# \[APP\]\[Pro\] PELS Energy Manager: smart charging, heating, solar and energy saving **URL:** \ **Category:** Apps\ **Tags:** app, energy, community-app\ **Created:** [December 21, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496 "2025-12-21T10:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/201 "2026-10-16T12:12:12Z")
Just made a new release. There is still a fairly large amount of user requests coming in these days. #### PELS can control Tesla charging PELS can now control your Tesla’s charging directly through the Tesla Car & Energy Homey app. The car shows up as an EV charger in PELS, with charging steps, priorities and Smart tasks. Its battery level comes in automatically, so you don’t need a Flow to report it. Due to some wonkyness in the Homey authentication model, you need to create a Homey API key that you add to the PELS settings UI to make the charger work properly. Alternatively you can also create a flow. See below. Setup: 1. Pair the car, Battery & charging and location devices in Tesla Car & Energy. 2. Create a Homey API key with Flow permission. 3. In PELS, open the charging device and go to Setup → Charging current. Paste in the key, and press Save key and enable. PELS only controls the car when it is parked at home on an AC charging session. If the car leaves, disconnects or goes offline, PELS lets go. Make sure Homey’s location is set correctly. Guide: [Tesla vehicle charging | PELS](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/tesla-charging) #### Built-in control for Zaptec too The Zaptec app has been updated so that chargers can be fully controlled directly by PELS, with no Flow. Open the charger in PELS, go to Setup → Charging current, confirm This installation has only one charger, and choose Use built-in control. The single-charger rule is there because Zaptec sets the current for the whole installation. Guide: [Configure a Zaptec EV Charger | PELS](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/zaptec-ev-charger) ##### Switching from a Flow If you already use a Flow to set the charging current, remove that action, press Check again, and enable built-in control. If you’d rather keep a Flow, that still works. Connect Stepped device target changed straight to your charger’s current action. #### Energy tasks for EV chargers Energy tasks, such as for example “20 kWh by 07:00”, using the Add energy task Flow card now works with EV chargers. This works with or without a linked car or battery reading. The charger only needs a live power reading. Progress counts the electricity going through the charger, including charging losses, not the car’s battery percentage. You can view and edit these tasks in PELS settings. Details: [Smart Tasks: Schedule EV Charging & Heating by a Deadline | PELS](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/smart-tasks#energy-tasks) #### Other improvements - PELS waits longer between power increases, so slow-starting devices have time to respond. - Smart tasks explain their power guarantees more clearly. - Clearer messages when charging setup is blocked, and you can retry if activation fails after saving your key. Thanks to everyone suggeting new features and testing them! ---
**Author:** ![CasperV](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/casperv/32/37709_2.png) [@CasperV](https://community.homey.app/u/CasperV)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 12:02pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/202 "2026-10-18T12:02:06Z")
Hi @Ole_Markus_With , I see that in the coming days, there is no cheap prices as the prices don’t go below 28ct. Wouldn’t it be more logical to label ‘cheap’ at the lowest 25% (percentile) of the current range instead of basing it on 25% (percentage) of the average price? Currently there is no advantage of the lowest prices. And yes, the price is then still significant but it is the lowest it will be… ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/2/2/22d73505a7aaba126ae5324ebf439b502f150c18.png) ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/203 "2026-10-18T17:39:40Z")
Hi @CasperV I think this depends a bit on what you’re using the price levels for. For example, if you’re using the cheap/expensive temperature adjustments, marking the cheapest 25% of hours as cheap might not necessarily save money. Preheating can increase energy consumption, so there needs to be a meaningful price difference to make it worthwhile. With the prices in your screenshot, shifting 5 kWh from an average-priced hour to the cheapest hour would save around €0.25, before accounting for any additional heat loss. If you’re using Flows to react to expensive periods, that’s a different use case. There are also Flow cards for checking whether the current hour is among the X cheapest hours today, or the X cheapest hours before a given time. These work independently of the cheap/normal/expensive classification. Another possibility would be to let users configure a minimum number of cheap and expensive hours, while keeping the existing thresholds. But before considering changes, I’d like to understand your use case a little better. You mentioned earlier that you’re using Flows to control heating and preheat before expensive hours. Is this related to that setup, and how are you using the price levels? ---
