Appstore stable version: https://homey.app/a/com.gruijter.powerhour
Appstore test version: https://homey.app/a/com.gruijter.powerhour/test
Power by the Hour
Power by the Hour (PBTH) turns Homey into a complete Home Energy Management System. Track power, gas, and water usage, forecast solar yield, optimize home battery storage, and automate appliances using dynamic European Day-Ahead energy spot prices.
Use Case Directory
Select a use case below for detailed setup instructions, settings guides, and community-proven flow recipes:
| Use Case | Core Driver | Detailed Guide |
|---|---|---|
 Track Electricity Usage & Standby Power |
Power Summarizer (power) |
→ README.power.md |
 Monitor Gas Consumption & Leak Alarms |
Gas Summarizer (gas) |
→ README.gas.md |
 Track Water Usage & Dripping Taps |
Water Summarizer (water) |
→ README.water.md |
 Forecast Solar Production & Self-Consumption |
Solar Forecaster (solar) |
→ README.solar.md |
 Optimize Home Battery Balancing & ROI |
Home Battery Manager (battery) |
→ README.battery.md |
 Dynamic Electricity Spot Prices (1H & 15M) |
Day-Ahead Pricing (dap / dap15) |
→ README.dap.md |
| Dynamic Gas Spot Prices |
Gas Day-Ahead Pricing (dapg) |
→ README.dapg.md |
 App-to-App & HomeyScript Developer API |
Inter-App API | → README.dap-api.md |
Quick Start — The Most Popular Setup
Get dynamic electricity tracking running in 3 simple steps:
- Add Day-Ahead Pricing: Add a
Day-ahead Pricingdevice, select your Bidding Zone (e.g.NL,BE,DE-LU,NO1,SE3,DK1), and set Tariff Update Group to1in device settings. - Add Power Summarizer: Add a
Power Summarizerdevice and select your P1 Smart Meter or main energy meter as the source. - Connect Tariff Broadcast: Set Tariff Update Group to
1in the Power Summarizer settings.
Your Power Summarizer now updates its electricity tariff automatically every hour based on official market spot prices!
Shared Core Concepts
To avoid repeating configuration steps across guides, key shared mechanisms are explained here:
1. Tariff Update Groups
Tariff Update Groups link pricing providers (dap, dap15, dapg) to consumer summarizer devices (power, gas).
- Assign a group number (e.g.
1) to both the pricing device and the summarizer device. - Whenever prices update or time slots change, the pricing device automatically broadcasts updated tariffs to all summarizers in that group.
2. Annual Budget Distribution Models
PBTH compares real-time usage against annual reference targets using seasonal distribution models:
- Linear: Equal allocation for each month (30.4 days/month).
- Dutch 2023 Price Ceiling (
el_nl_2023/gas_nl_2023): Weighted according to seasonal heating and household consumption profiles. - Solar PV: Weighted according to typical European solar irradiance curves.
3. Virtual Meter Setup
For source devices with non-standard capability names or split tariffs:
- Select VIRTUAL_METER during driver pairing.
- Push cumulative meter readings via a Flow using the action Update Virtual Meter Value.
- Pass total net cumulative energy: $\text{kWh}{\text{total}} = (\text{consumed}{\text{high}} + \text{consumed}{\text{low}}) - (\text{returned}{\text{high}} + \text{returned}_{\text{low}})$.
Market Data Providers
PBTH integrates data directly from official European energy market exchanges:
- Electricity Spot Prices: ENTSO-E Transparency Platform & Nordpool
- Gas Spot Prices: EEX (European Energy Exchange) & EasyEnergy
- AI Price Forecasting: Stekker.ai
Developer API
Other Homey apps and HomeyScript can query prices or listen for real-time slot pushes via the PBTH Inter-App API:
GET /dap-prices— fetch all current future price slots.- Realtime event
dap-prices-updated— emitted on slot changes and price updates.
See README.dap-api.md for full API reference and code examples.
Donate & Support
If Power by the Hour helps you save energy and money, consider supporting development:
