[Feature Request] Allow external electricity prices and time-dependent grid tariffs in Homey Energy

Ideas & Suggestions
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1

Homey Energy supports dynamic spot prices, but not time-dependent grid tariffs, which are common in Denmark and many other countries.

This is a fundamental problem that makes the entire electricity cost tracking feature practically useless for a large number of users. If Homey Energy cannot calculate actual electricity costs correctly, how can we trust the numbers it displays?

I already use Power by the Hour, which correctly calculates my electricity price, including VAT, taxes and variable grid tariffs.

However, Homey Energy cannot use this price, even though it’s already available in Homey.

My feature request:

Option 1: Support time-dependent grid tariffs

Why not implement the same simple functionality that Power by the Hour already supports?

For example:

0:1.24;6:1.28;17:1.86;21:1.28

| Time period | Grid tariff |
| 00:00–06:00 | 1.24 DKK/kWh |
| 06:00–17:00 | 1.28 DKK/kWh |
| 17:00–21:00 | 1.86 DKK/kWh |
| 21:00–00:00 | 1.28 DKK/kWh |

This would allow Homey Energy to automatically adjust grid tariffs throughout the day.

Option 2: Allow external electricity prices

Allow Homey Energy to receive electricity prices from:

  • Homey Logic variables
  • Homey Flows
  • Third-party apps like Power by the Hour

This would solve the problem without requiring Athom to implement every country’s electricity pricing system.

Until one of these options is supported, Homey Energy’s electricity cost calculations remain practically useless for many households with variable grid tariffs across the entire world.

We already have accurate electricity prices and consumption data in Homey. Why can’t Homey Energy combine them?

2

Yes, they don’t yet support the dynamic pricing here in the UK yet. Despite being able with my Octopus Energy Home Mini that reads tariff data live from the meters, and the different Octopus/Kraken apps be able to view this data in graph form in the Insights. But there is no way to feed it in to the Energy tabs dynamic pricing.

It’s nuts if you ask me. A serious shortfall in the Homey platform for managing energy.

3

We are planning on making it possible for Homey Apps to set the prices within Homey Energy. So for example an app like Power By The Hour could set them to whatever works best for you.

4

Thanks for the reply! It’s great to hear that this is being worked on.

However, I think it would make more sense to support time-dependent tariffs directly in Homey Energy, just like Power by the Hour does.

For example: 0:1.24;6:1.28;17:1.86;21:1.28

This could easily be implemented with a clean, user-friendly interface that matches the Homey ecosystem, rather than requiring users to enter a complicated string.

This would eliminate the need for third-party apps just to calculate the correct electricity price.

Alternatively, why not allow Homey Energy to use a standard Homey Logic variable as its base price?

That way, users could update the price through Flows, and any existing app could provide electricity prices without requiring additional development or specific Homey Energy integration.

Both options would make Homey Energy much more flexible without depending on third-party developers to implement additional functionality.

5

If an app can set electricity prices directly, it can also account for time-of-use tariffs and any additional charges on top of the standard electricity price.

The challenge is that electricity pricing differs by country, region, province, and sometimes even city. If we wanted to support every possible scenario ourselves, we could easily spend all our development resources on that alone.

And why introduce a variable when that same app can simply set the price directly? :wink:

The idea is to let electricity providers offer dedicated Homey apps that handle pricing for their customers, including any additional charges or tariffs. That way, you get accurate electricity prices without having to set up calculations, logic variables, or anything else themselves.

6

I understand the idea, but I don’t think relying on electricity providers or third-party apps is the best solution.

In Denmark alone, we have more than 30 electricity providers, each offering different contracts and pricing structures. Across Europe, that number is enormous.

Expecting developers or electricity providers to create and maintain Homey apps that support all these different contracts seems like a much more complicated solution than simply allowing users to configure their own tariffs.

It could also result in an unnecessary number of electricity pricing apps in the Homey App Store.

Why not give users the choice?

  1. Built-in time-of-use tariffs: Let users configure their own tariffs through a simple, user-friendly interface in Homey Energy.
  2. External pricing: Allow third-party apps to provide electricity prices directly, as you’re planning.
  3. Logic variables: Allow advanced users to supply their own calculated prices through Flows, without requiring app developers to implement specific Homey Energy functionality.

The goal should be to make Homey Energy more flexible, not more dependent on third-party apps.

A simple built-in tariff configuration would probably cover the needs of a huge number of users without requiring any additional apps or development.

7

Yes, totally this, what @Doekse says. Smart meters in the UK have the tariff pricing and daily standing charges pushed to them live from your energy provider. The smart meters operate on an isolated and digitally locked down Zigbee HAN. The in home display/device connects to that to receive real time data. Why expect Athom, or users to configure rates, when your energy provider can provide them… that’s their job after all ha ha

8

Expecting users to configure rates is a support nightmare wanting to happen, and just asking for a crazy amount of problems.

9

The difficult part isn’t necessarily building the interface, but keeping it user-friendly.

The more flexibility you introduce, the more settings, conditions, and exceptions users need to configure. What starts as a simple interface for setting peak and off-peak hours quickly turns into something resembling a programming interface.

And that’s the challenge: making something simple enough for the average user while still offering enough flexibility to cover more complex scenarios. Otherwise, we’d end up with an interface that’s either too complicated for most users or too limited for others.

We see the same thing with the formula we currently allow for setting prices, just check out how many people are asking the question “Who knows what formula I should use for energy provider X?”

And I bet there will be someone who creates an app that can set the prices via Flow cards :wink: