Can I connect my Home Assistant to Smart Meter?

Level 5

09-09-22

6655 views

Hi.

I'm wanting to capture the data (usage/tariff/etc.) from my smart meter. I have a basic HASSIO setup (starting the process of Smart Home), and also a Zigbee dongle (ConBee 2).

I've noted that the IHD (Smart View 2) Zigbee CH24.

Is there a way I can connect my HASSIO setup to my Smart Meter and use the "Energy" module in Home Assistant to read the data from the Smart Meter? I'm really very keen to be able to analyse my consumption data in a useful way.

Or am I forced to use something like a Shelly EM and manually enter tariff info.? This won't be very helpful if we move to dynamic pricing!

The IHD provided by E.On is as useful as a chocolate fire guard and has to be right behind the smart meter otherwise there's no signal.

Thanks in advance.

17 Replies

Best Answer

Level 78

theunknowntech

09-09-22

Best Answer

I'm sorry @rolandashdown but the ZigBee HAN used for smart meter purposes is not compatible with any other ZigBee devices. It's also deliberately locked down so that you cannot access it with any kind of unapproved devices. If your setup has the ability to read MQTT data however (chances are it probably can!), there is a workaround I can give you.

Hildebrand have a special IHD that can provide a form of access that should be compatible with Home Assistant. It's called the Hildebrand Glow IHD and you can find it on https://shop.glowmarkt.com . Make sure to pick the SMETS2 variant if you have SMETS2 meters, or the SMETS1 variant if you have SMETS1 meters!

Just another guy passing by... The unknown tech way...
Pete is an IHD Tariff Update Robot! 🤖 Anasa is a Giant Enemy Robot Spider 🕷 🤖 Hannah is neither! Need Customer service? click here! Replacement IHD Guide? Here it is!

Level 5

rolandashdown

09-09-22

Thanks of that - appreciated.

Am I correct in assuming that E.On wouldn't provide us with an appropriate device if I asked?

I'm very new at this, so apologies if you're going over old ground.

Thanks again.

Level 9

thedayofcondor

11-09-22

@rolandashdown if you are happy with 30 minutes granularity (assuming you have setup your meter ro upload every 30min) you can install the free Hildebrand Glow app that downloads the data from the dcc and then there is a home assistant plugin to connect to that.

If you want HA to get the data as often as the IHD sees it (as I did) - you need to buy the Hildebrand Glow IHD (top notch device), as that posts the data to MQTT (and there is another HA plugin for it)

Last edited by thedayofcondor; 11-09-22 at 23:21.

Level 78

theunknowntech

11-09-22

Suppliers don't offer these devices I'm afraid

Level 5

Alvie

12-09-22

Originally Posted by thedayofcondor

@rolandashdown if you are happy with 30 minutes granularity (assuming you have setup your meter ro upload every 30min) you can install the free Hildebrand Glow app that downloads the data from the dcc and then there is a home assistant plugin to connect to that.

If you want HA to get the data as often as the IHD sees it (as I did) - you need to buy the Hildebrand Glow IHD (top notch device), as that posts the data to MQTT (and there is another HA plugin for it)

I think the app is called Bright, not glow. I recently came across it on the HomeAssistant subreddit, it's kinda why I'm here on the forums haha. I got Bright connected, and it can get Electric data (same as E.On Next) but wasn't able to get Gas data because my meter is old and incompatible with DCC apparently.

If E.On Next replace my meter with a SMETS2 meter, I'd probably get the Glow and set it up with MQTT to my Home Assistant server.

It would be awesome if the meters could connect directly with Zigbee to my Sonoff ZigBee Dongle Plus, but the meters use a special type of ZigBee that's not compatible.

Level 9

thedayofcondor

12-09-22

@Alvie yeah you are right, bright is the app, Glow is the ihd. They also have a special ZigBee stick for it. I have the conbee II myself but at the end I have chosen the path of least resistance, which works very well with HA (being aware only electricity is in real time)

Level 5

rolandashdown

13-09-22

Hi all, and thanks for the points. I've done some more internet searches and now I'm an expert (LOL)!

I've setup a Bright account and managed to get my meter registered and able to pull through the data from the Smart Meter directly into the app! Nice. I've also ordered a IHD from them, too (eventually will tie to HASSIO).

What emerged from the Bright registration, is that the "commissioning engineer" (or someone) has set my tariff as follows:

[{"standing":-22.146},{"tier":1,"rate":28.455}]

So now I need to go back to E.On to ask them to set it up correctly so I can have an accurate read of consumption cost. Sigh...

The people at Hildebrand have been really supportive and very pleasant to deal with! It's a positive recommendation from me (for what ever that's worth!)
@theunknowntech: Is there a direct-to-tech-support email address to E.On? Or do I have to endure teh usual customer services route? :)

Thanks in advance for further help here.

And thanks again for everyones input.

Cheers.

Level 78

theunknowntech

13-09-22

Not as such but I can do one better for ya. @PeterT_EONNext is my direct-to-tech-support route if I get stuck. :)

Level 78

theunknowntech

13-09-22

If you think you're an expert, don't look at me! The real expert is my friend Blastoise186. What he doesn't know isn't worth knowing. He actually trained me too!