**Author:** ![CasperV](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/casperv/32/37709_2.png) [@CasperV](https://community.homey.app/u/CasperV)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/204 "2026-10-18T18:45:04Z")
I understand your vision. Currently I’m using your full functionality as I found the right (new?) flow cards. With flows I’m using the ‘set temperature in mode’ card for i.e. time schedule for a thermostat or lower when the door opens. So now fully working with the cheap/expensive periods as defined. So I saw we don’t have cheap period today. You actually gave it a good thought and strategy, though. Just now need to tune the cheap-increase as last week we were steaming away 😂. Thanks for the great job you are doing here! Casper ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/205 "2026-10-18T19:19:35Z")
@CasperV Thanks, glad the mode cards work for you! ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/206 "2026-10-18T19:19:46Z")
New release. As of this version, when you enable “Power limiting” on a charger, you can specify the target battery level. When that level has been reached, it will stop charging. You typically want to use this to ensure you charge up to a specific battery level regardless of smart tasks and price levels. You can (and probably should) still use Smart tasks to charge up to higher battery levels. E.g you can set PELS to always charge up to 30% and then use smart tasks to ensure you are at 80% before 7am. Note that for some car models, it takes a while for the car to be associated with the charger. By default, when power limiting is on, the charger will just keep charger until it has a valid SoC. You can now disable this by toggling off “Charge before the battery level is known”. As the charger page became a bit cluttered with new settings, I also took the opportunity to reorganise it a bit. Thanks to those suggesting this feature. ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 10:02am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/207 "2026-10-22T10:02:44Z")
PELS 3.19.0 is live. Homey took a few days to approve the test versions, so this release covers everything since 3.17.2. ### New widget: Device insight The intention behind this widget is to be able to babysit your more important devices, typically EV chargers and water heaters and such. Instead of opening PELS settings to check whether the car will be charged by morning, you can see it on the dashboard. Pick one managed device in the widget’s Device setting. The tile shows its state, its temperature against target or the car’s battery level, and why PELS is limiting it if it is. If the device has a smart task, the tile also shows how that task is doing. Tap the tile to open the task’s progress chart, or to create a task if there is none. The two other smart task widgets are renamed to **Create smart task** and **Smart task list**. Widgets already on your dashboard keep working. ### Quick targets when you create a smart task Most of the time you don’t want to work out a deadline. You just want the car at 80 % or the water heater hot, without paying for the most expensive hours. Picking a ready-by time yourself means guessing what PELS can actually reach at current prices. So after you pick a device, the widget now suggests up to four targets, each with a ready-by time PELS knows it can meet. One tap creates the task. Customize is still there if you have a specific time in mind. ### Telling PELS which car is plugged in To use a car’s battery level, PELS has to know which car is on which charger. It works that out from the car and the charger both reporting the plug-in. That depends on the car app, and some car apps are slow. I have seen it take anything from a few seconds to almost an hour, and until then a smart task can’t plan the charge. With cloud services between the car and Homey, I think a fallback is needed regardless, so now you can tell PELS yourself: - **Confirm connected car** in the charger’s Car section in PELS settings. PELS then uses that car’s battery level for this charging session, even if the car app still says it is unplugged. - New Flow cards, so your phone can ask you instead of you having to remember: - When: **No car matched to [charger] after [minutes] minutes** - And: **[charger] is waiting to match a car** - Then: **Associate [car] with [charger] for this connection** For example: “No car matched to the driveway charger after 1 minute” → push notification asking which car it is → on your answer, “Associate that car with the driveway charger for this connection”. Automatic matching keeps running in the meantime, so you can ignore the question if the car app catches up. ### Futurehome EV charger: built-in control PELS can now control the Futurehome Charge directly, like it already does for Easee, Zaptec and Tesla. Like Tesla, this needs a Homey API key with Flow permission. Open the charger in PELS and go to Setup → Charging current. ---
**Author:** ![luguber](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/luguber/32/16795_2.png) [@luguber](https://community.homey.app/u/luguber)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 7:40pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/208 "2026-10-25T19:40:59Z")
The price doesn’t seem to use the low grid prices for weekend, at least when selecting lnett as grid company. ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/209 "2026-10-25T20:20:35Z")
Thanks for reporting! It looks like Lnett is reporting the wrong prices. I’ll add a temporary override in the next release so weekends get the night rate, and hopefully Lnett fixes their reporting soon. While looking into this I also found PELS to be using today’s grid tariff for tomorrow’s prices, which got the weekend wrong for other grid companies too. ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 12:07pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/210 "2026-10-28T12:07:45Z")
