The purpose of this app is to help reduce your electricity bill by:
- Automating charging times for electric vehicles (EVs), so they charge during off-peak hours when electricity rates are lower.
- Turning up/down heating sources and on/off hot water boilers based on electricity prices.
This app is designed to work with AppDaemon and Home Assistant.
Home Assistant is a popular open-source home automation platform that offers a wide range of features and integrations with various smart home devices. If you're not already using Home Assistant, I recommend checking it out.
AppDaemon is a loosely coupled, multi-threaded, sandboxed Python execution environment for writing automation apps for various types of home automation software, including Home Assistant and MQTT.
The app calculates the optimal charging time for your electric car based on your historical electricity consumption, current rates, and future prices from the Nordpool integration. It also takes into account other factors like weather conditions.
For heating sources and hot water boilers, the app uses similar calculations to determine when to turn them on/off based on the lowest possible electricity rates while still ensuring comfort needs are met. It can also turn up heating sources before a price increase. The app continuously monitors your energy consumption and adjusts settings accordingly, helping you avoid peak hours when electricity rates are higher and maximize savings during off-peak hours.
Tip
I use sensors from Tibber Pulse connected to HAN port. Check out https://tibber.com/ If you are interested in changeing your electricity provider to Tibber, you can use my invite link to get a startup bonus: https://invite.tibber.com/fydzcu9t
Note
Max usage limit max_kwh_goal is developed according to the new calculation that Norwegian Energy providers base their grid tariffs on. We pay extra for the average of the 3 highest peak loads in steps of 2-5 kWh, 5-10 kWh, etc. This should be adaptable to other tariffs with some modifications. Please make a request with information on how to set up limitations on usage.
Tip
If you live in a country where there is no tariff on higher usage, set max_kwh_goal to the same size as your main fuse in kWh.
If you have solar or other electricity production, add a production sensor and an accumulated production sensor. The app will try to charge any cars with surplus production. If all cars have reached their preferred charge limit, it will try to spend extra on heating. The calculations also support one consumption sensor with negative numbers for production. I do not have solar panels installed and this feature is only tested with manual input of test data. Please report any unexpected behavior.
To use this app, install the following integrations: From Home Assistant:
- Workday sensor: Home Assistant Workday integration
The app uses the Met.no for outside temperature if you do not configure outside_temperature: Met.no Home Assistant integration
Install the following components via HACS:
- Nordpool sensor: Nordpool custom components
You only need the following optional components if they are configured in your setup. Currently supported directly in app:
- Tesla Custom Integration: HACS Tesla integration
- Easee EV charger component for Home Assistant: HACS Easee EV Charger integration
Download the ElectricalManagement directory from inside the apps directory here to your Appdaemon apps directory, then add configuration to a .yaml or .toml file to enable the electricalManagement module.
Minimum configuration with suggested values:
electricity:
module: electricalManagement
class: ElectricalUsage
json_path: /conf/apps/ElectricalManagement/ElectricityData.json
nordpool: sensor.nordpool_kwh_bergen_nok_3_10_025
power_consumption: sensor.power_home
accumulated_consumption_current_hour: sensor.accumulated_consumption_current_hour_homeProvide a consumption sensor power_consumption and an accumulated consumption pr hour sensor accumulated_consumption_current_hour to calculate and adjust electricity usage.
Important
accumulated_consumption_current_hour is a kWh sensor that resets to zero every hour
To configure storage, input a path, inclusive of a name and a .json filename (e.g., '/myfolder/example.json') to store a JSON file using the json_path as persistent data.
Persistent data will be updated with:
- The maximum kWh usage for the 3 highest hours.
- The maximum amperage that the vehicle can receive. This could occur when the set amperage in the charger is higher than what the vehicle can receive, or if the charger starts low and increases output to perform a "soft start" charging.
- Maximum kWh charged during one session.
- Heater consumptions after saving functions with hours of savings and the heater + total power in watts after finishing charging, both with the outside temperature to better calculate how many hours cars need to finish charging.
