[APP][Pro] Power by the Hour [Feature Requests]

Ideas & Suggestions
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In this time of energy/price crisis, saving energy and money can be a big deal.

This thread can be used to discuss new features for Power by the Hour.

For non-feature request support, when you have problems with the app or need assistance on how to best use it, please use the support forum link: [APP][Pro] Power by the Hour: Insights per hour, day, month and year

Features on the todo list so far:

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There is a feature request to add fixed monthly costs to PBTH. See here: Add daily and monthly fixed cost · Issue #59 · gruijter/com.gruijter.powerhour · GitHub

IMO it only makes sense for your main meter, not for individual socket level meters. But please contribute to the discussion and let me know how important this function is for you all. Or should I invest my energy and time in other stuff?

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Feature request: implement a maximum energy price for Day Ahead Pricing. See the new Dutch regulation for 2023: Vanaf 1 januari lagere energierekening door verruimd prijsplafond | Nieuwsbericht | Rijksoverheid.nl

But it is yet unclear how the price ceiling will be implemented with dynamic contracts: Prijsplafond energie mogelijk voordeliger voor mensen met 'dynamisch' contract | Kostencrisis | NU.nl

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I wanted to calculate the difference between my current contact (High / Low tarif) and an optional Hourly changing tarif (Tibber, ANWB, etc.)

Therefore I wanted two (or more) Power summarizers

  1. one with the High and Low tarif configured with the additional monthly fees
  2. one with the DAP pricing and monthly fees for one of those energy companies.

Currently it is only possible to have one Power (or Gas Summarizer) configured.

Having the possibility to add a second (or more) Summarizer for one P1 Electricity/Gas meter would make it visible what your current (past) usage pattern would do to your energy bill switching to an hourly contract.

Current workaround (Thanks @Gruijter ) but not yet tested.

  • Clone your P1 with a Virtual Device. => Summarize this.

Feature requests:

  • Make it possible to add an extra Summarizer (without having to clone the P1 Meter :wink: )
  • Add a option to add a Monthly fee calculation to the Summarizer to have a direct comparison between two contracts.
  • have an option to update one Summarizer with the DAP + fixed markup and % Markup
  • have an option to set fe according to schedule Fixed Day / Night tariff on the other Summarizer

Then only have to find all fee’s / markup / taxes in the contracts to calculate the total energy bill in Homey.

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Being interested in investing in an Home Battery to store my Daily generated solar energy, I want to know what it would save me om usage (money) in fe the night or expensive hours.

Seeing my nightly usage I can guesstimate that for ~8 or 9 months a year a fe 8 - 10 kWh would be more than enough. Other months I may still need a couple of days / hours a day the grid.

At this moment in The Netherlands it is probably not economical as we have the consolidation (“salderingsregeling”) that consolidates on a year all returned energy.
This is also one of the reasons I won’t switch right away to a hourly based contract.

Feature request:

  • A Virtual battery (with a certain configurable Capacity in kWh)

  • that calculates the charged capacity (Battery Full %) on fe % returned energy from P1 until 100% full

  • and calculates (fe on DAP triff) the savings by not returning % of Solar Generated energy while charging (Charge Capacity * tariff)

  • and calculating the not consumed energy while discharging. (To_be_Not_Consumed * Tariff)

  • This will result in “Virtual Savings” by the battery

Knowing the approximately investment of a Battery vs the savings / month it can predict a ROI for your usage pattern giving your configured tariff for energy.

(Yeah I know this Feature Request is a Pretty complex one, but imo better here (PBTH) in a neutral app than in a vendor specific (Sessy, solaredge, etc… ) app or a separate app (PBTH has many insights like the tariff and P1 usage already)

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Even more complex in Norway…

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Hi Gruijter, I like to make a flow where I can tell via a push notification to my household when it is the cheapest time to charge (bicycles, car and run dishwasher). this can be spread throughout the day. Like to have something like. User XYZ the best (cheapest time) to run your equipment in the next x hours is the following order : 23:00 16:00 2:00 3:00 1:00 ect. (in this example 23:00 cheapest and then increasing)
Any suggestion how to create something like this making use of your app.

Br Mark

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I can do that, but it means that all power devices will always show up during pair. Even the ones you already added. Is anyone against implementing this? Then let us know, otherwise I will put this on the todo list

Yes, is the same as #2. Will put it on the list.

This is the current functionality already. Or do you mean something else?

This you can already do now using a flow to set day/night tariff.

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This is indeed a pretty complex one. I will not put it on the todo list yet. Maybe when I get to start working on the Sessy app I will reconsider. Sessy thuisbatterij - wie heeft interesse in een App?

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I fully understand your request. But creating configurable push messages in a user friendly way is not easy in Homey, and I am struggling with how to do that.

What I do myself is send a whatsapp message to myself and my wife when a cheap hour starts. Also Homey then says: ‘It is now a good time to start the washing machine @ xx euro/kWh’

Secondly, I send a whatsapp message to myself whenever Homey receives new tariffs. I created a flowcard especially for that. It will give you all tariffs for the day, startting at 0hrs. It is not very user friendly, but at least I can see all tariffs of the day by opening the message.

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I might create tariff update groups. So that from the DAP device you can select which Summarizer group to update. And in the summarizer you should then also be able to select which tariff group to use. Or would that be too complex to setup as a user?

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No, for me the upside is way better than the downside

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New version is ready with some of the feature requests implemented :partying_face:

Screenshot_20221008-160237_Homey
Screenshot_20221008-160237_Homey1080×2400 65.9 KB

v4.6.2: https://homey.app/a/com.gruijter.powerhour/test

  • Added ability to add same summarizer multiple times.
  • Added maximum price and hour as capability.
  • Added average price tomorrow as capability.

@Dijker @Peter_Kawa @Toremann @Orodreth This version is especially for you :heart:

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Question on #2 : add fixed monthly cost.

I am thinking of doing it this way:
It will be part of the summarizer device, not the DAP device.
In the device settings you can optionally set a fixed amount that is added start of every month, and a fixed amount that is added start of every day.

Would that cover the needs @Dijker @Schenkie @paxus42 ?

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