ad-Electrical Management

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.

What platforms does it support?

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.

How does it work?

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

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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.

Dependencies:

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

Installation

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_home

Provide 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

Json storage

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.

Other configurations for main functions

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: 5 # 5 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: 0.3

Notifications and information

Receive notifications about charge time to your devices with notify_receiver with option informEveryChange to get notification every time calculation on chargetime has been performed, like charge limit etc. 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:
    - informEveryChange

Weather Sensors

The 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 and wind speed to increase heating by 1 degree.

  outside_temperature: sensor.netatmo_out_temperature
  rain_sensor: sensor.netatmo_sensor_rain
  anemometer: sensor.netatmo_anemometer_wind_strength

Namespace

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 in your 'appdaemon.yaml' file, you can skip this section.

Important

You must configure the namespace in every charger and climate that belongs to Home Assistant instances with a custom namespace.

💡 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.

Charging

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.

Configuration for all chargers

Priority settings for charger

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.

Home Assistant helpers

Create Home Assistant helpers to manage charging:

1. 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_number sensor configured with finishByHour.
2. Charge Now: To bypass smart charging and charge immediately, configure charge_now as an input_boolean. The sensor will be automatically set to false after charging is completed or when the charger is disconnected.
3. Charging on Solar Power: If you generate electricity, you can choose to charge only during surplus production. Define another input_boolean and configure it with the charge_on_solar option.
4. Guest Function: There is a guest function defined with an input_boolean on chargers. This allows bypassing smart charging and avoids registering the maximum charged during one session and maximum amperage the car can charge.

Easee Charger

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_ladesesjon

Note

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.

Configuring Tesla

⚠️ WARNING It is necessary to restart probably both Home Assistant and Appdaemon, 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: 100

Configuring Easee & Tesla

This 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

Vehicle sensors

In addition to namespace and battery size you can provide the following vehicle sensors:

• carName: Name of car.
• charger_sensor: Charge cable Connected or Disconnected
• charge_limit: SOC limit sensor in %
• battery_sensor: SOC (State Of Charge) in %
• asleep_sensor: If car is sleeping
• online_sensor: If car is online
• location_tracker: Location of car/charger.
• destination_location_tracker: Destination of car
• arrival_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 charging
• force_data_update: Button to Force Home Assistant to pull new data
• polling_switch: Home Assistant input_boolean to disable pulling data from car
• data_last_update_time: Last time Home Assistant pulled data
• battery_size: Size of battery in kWh
• pref_charge_limit: Preferred chargelimit

Charger sensors

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 calls
• charger_sensor: Charge cable Connected or Disconnected
• charger_switch: Charging or not
• charging_amps: Ampere charging
• charger_power: Charger power in kWh
• session_energy:: Charged this session in kWh
• volts: Volt in charger. 230 or 400
• phases: 1 or 3 phases

Configure vehicle and charger with sensors only

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_switch must be a input boolean.
• charging_amps must 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

Climate

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.

Temperatures

You define the climate working temperatures based on outdoor conditions. The temperatures dictionary consists of multiple temperature settings that adapt to the given outdoor temperature. It includes a normal operations temperature, an away setting for vacations, and a save mode for when electricity prices are high. Optionally, you can also specify a spend mode temperature.

      temperatures:
        - out: -4
          normal: 20
          spend: 21
          save: 13
          away: 14

Tip

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 Settings

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 Settings

Spending hours occur before price increases and the temperature is set to the spend setting 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.

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Vacation State

Turns down temperature to away setting. Uses the default vacation switch if left blank.

Pausing Automation

The climate will automate by default but you can define a Home Assistant input_boolean helper to turn it off. Note that when the switch is on, it will automate.

Indoor Temperature

It's recommended to use an additional indoor temperature sensor defined with indoor_sensor_temp. Set a target with target_indoor_temp, and the app will reduce heating if exceeded.

Window Sensors

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.

Daylight Savings

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.

Recipients

Define custom recipients per climate or use recipients defined in the main configuration.

Example 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: 0.15
      low_price_max_continuous_hours: 3
      priceincrease: 0.65
      #vacation: Will use apps default HA input boolean if not specified.
      automate: input_boolean.automate_heating
      indoor_sensor_temp: sensor.bod_fryseskap_air_temperature
      target_indoor_temp: 20
      windowsensors:
        - binary_sensor.your_window_door_is_open
      daytime_savings:
        - start: '07:30:00'
          stop: '22:00:00'
          presence:
            - person.wife
      temperatures:
        - out: -4
          normal: 20
          spend: 21
          save: 13
          away: 14
        - out: 1
          normal: 19
          spend: 21
          save: 12
          away: 14

Switches

Hot-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: 8

Example App configuration

Putting 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: 5 # 5 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:
    - informEveryChange

  # 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

  # 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
      #vacation: Will use apps default HA input boolean if not specified.
      automate: input_boolean.automate_heating
      indoor_sensor_temp: sensor.bod_fryseskap_air_temperature
      target_indoor_temp: 20
      windowsensors:
        - binary_sensor.your_window_door_is_open
      daytime_savings:
        - start: '07:30:00'
          stop: '22:00:00'
          presence:
            - person.wife
      temperatures:
        - out: -4
          normal: 20
          spend: 21
          save: 13
          away: 14
        - out: -3
          normal: 19
          spend: 21
          save: 12
          away: 14
        - out: 2
          normal: 18
          spend: 20
          save: 11
          away: 13
        - out: 7
          normal: 16
          spend: 18
          save: 11
          away: 13
        - out: 11
          normal: 15
          save: 10
          away: 12
        - out: 14
          normal: 13
          save: 10
          away: 12
        - out: 18
          normal: 12
          save: 10
          away: 12

  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.