Set a maximum kWh limit using max_kwh_goal and define a buffer. Buffer size depends on how much of your electricity usage is controllable, and how strict you set your max kWh usage. It defaults to 0.4 as it should be a good starting point.
Important
The maximum usage limit per hour, max_kwh_goal, is by default 5 kWh. If the average of the 3 highest consumption hours exceeds this limit, it will increase by 5 kWh. If the limit is set too low, it may reduce heating, turn off switches, and change the charge current to as low as 6 Amperes. Please define a proper value for max_kwh_goal according to your normal electricity usage.
Add tax per kWh from your electricity grid provider with daytax and nighttax. Night tax applies from 22:00 to 06:00 on workdays and all day on weekends. The app will also look for 'binary_sensor.workday_sensor' and set night tax on holidays. If your Workday Sensor has another entity ID, you can configure it with workday.
In Norway, we receive 90% electricity support (Strømstøtte) on electricity prices above 0.70 kr exclusive / 0.9125 kr inclusive VAT (MVA) calculated per hour. Define power_support_above and support_amount to have calculations take the support into account. Do not define if not applicable.
Set a main vacation switch to lower temperature when away. This can be configured/overridden individually for each climate/switch entity if you are controlling multiple apartments, etc.
The app calculates the optimal charging price and schedule, ensuring a coherent time frame from start to finish. Vehicles will charge when the price is cheaper than the calculated rate. Additionally, you can customize the charging behavior by specifying a price difference between the calculated charging period with startBeforePrice (default 0.01) to start earlier if prices are still low, ensuring enough time to charge even with limited data for maximum kWh usage per hour. You can also force stop charging with stopAtPriceIncrease (default 0.3) if the charging isn't completed.
max_kwh_goal: 15 # 15 is default.
buffer: 0.4 # 0.4 is default.
daytax: 0.5648 # 0 is default
nighttax: 0.4468 # 0 is default
workday: binary_sensor.workday_sensor
power_support_above: 0.9125 # Inkl vat
support_amount: 0.9 # 90%
vacation: input_boolean.vacation
startBeforePrice: 0.01
stopAtPriceIncrease: 0.3The app checks power consumptions and reacts to prevent using more than defined with max_kwh_goal. It reduces charging speed on car(s) currently charging to a minumum, before turning down heater_switches and climate entities. If it is still going over the app can pause charging if pause_charging is configured under options.
Receive notifications about charge time to your devices with notify_receiver. It will also notify if you left a window open and it is getting cold, or if it is getting quite hot and the window is closed.
You can also create and configure an Home Assistant input_text with infotext to display currently planned chargetime in Home Assistant or some external displays.
notify_receiver:
- mobile_app_yourphone
- mobile_app_yourotherphone
infotext: input_text.information
options:
- notify_overconsumption
- pause_chargingThe app relies on the outside temperature to log and calculate electricity usage. If no outside_temperature sensor is defined, the app will attempt to retrieve data from the Met.no integration. Climate entities set heating based on the outside temperature.
In addition, you can configure rain and anemometer sensors. These are used by climate entities where you can define a rain amount rain_level (Defaults to 3) and wind speed anemometer_speed (Defaults to 40) to increase heating by 1 degree.
outside_temperature: sensor.netatmo_out_temperature
rain_sensor: sensor.netatmo_sensor_rain
anemometer: sensor.netatmo_anemometer_wind_strengthTip
anemometer_speed and rain_level target can be defined pr climate entity.
A key feature of Appdaemon is the ability to define custom namespaces. Visit the Appdaemon documentation for more information.
If you have not configured any namespace for your HASS plugin in your 'appdaemon.yaml' file, you can safely ignore namespaces.
Important
As of version 0.1.5 you can set a namespace for heater/climate and charging entities with main_namespace if you have defined a custom HASS namespace. You can then configure the namespace in every charger and heater/climate that belongs to Home Assistant instances with another custom namespace if you are running multiple namespaces.
đź’ˇ TIP The app is designed to control electricity usage at your primary residence and will only adjust charging amps on chargers/cars that are within your home location. If you want to manage electricity consumption in other locations, I recommend setting up a separate Home Assistant and AppDaemon instance for each location.
