Key point:
“It’s a voluntary program,” Emmett Romine, vice president of customer solutions and innovation at Xcel, told local news station KMGH-TV. “Let’s remember that this is something that customers choose to be a part of based on the incentives.”
This is fairly common with other utilities as well, my local utility did the same thing a few years ago.
Furthering the point, even at the bottom of the "Your Thermostat has Been Disabled" Message, they say that you can re-enable the thermostat by going online and opting out of the program. So if it's getting unbearable you can go online, opt-out and be back in control of your thermostat.
EDIT: I just read that the temp was capped at 78, Colorado has low humidity so 78 here is much more comfortable than 78 in say Florida. Sure the message is culture war outrage fuel, but the underlying policy seems quite reasonable.
Except I have been trying to opt out for more then a year and half. I also tried again when this message popped up.It happened because I clicked enable on the ecobee app, and there is no effective way to cancel it.
Typical dark pattern, very easy to accidently opt in, impossible to opt out. You have to call, and as you might imagine, could not get through.
It also doesn't help that the opt-in was not done by me, but by the builder, who set the ecobees up in that manner (new build). It's part of the "energy efficiency" that they offered.
Actually it's not just them. I have it for my local area hydro company in Canada, it's the same thing. I can't find where to cancel at all.
EDIT: So I did some digging, and it's confusing to say the least. In the app, it points you to the Google store page when you tap more info about the program. A search points to a page that tells you to contact your hydro company. On my hydro company's page, there is ZERO information about this, then a second search that landed me on Google Support page, which finally mentions the program is administered by some company in the US that is "partnered" with my hydro company, hidden deep inside the terms and conditions. And on that page, it says I actually have to call Google to unsubscribe.
If 78F is 25C, it is seriously tolerable. In France where we dont have AC, we spend the summer in front of fans and Im sure americans can use those too.
It all depends on humidity. I used to live in the US South where humidity would be >90% and 78F is unbearable. I live in Colorado now and the humidity here barely goes above 10-15% and the same temp is way more comfortable.
I live in Buenos Aires and 25°C is with air conditioner is perfectly tolerable. The official recommendation here is 24°(75°F), but at my home we keep the thermostat at 26°C (79°F) and sometimes more.
The air conditioner acts as a dehumidifier, so 26°C is nice, but you must change the water deposit of the AC quite frequently.
While I grew up in the US South, in a house without A/C. >90% and 78F sounds like a cool summer evening.
Hah, I'm right! In Tallahassee right now it's 82°F and 81% humidity, with a dew point of 76°F. At 5am tomorrow morning the temp will be down to 78°F. If you're out that early there will likely be fog in the low spots.
I opted out of this program, but did the energy saver AC program with little affect on the cooling. I didn’t want the power company to have control of my home comfort.
Imagine a program where by signing up, you'd be given a million dollars today, but then a year from now, you'd be sold into slavery for the next ten years. Should we allow that just because it's voluntary?
Imagine a program where a person can sell a kidney for a transplant to keep a willing buyer alive.
Imagine a program where we ramp up the price of college by making college debt non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, then create fluff degrees which won't help the person earn enough to pay off the debt over the next couple decades.
This is fairly common with other utilities as well, my local utility did the same thing a few years ago.