away states. Our thermostat launch story explains how Adaptive Temperature works.
Check the Grid Forecast and get alerts
The grid forecast itself does not need a utility account. In the Home app, tap Home, then tap the Energy category at the top of the screen to see the Grid Forecast widget. Apple says green bars show “when cleaner energy is available in your area.” To get alerts when cleaner energy is coming, tap the Notifications button in the widget, then tap Notify Me.
More than one utility account or home
If you have multiple utility accounts or providers, Apple’s answer is a second home in the Home app. Tap Home, tap the Add button, tap Add New Home, then tap Save. From that home, go to Home Settings, tap Energy and tap Connect Account to add the other account.
To remove a link, go to Home Settings, tap Energy, tap your linked account and choose Disconnect Account.
What LG and Schneider Electric add
The partners’ releases point to the same plumbing. LG Electronics says that “Through supported utility-provider integrations, LG Smart Thermostat can also shift operation toward lower-cost periods.” Schneider Electric says its thermostat uses “EnergyKit to power the grid forecast feature in the Apple Home app,” and its footnote states that EnergyKit “is only available in the contiguous United States” and “requires iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 or later.”
If your utility shows up under Available Providers, it is worth linking it before your thermostat arrives, so the Home app has a few days of usage history when you switch Clean Energy Guidance on.