This app listens to event "MODE_CHANGE" in Home Assistant. It reacts to "fire" by turning off all heaters and stopping charging, and "false_alarm" to revert back to normal operations.
The use of events in Appdaemon and Home Assistant is well documented in Appdaemon docs - Events
To set mode from another appdaemon app simply use:
self.fire_event("MODE_CHANGE", mode = 'your_mode_name')The app calculates electric vehicle (EV) charging time based on the State of Charge (SOC), battery size, and outside temperature. If an SOC sensor or battery size isn't provided, it will be based on the maximum charged during one session on the charger.
Note
If you have other high electricity consumption in combination with a low limit, it may reduce charging but not lower than 6 Amperes. This could result in unfinished charging if the limit is too low or consumption is too high during the calculated charge time.
The app supports controlling Tesla vehicles directly and Easee wall chargers. Documentation on how to implement other vehicles and chargers will be published upon request/donations.
For each vehicle, provide sensors to calculate the amount of kWh needed for charging, such as a charge limit and an SOC battery sensor. For each charger, include sensors to know if a car is connected and charging speed, etc. You can combine a Tesla vehicle with an Easee charger or use the Tesla vehicle to control charging even when connected to a charger without connectivity.
Multiple cars with priority levels 1-5 are supported by the app. The app queues the next car based on priority when there's enough power available. If multiple vehicles are in the queue, charging vehicles must reach full capacity before the next charger checks if it has 1.6 kW of free capacity to start.
Priority settings for cars include:
-
Priority 1-2: These cars will begin charging at the calculated time, even if it means reducing heating to stay below the consumption limit. They will continue charging until complete, regardless of any price increases due to adjusting the speed based on the consumption limit.
-
Priority 3-5: These cars will wait to start charging until there is 1.6 kW of free capacity available. They will stop charging at the price increase that occurs after the calculated charge time ends.
Create Home Assistant helpers to manage charging:
- Default Finish Time: Charging is completed by default at 7:00 AM. To set a different hour for the charging to be finished, use an
input_numbersensor configured withfinishByHour. - Charge Now: To bypass smart charging and charge immediately, configure
charge_nowas aninput_boolean. The sensor will be automatically set to false after charging is completed or when the charger is disconnected. - Charging on Solar Power: If you generate electricity, you can choose to charge only during surplus production. Define another
input_booleanand configure it with thecharge_on_solaroption. - Guest Function: There is a
guestfunction defined with aninput_booleanon chargers. This allows bypassing smart charging and avoids registering the maximum charged during one session and maximum amperage the car can charge.
Important
Locking Easee charger to 3phase IT net (230v) requires a minumum of 11A to charge. The app can turn down charging as low as 6A, and if so, the charging will stop. To awoid this set Phase mode to Automatic in your Easee app.
The Easee integration automatically detects wall charger information if its sensor names are in English; simply provide the name of your Easee using the charger option. If your sensors have names in another language, manually input the correct sensor names in the configuration. Check logs for any errors and provide missing sensors.
easee:
- charger: nameOfCharger
charger_status: sensor.nameOfCharger_status
reason_for_no_current: sensor.nameOfCharger_arsak_til_at_det_ikke_lades
current: sensor.nameOfCharger_strom
charger_power: sensor.nameOfCharger_effekt
voltage: sensor.nameOfCharger_spenning
max_charger_limit: sensor.nameOfCharger_maks_grense_for_lader
online_sensor: binary_sensor.nameOfCharger_online
session_energy: sensor.nameOfCharger_energi_ladesesjonNote
Note that not all sensors are activated by default in the Easee integration. Please ensure you activate all relevant sensors to enable the full functionality of the app.
In addition to priority and the Home Assistant helpers described above, you can provide vehicle information. This can be either a Tesla or individual sensors. Please refer to the documentation on configuring Easee & Tesla or consult the section on Vehicle Sensors.
⚠️ WARNING It is necessary to restart Home Assistant, and in some cases, reboot the vehicle to re-establish communications with the Tesla API after any service visits and also changes/reconfiguration of the integration in Home Assistant, such as if you need to update the API key.
