[App][Pro] Energy Allocator

Apps
1

Your home uses energy from several places at once - the grid, solar panels, and a home battery. This app looks at the meters you already have and works out how much of each device’s energy came from the grid, from solar, and from the battery.

To do this, it needs permission to manage other devices, so it can read their energy meters (meter_power). Homey will ask you to approve this when you install the app.

How it works

Every 5 minutes, the app reads your grid, solar, and battery meters, plus the meters of the devices you’re following, and splits each device’s usage the same way the house’s energy balances:

solar + grid import + battery discharge = house use + grid export + battery charge

If a meter looks reset, the numbers don’t add up, or Homey or the app restarts mid-interval, that reading is skipped rather than guessed. Cumulative totals can then lag very slightly behind reality, but the Grid allocation / Self-sufficiency percentages aren’t affected, since they’re smoothed and self-correcting.

What you need

  • A grid meter that reports imported energy (required). Exported energy is optional - leave it unset if your meter doesn’t report it, or you don’t export any.
  • Solar and/or battery meters (optional) - add as many as you have.
  • Devices to follow, each with its own energy meter (most smart plugs, EV chargers, heat pumps, etc. have one).

Two kinds of devices

  • Device Energy Allocation - follows one meter, or (in summary mode) several meters added together, e.g. three heating circuits combined into one “Heating” device.
  • Whole House Energy Allocation - one device for the whole home’s split, no matter which devices you’re following. Add it once.

Setting it up

  1. Open the app’s Settings. Choose your grid meter’s import capability (and export, if it has one). Add your solar and/or battery meters the same way.
  2. Add a Whole House Energy Allocation device for the household total, and/or one or more Device Energy Allocation devices for specific appliances. Pairing asks you to pick individual or summary mode, then the meter(s) to follow.
  3. Picked the wrong device or meter? No need to delete and start over - use Repair on the device to change it. Nothing resets; the totals keep counting from the new source.

What you’ll get

Each device shows:

  • Its grid, solar, and battery energy (kWh), plus a total (Device Energy Allocation only).
  • Grid allocation and Self-sufficiency (%) - what share of a device’s energy over the last 30 minutes came from the grid versus from solar and/or the battery. Self-sufficiency is just 100% minus Grid allocation; both are smoothed over that window so they don’t jump around.
  • An “Energy allocation changed” Flow trigger.
  • A “Reset allocation meters” maintenance action (in the device’s menu) to set its counters back to zero.
  • Repair (also in the device’s menu) to change which meter(s) it follows without losing its totals.

Useful links

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Hints and FAQ

Do I need solar panels or a battery to use this?

Only a grid meter with an imported-energy counter is strictly required to set up the app, but without at least solar or a battery configured there’s nothing to split - every device would simply show 100% grid. Solar and battery are optional; their capabilities only appear on a device once you’ve added at least one such source in Settings.

My grid meter doesn't report exported energy - is that a problem?

Leave that field empty in Settings and it’s treated as zero. Grid import alone is enough to correctly track grid-sourced consumption. The only downside is during periods where your solar or battery actually export surplus to the grid: without an export reading, that surplus gets counted as if the house used it, slightly inflating solar/battery’s apparent share at those times. If you rarely or never export (no solar, or a small self-consuming system), this makes no practical difference.

Why do I have to manually pick a capability instead of the app finding it automatically?

Capability ids for import, export, production, charge and discharge energy aren’t standardized across drivers - for example, some P1 meter apps use different ids for the same thing. You map each role once, to whichever capability your specific device exposes.

What's the difference between 'Device Energy Allocation' and 'Whole House Energy Allocation'?

Device Energy Allocation follows one or more specific counters and works out where that energy came from. Whole House Energy Allocation is a single device reflecting the entire home’s split, regardless of which individual devices you’re tracking.

What's 'Individual' vs. 'Summary' mode?

Individual creates one allocator per counter you select - a separate tile per appliance. Summary creates a single device that adds several counters together first, for one combined tile.

Can I add the same device or counter more than once?

Yes, on purpose - for example to feed two differently-named allocators, or to include one counter in more than one summary device.

I picked the wrong device/counter - do I have to delete and re-pair?

No - open the device’s settings and choose Repair. You can reselect the source(s); running totals aren’t reset, they simply continue from the new source. Repair can’t change individual/summary mode, only the source(s).

Why don't these numbers show up in Homey's Energy tab?

On purpose - see “What you’ll get” in the overview post. They’re estimates derived from meters Homey already counts, so including them too would double count.

A device shows 0 right after I add it, or after changing Settings

The app samples every 5 minutes. The very first sample after startup, pairing, or a settings change only establishes a starting point - real numbers appear from the sample after that.

My meter reports in coarse steps (e.g. 0.1 kWh) and I see gaps

At very low power, a coarse meter may not tick within one 5-minute sample, so that interval is skipped rather than guessed. Nothing is lost from the meters themselves - the next interval catches up as soon as a real change is seen.

What do 'Grid allocation' and 'Self-sufficiency' mean?

Grid allocation is the percentage of a device’s recent consumption (smoothed over the last 30 minutes) that came from the grid. Self-sufficiency is the rest - the percentage that came from solar and/or the battery.

How do I get notified when the split changes?

Use the “Energy allocation changed” Flow trigger - set how many percentage points it must move before firing in Settings. For a plain threshold check (“is grid allocation above 50%?”), use Homey’s own Logic card with the “Grid allocation” or “Self-sufficiency” number token; no separate condition card is needed for that.

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TODO / Features requested

  • Per-device source overrides - right now, all allocators share one house-wide source configuration (one grid meter, one set of solar/battery meters) set in the app settings. Letting an individual allocator override part of that is being considered for a future version.
  • More Flow cards, as requests come in - let us know in this topic what you’d find useful.
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Known issues

  • The app has been tested on my own setup, but not across every meter and driver combination out there. If something looks off, please report it in this topic with your meter setup.