Smart metering explained
What a smart meter and a P1 port are, and what you can learn from live data.
Guides
Smart home automations that lower your energy use
Practical examples that use cheap hours, your solar surplus and live data, with HomeWizard, Homey, Home Assistant and more.
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Run big appliances in cheap hours
Use the delayed start on your dishwasher or washing machine, or switch devices that start when powered, such as a water heater, with a smart plug. A Homey or Home Assistant automation can do this when the price is low.
Heat water in cheap or sunny hours
An electric boiler can heat when the price is low or your solar panels produce a surplus. Use an Energy Socket or a relay such as a Shelly, but first check the power rating and the manufacturer instructions.
Charge your EV smartly
Many chargers and supplier apps can charge at the cheapest hours or from your solar surplus. Some chargers read a P1 Meter to balance the load, so you stay within your connection.
Use your solar surplus
With a P1 Meter and an Energy Socket you can switch a device on when you feed power back (with Energy+). Homey and Home Assistant can do the same with more rules.
Charge a battery when power is cheap
A home battery can charge at cheap or even negative price hours and release power later. The HomeWizard Plug-In Battery has its own charging strategies in the app, and Home Assistant has community blueprints for batteries on dynamic tariffs.
Cut standby and idle use
Measure standby with an Energy Socket, then switch off what you do not need at night or when nobody is home.
Start small
Begin with one measurement and one automation, check the result after a few weeks and add more. A small change that you keep beats a big setup that you abandon.
Since October 2025 the market trades in quarter hours
North-west European day-ahead prices used to change once an hour. Since October 2025 the trading unit is fifteen minutes, so there are 96 prices a day instead of 24. Peaks are sharper and the cheapest window is shorter, which makes automation worth more than watching the clock yourself.
What to check. Make sure the schedule in your app works at quarter-hour resolution, and ask your supplier whether it bills per quarter hour or still uses the hourly average. A P1 meter reads every second, so the measuring side is already fine.
HomeWizard Energy Socket
A smart plug that measures one appliance and switches it on and off.
More on dynamic energy contracts
Understand smart energy in plain language
Home batteries explained
How a home battery stores solar and cheap power, and what a plug-in battery adds.
Smart home and energy
Connect HomeWizard to Home Assistant, Homey and other smart home systems.
Free and low-cost smart home apps and tools
Start with HomeWizard, then add Home Assistant, Homey or other tools to use cheap hours and cut your energy use.
Smart home brands that help you save energy
What HomeWizard, Shelly, IKEA, Lidl, Philips Hue, Aqara and other well-known brands do for energy insight and control.
Dynamic energy prices
How quarter-hour prices work and how smart measuring helps you use the cheap moments.
Home Energy Meter
Ready to make your home energy-smart?
Start by measuring your use, for example with a P1 Meter, then add smart control and automations.