Input the name of your Tesla using the charger option. Check logs for any errors and provide missing sensors.
tesla:
- charger: nameOfCar
pref_charge_limit: 90
battery_size: 100This configuration sets up a Tesla charging on an Easee charger. Provide the name of your Easee charger using the charger option and the name of your Tesla vehicle using the carName option. A typical configuration should look something like this:
easee_tesla:
- charger: leia
reason_for_no_current: sensor.leia_arsak_til_at_det_ikke_lades
current: sensor.leia_strom
charger_power: sensor.leia_effekt
voltage: sensor.leia_spenning
max_charger_limit: sensor.leia_maks_grense_for_lader
session_energy: sensor.leia_energi_ladesesjon
car: spacey
pref_charge_limit: 90
battery_size: 100
finishByHour: input_number.spaceyferdig
priority: 3
charge_now: input_boolean.spacey_ladna
In addition to namespace and battery size you can provide the following vehicle sensors:
carName: Name of car.charger_sensor: Charge cable Connected or Disconnectedcharge_limit: SOC limit sensor in %battery_sensor: SOC (State Of Charge) in %asleep_sensor: If car is sleepingonline_sensor: If car is onlinelocation_tracker: Location of car/charger.destination_location_tracker: Destination of cararrival_time: Sensor with Arrival time, estimated energy at arrival and destination.software_update: If cars updates software it probably can`t change charge speed or stop chargingforce_data_update: Button to Force Home Assistant to pull new datapolling_switch: Home Assistant input_boolean to disable pulling data from cardata_last_update_time: Last time Home Assistant pulled databattery_size: Size of battery in kWhpref_charge_limit: Preferred chargelimit
In addition to priority and HA sensors you can provide the following charger sensors:
charger: Name of your charger.charger_id: Unique ID. Recommend using ID used to make API callscharger_sensor: Charge cable Connected or Disconnectedcharger_switch: Charging or notcharging_amps: Ampere chargingcharger_power: Charger power in kWhsession_energy:: Charged this session in kWhvolts: Volt in charger. 230 or 400phases: 1 or 3 phases
You can try to define just sensors with defining a charger instead of Easee of Tesla if you have other brands. This has not been tested.
charger_switchmust be a input boolean.charging_ampsmust be a sensor with number.
Warning
The default location if no sensor for location is provided is 'home'. This will stop charging if you are controlling your car and not a wall charger if it is not chargetime. Please make sure your location sensor is functioning properly
Here you configure climate entities that you want to control based on outside temperature and electricity price.
For HVAC and other climate entities that are not very power consuming, you should check out Climate Commander. That app is based around the same logic with the outside temperature, but more automated to keep a constant inside temperature.
Climate entities are defined under climate and set the temperature based on the outside temperature. You configure it either by name or with the entity ID as heater, and the app will attempt to find consumption sensors based on some default zwave naming, or you can define current consumption using the consumptionSensor for the current consumption, and kWhconsumptionSensor for the total kWh that the climate has used.
Important
If no consumptionSensor or kWhconsumptionSensor is found or configured, the app will log with a warning to your AppDaemon log.
If the heater does not have a consumption sensor, you can input its power in watts. The app uses this power to calculate how many heaters to turn down if needed to stay below the maximum kWh usage limit and together with the kWh sensor, it calculates expected available power during charging time.
Important
If there is no kWh sensor for the heater, the calculation of needed power to reach normal operations after saving fails. The app still logs total consumption with your power_consumption sensor, but this does not take into account if the heater has been turned down for longer periods of time. This might affect calculated charging time.
The climate is programmed to react to outdoor conditions configured with Weather Sensors. It's also recommended to use an additional indoor temperature sensor defined with indoor_sensor_temp. With that you can set a target, either with target_indoor_temp as an integer, or target_indoor_input as an Home Assistant input_number helper.
The temperatures dictionary consists of multiple temperature settings that adapt to the given outdoor temperature. Version 0.1.5 introduces additional ways to set climate temperatures.