Just a short note on the 3.20 release from last week. I was planning to wait for the already cut 3.24 release before posting an update, but Athom is taking longer than usual to approve new versions. Here goes: ### Prices from Power by the Hour outside Norway Outside Norway, the price you actually pay is the spot price plus your supplier’s markup, taxes and VAT. [Power by the Hour | Homey](https://homey.app/a/com.gruijter.powerhour) already lets you set all of that up. PELS used Homey Energy’s price until now, so the markups you set in Power by the Hour never reached it. Now, if you have Power by the Hour set up for your home and haven’t picked a price source in PELS, PELS uses Power by the Hour’s prices, with your markups included. Once devices follow prices, PELS never switches the source on its own. If you’re already running on Homey Energy, Electricity prices offers to switch you over. ### Smart tasks for an EV charger with no battery level A battery target only works if PELS knows the car’s battery level. Some cars don’t report it to Homey at all, and some car apps stop reporting it. Until now, a smart task for such a car would wait all night for a level that never arrived. Now, when the charger is plugged in and PELS has no battery level, creating a smart task offers an amount of energy instead, for example 20 kWh by 07:00. The Create smart task widget has 10, 20, 30 and 40 kWh as one-tap choices. PELS plans that task from the charger’s own power, so it works with any charger PELS controls, whatever the car is. ---
**Author:** ![Thomas\_F](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/thomas_f/32/178863_2.png) [@Thomas\_F](https://community.homey.app/u/Thomas_F)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 2:11pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/211 "2026-10-28T14:11:39Z")
Hi @Ole_Markus_With , I have a ‘dumb’ VVB (Water Heater) that I am controlling with a KNX actuator. The KNX switch in Homey is not recognised in Pels, hence I created a virtual device ‘socket’ with Homey’s own virtual device capabilities, which is recognised in Pels as a device. Though it appears as ‘waiting for an update’ in the dashboard and is never switched (I have given full control). How to resolve this? How to steer the ‘dumb’ VVB on/off to stay under a hard cap? Thanks a lot for your help and advice! diagnostics report: 14cef43e-1447-4028-a3d7-7513563aa5ed ---
**Author:** ![Stanga](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/stanga/32/79116_2.png) [@Stanga](https://community.homey.app/u/Stanga)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 6:03pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/212 "2026-10-28T18:03:14Z")
@Ole_Markus_With My charger stops because of overload. Here is the reference: 31b32193-c70b-44af-abda-f891663e2170 ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/213 "2026-10-28T21:13:44Z")
@Thomas_F @Stanga thanks for your reports. I hope to have fixes ready shortly. Regarding the KNX actuator, the KNX app exposes the actuator as a `light` (!), which PELS currently excludes. But there isn’t really any better way of exposing the actuator, so I am considering specifically allowing KNX lights so you don’t have to work around this with virtual devices. As for the virtual socket that is detected, it currently requires a per-device power reading before allowing control. “Waiting for an update” is misleading here, since that device won’t provide one. I’m looking into supporting these KNX actuators directly and using Homey’s configured consumption for on/off devices without power metering. I’ll also improve the status message. Your configuration looks reasonable; this is a limitation in PELS. For Easee, PELS did indeed do something it should not have done. My apologies. There are a few paths that can adjust the energy draw without checking the limiter setting. I’ll fix that. Both fixes will likely be done early tomorrow ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/214 "2026-10-28T21:25:27Z")
Athom finally approved PELS 3.25. #### PELS in a browser and on your phone’s home screen While PELS has a number of useful widgets for day-to-day use, I haven’t found it to replace the settings UI. And unfortunately, the settings UI lives quite a few taps deep in the Homey app. But now it’s possible to open PELS settings UI directly from the browser by opening the [PELS web app](http://pels.barelysufficient.org/app). _Settings → Open in a browser_ walks you through it: create an API key on your Homey, add it in the web app, then move it to your phone by scanning a code. The key stays in your own browsers and is never sent to the PELS website. #### Avoid paying to export solar If your contract charges you for exported electricity in some periods, PELS can now keep your inverter from exporting at a loss. Turn on Use an export price under Settings → Electricity prices, enter what an exported kWh is worth on your contract, and pick your inverters under Avoid paying to export. While the export price is below zero, PELS lowers excess production and lets it rise again as your homrun on solar surplus get the chance to start first. Once exporting no longer costs, PELS hands the inverter back to its previous limit and mode. No Flows needed: it works with any inverter whose Homey tion limit. #### PELS can plan your home battery