Home Assistant releases energy dashboard and hardware to read smart meters
Home Assistant releases its own hardware for reading smart meters. The device operates on firmware based on ESPHome. The smart home platform will also receive more integrations for energy management in the home via solar panels, for example.
The device is hot SmartReader and costs 27.50 euros. SmartReader is an ESP board that runs on ESPHome. Users can connect that to the P1 port of smart meters via an included RJ12 cable. The firmware can then be linked to Home Assistant. On DSMR 5 meters, the reader can be controlled from the P1 port only. Older meters such as DSMR 2, 3 or 4 require a separate power supply via micro USB. The reader was developed together with tweaker iMars, says Home Assistant.
The makers have also designed hardware for smart meters that do not have a P1 port. That is Glow, a device that also works on the basis of ESPHome. Glow reads the light on those meters, which pulsates when using a certain amount of energy. Firmware is also available for that tool via GitHub so that users can also build it themselves.
The firmware of SmartReader can be read via Home Assistant itself. From version 2021.8 the smart home platform will get a new energy dashboard. In it, various entities and integration parameters can be used to track how much energy a user uses or saves. For example, it is possible to see where the power in a house comes from or how much power solar panels are expected to generate that day. Home Assistant uses open source data sources such as electricityMap and Forecast.Solar to calculate that. Users then have to configure their own energy sources at home. It is also possible to read that data via smart plugs with a built-in consumption meter. That data can then be used in automations, for example when users want to switch certain devices on and off.
Until now, it was already possible to read the P1 port in Home Assistant. There were also third-party integrations for reading smart meters via external platforms and services such as P1 Monitor or other platforms such as Domoticz that also have P1 support.
Update: Initially the piece stated that Home Assistant had no native P1 integration. That has been adjusted.