Easiest way is to define offset +- degrees based on outside temperature. The offset also applies to save_temp and away_temp. Alternative to save temp you can define saving temperature with a save_temp_offset if you are using an input_number to set target.
save_temp_offset: -0.5
away_temp: 13
temperatures:
- out: 3
offset: 0.5
- out: 7
offset: 0
- out: 10
offset: -1If you like to have more control over the save and away temperatures you can build your dictionary this way. This includes a normal operations temperature, an away setting for vacations, and a save mode for when electricity prices are high.
temperatures:
- out: -4
normal: 20
save: 13
away: 14Tip
To create a comprehensive temperature profile, start from your current indoor temperature and add a new dictionary entry for each additional degree adjustment required based on the outdoor temperature.
Savings are calculated based on a future drop in price, with the given pricedrop, calculating backward from the price drop to save electricity as long as the price is higher than the low price + pricedrop + 5% increase per hour backward. Configure max_continuous_hours for how long it can do savings. Defaults to 2 hours. Hot water boilers and heating cables in concrete are considered "magazines" and can be off for multiple hours before comfort is lost, so configure depending on the magazine for every climate/switch entity. You also define a on_for_minimum for how many hours per day the entity needs to heat normally. This defaults to 12 hours.
Spending hours occur before price increases and the temperature is increased by 1 to increase magazine energy. The amount per hour price increase to trigger this setting is defined with priceincrease. Additionally, low_price_max_continuous_hours defines how many hours before price increase the magazine needs to fill up with spend setting. If you are producing more electricity than you are consuming, the app will try to set spend settings on climate entities.
Turns down temperature to away setting. Uses the default vacation switch if left blank.
The app will set the climate temperature to the away setting for as long as windows are open. It will also notify if the indoor temperature drops below the normal threshold. You can also specify a temperature threshold with getting_cold to only get notifications if a window is open and it is getting cold. This defaults to 18 degrees.
Define a window temperature sensor as window_temp to react to sunny days, with window_offset as an offset from target temperature. This is default to -3
The daylight_savings has a start and stop time. The time accepts the start time before midnight and the stop time after midnight. In addition, you can define presence so that it does not apply daylight savings.
Define custom recipients per climate or use recipients defined in the main configuration.
Define either name of your heater, or input climate entity with heater.
climate:
- name: floor_thermostat
#- heater: climate.floor_thermostat
consumptionSensor: sensor.floor_thermostat_electric_consumed_w_2
kWhconsumptionSensor: sensor.floor_thermostat_electric_consumed_kwh_2
max_continuous_hours: 2
on_for_minimum: 12
pricedrop: 1
low_price_max_continuous_hours: 3
priceincrease: 1
#vacation: Will use apps default HA input boolean if not specified.
indoor_sensor_temp: sensor.indoor_air_temperature
target_indoor_input: input_number.HA_input_number
window_temp: sensor.window_air_temperature
window_offset: -3
save_temp: 12
away_temp: 13
windowsensors:
- binary_sensor.your_window_door_is_open
getting_cold: 20
daytime_savings:
- start: '07:30:00'
stop: '22:00:00'
presence:
- person.wife
temperatures:
- out: 3
offset: 0.5
- out: 7
offset: 0Hot-water boilers with no temperature sensors and only an on/off switch can also be controlled using the app's functionality. It will utilize ElectricityPrice functions to find optimal times for heating or turning on the heater. If a power consumption sensor is provided, it will enable more accurate calculations to avoid exceeding the maximum usage limit in ElectricalUsage.
Define either name of your heater, or input switch entity with switch
heater_switches:
- name: hotwater
#- switch: switch.hotwater
consumptionSensor: sensor.hotwater_electric_consumption_w
pricedrop: 0.3
max_continuous_hours: 8
on_for_minimum: 8Putting it all together in a configuration with example names
electricity:
module: electricalManagement
class: ElectricalUsage
json_path: /conf/apps/ElectricalManagement/ElectricityData.json
nordpool: sensor.nordpool_kwh_bergen_nok_3_10_025
power_consumption: sensor.power_home
accumulated_consumption_current_hour: sensor.accumulated_consumption_current_hour_home
max_kwh_goal: 15 # 15 is default.