Turn on Plan charging with PELS on the battery’s page, and PELS plans charging and household supply arrt and export prices, your expected use, the solar forecast and your smart tasks, and shows theexpected charge levels and charging periods. You set the usable capacity, a minimum reserve, efficiency and a wear allowance, so the battery only cycles when it pays. Your capacity limit and device priorities still come first. Turn it off and the battery goes back to its own schedule. #### OSO water heaters OSO water heaters paired through the OSO inCharge app now work with PELS. As the on/off functionality of OSO devices doesn’t actually turn the device on and off, you have to use temperature-based power limiting. #### Device activity, and reporting a problem The new Activity page under Settings lists what each device did and why, with a device filter and up to seven days of history. It survives restarts, and each device’s page shows the same history. When something looks wrong, Report a problem (in Settings, on each device’s page, and next to each activity entry) sends me what happened together with the device activity around that time, through Homey. You get a reference to quote here if you want an answer. Under Settings → Advanced, you can also turn on a daily diagnostics report, or a report on specific events, starting with an EV charger that couldn’t identify its car. Both are off unless you turn them on. #### Prices - Power by the Hour: PELS can now price exported energy from Power by the Hour’s own feed-in price, after the export markups you set on its price device. - Electricity prices shows the current import and export price for every price source, at the source’s own interval, such as the current quarter hour. - Lnett customers: weekend hours are priced at the night rate, and tomorrow’s prices use tomorrow’s grid tariff. Thanks to @luguber for making me aware of this one. ---
**Author:** ![luguber](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/luguber/32/16795_2.png) [@luguber](https://community.homey.app/u/luguber)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 6:58am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/215 "2026-10-29T06:58:27Z")
Hi, the web app is interesting, but can it be self hosted? ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 8:28am UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/216 "2026-10-29T08:28:00Z")
The web app runs entirely in your browser. The PELS site only serves the page; it stores nothing and never sees your API key or anything else. That said, you can definitely run it locally if you prefer. It’s static files, built from the PELS repo with `npm --workspace @pels/settings-ui run build:remote` into `packages/settings-ui/dist-remote/`, and any web server can host them. Each build matches one PELS version, so you’d rebuild when PELS updates. Either way, the communication is the same: your browser talks to your Homey, directly over the local network when it can reach it, otherwise through Homey’s cloud. ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496/217 "2026-10-29T20:53:06Z")
PELS 3.26 is out #### Smart tasks use 15-minute prices More price sources now publish a price per quarter hour, but smart tasks still planned in whole hours. A task couldn’t take a cheap quarter without also taking the expensive one next to it. Smart tasks now book the periods your price source actually publishes. With 15-minute prices, an EV charging, hot water or room temperature task can run in the cheap quarters of an hour and skip the expensive ones. Sources with hourly prices keep hourly schedules, and smart tasks you already have carry over. For Flows: the Planned hours token on Smart task schedule changed now counts booked time, so two quarter hours read 0.5. #### On/off devices without a power meter, and KNX actuators A lot of heavy loads have no power meter of their own: a water heater behind a relay, or a virtual socket switching something else. Homey can still estimate their draw from Energy used when on/off in the device’s settings, but PELS only found that figure for devices placed directly in the home, not in a room. PELS now reads it wherever the device sits, so these devices are limited like any other. KNX switching actuators added with the KNX app’s Light driver can now be managed by PELS too, for example a KNX relay switching a water heater. Turn it on under Devices, set Energy used when on in Homey, and PELS can control it. Thanks to @Thomas_F for bringing this one up. Also fixed an issue with devices configured through Homey Energy, like the virtual device used above. Hope this works for you, @Thomas_F #### Enua chargers Enua chargers should really have worked out of the box, but their use of `target_power` requires some special handling. These chargers should now work much better. #### EV chargers A charger set to Manual now keeps the current you chose. Thanks to @Stanga for the report. #### Report a problem from smart tasks When a smart task doesn’t do what you expected, you can now send a report straight from its page, whatever state the task is in. Reports from a device or task page now include the smart task and what PELS decided for it, so I can see why the car didn’t charge or the water wasn’t hot. Again, just keep sending diagnostics reports if something seems off. Or feature requests if there is something you’d like to see added. [Previous page](https://community.homey.app/t/app-pro-pels-energy-manager-smart-charging-heating-solar-and-energy-saving/147496.md?page=10)