buffer: 0.4 # 0.4 is default.
daytax: 0.5648 # 0 is default
nighttax: 0.4468 # 0 is default
workday: binary_sensor.workday_sensor
power_support_above: 0.9125 # Inkl vat
support_amount: 0.9 # 90%
vacation: input_boolean.vacation
outside_temperature: sensor.netatmo_out_temperature
rain_sensor: sensor.netatmo_sensor_rain
anemometer: sensor.netatmo_anemometer_wind_strength
notify_receiver:
- mobile_app_yourphone
- mobile_app_yourotherphone
infotext: input_text.information
options:
- pause_charging
- notify_overconsumption
# IF you are charging a Tesla connected to a Easee
easee_tesla:
- charger: leia
reason_for_no_current: sensor.leia_arsak_til_at_det_ikke_lades
current: sensor.leia_strom
charger_power: sensor.leia_effekt
voltage: sensor.leia_spenning
max_charger_limit: sensor.leia_maks_grense_for_lader
session_energy: sensor.leia_energi_ladesesjon
car: spacey
pref_charge_limit: 90
battery_size: 100
finishByHour: input_number.spaceyferdig
priority: 3
charge_now: input_boolean.spacey_ladna
guest: input_boolean.easeelader_gjest_lader
# If your Tesla is connected to a "dumb" wallconnector. Example on two teslas..
tesla:
- charger: yourTesla
pref_charge_limit: 90
battery_size: 100
finishByHour: input_number.finishChargingAt
priority: 3
charge_now: input_boolean.charge_Now
- charger: yourOtherTesla
pref_charge_limit: 70
battery_size: 80
finishByHour: input_number.yourOtherTesla_finishChargingAt
priority: 4
charge_now: input_boolean.yourOtherTesla_charge_Now
# If you have a vehicle connected to a Easee for charging.
easee:
- charger: nameOfCharger
charger_status: sensor.nameOfCharger_status
reason_for_no_current: sensor.nameOfCharger_arsak_til_at_det_ikke_lades
current: sensor.nameOfCharger_strom
charger_power: sensor.nameOfCharger_effekt
voltage: sensor.nameOfCharger_spenning
max_charger_limit: sensor.nameOfCharger_maks_grense_for_lader
online_sensor: binary_sensor.nameOfCharger_online
session_energy: sensor.nameOfCharger_energi_ladesesjon
namespace: hass_leil
finishByHour: input_number.easeelader_finishChargingAt
priority: 2
charge_now: input_boolean.easeelader_charge_Now
guest: input_boolean.easeelader_guest_using
climate:
- name: floor_thermostat
#- heater: climate.floor_thermostat
consumptionSensor: sensor.floor_thermostat_electric_consumed_w_2
kWhconsumptionSensor: sensor.floor_thermostat_electric_consumed_kwh_2
max_continuous_hours: 2
on_for_minimum: 12
pricedrop: 0.15
low_price_max_continuous_hours: 3
priceincrease: 0.65
indoor_sensor_temp: sensor.bod_fryseskap_air_temperature
target_indoor_input: input_number.heating_HA_sensor
window_temp: sensor.window_air_temperature
windowsensors:
- binary_sensor.your_window_door_is_open
window_offset: -3
save_temp: 12
away_temp: 13
daytime_savings:
- start: '07:30:00'
stop: '22:00:00'
presence:
- person.wife
temperatures:
- out: -4
offset: 2
- out: -3
offset: 1
- out: 2
offset: 0
- out: 7
offset: -2
- out: 11
offset: -3
- out: 14
offset: -5
- out: 17
offset: -6
heater_switches:
- name: hotwater
#- switch: switch.hotwater
consumptionSensor: sensor.hotwater_electric_consumption_w
pricedrop: 0.3
max_continuous_hours: 8
on_for_minimum: 8
appliances:
- remote_start: binary_sensor.oppvaskmaskin_remote_start
program: switch.oppvaskmaskin_program_nightwash
running_time: 4
finishByHour: 6
| key | optional | type | default | description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
module |
False | string | The module name of the app. | |
class |
False | string | The name of the Class. |
