Automation examples

Automation examples

Copy an example into Settings → Automations & scenes → Create automation → Edit in YAML and replace the entity IDs with your own. Each example says which sensor group it needs.

• Run an appliance in the cheapest period
• Run something whenever the price is cheap
• Stop a consumer when the price is expensive
• Use cheap power only when the sun shines
• Notify when tomorrow's prices arrive
• Announce the cheapest period every morning
• Warn before a negative price
• Finish before a deadline
• Warn when the month costs more than expected
• Daily cost report

Run an appliance in the cheapest period

Needs: Price analysis. Starts at the beginning of today's cheapest period and stops at the end. Set the period length to the running time of the appliance in the options.

alias: Dishwasher in the cheapest period
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.frank_energie_prices_cheapest_electricity_period_now
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.dishwasher

Run something whenever the price is cheap

Needs: Price analysis. Follows the binary sensor: on when cheap, off when not.

alias: Charge the home battery when cheap
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.frank_energie_prices_cheap_electricity_price_now
    to:
      - "on"
      - "off"
actions:
  - action: "switch.turn_{{ trigger.to_state.state }}"
    target:
      entity_id: switch.battery_charging

Stop a consumer when the price is expensive

Needs: Price analysis.

alias: Pause the boiler when expensive
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: sensor.frank_energie_prices_electricity_price_level
actions:
  - if:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: sensor.frank_energie_prices_electricity_price_level
        state: expensive
    then:
      - action: switch.turn_off
        target:
          entity_id: switch.boiler
    else:
      - action: switch.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: switch.boiler

Use cheap power only when the sun shines

Needs: Price analysis with a solar forecast.

alias: Heat the buffer on cheap solar hours
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: sensor.frank_energie_prices_electricity_price_level
    to: cheap_solar
actions:
  - action: climate.set_temperature
    target:
      entity_id: climate.buffer
    data:
      temperature: 60

Notify when tomorrow's prices arrive

Needs: Upcoming and tomorrow prices.

alias: Tomorrow's prices are in
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.frank_energie_prices_tomorrow_s_prices_available
    from: "off"
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      title: Tomorrow's electricity prices
      message: >
        Average € {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_prices_average_electricity_price_tomorrow') | float | round(3) }},
        lowest € {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_prices_lowest_electricity_price_tomorrow') | float | round(3) }}
        at {{ (state_attr('sensor.frank_energie_prices_lowest_electricity_price_tomorrow', 'from_time') | as_local).strftime('%H:%M') }},
        highest € {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_prices_highest_electricity_price_tomorrow') | float | round(3) }}.

Announce the cheapest period every morning

Needs: Price analysis.

alias: Morning price briefing
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "07:30:00"
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      message: >
        {% set period = state_attr('sensor.frank_energie_prices_electricity_price_analysis_today', 'cheapest_period') %}
        Cheapest today: {{ (period.start | as_datetime | as_local).strftime('%H:%M') }}
        to {{ (period.end | as_datetime | as_local).strftime('%H:%M') }},
        on average € {{ period.average_price | round(3) }} per kWh.

Warn before a negative price

Needs: nothing extra. Checks every hour whether an all-in price below zero is coming in the next three hours.

alias: Negative price coming
triggers:
  - trigger: time_pattern
    minutes: 0
conditions:
  - condition: template
    value_template: >
      {{ state_attr('sensor.frank_energie_prices_current_electricity_price_all_in', 'prices')
         | selectattr('from', 'gt', now())
         | selectattr('from', 'lt', now() + timedelta(hours=3))
         | selectattr('price', 'lt', 0) | list | count > 0 }}
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      message: The electricity price goes below zero within three hours.

Finish before a deadline

Needs: nothing extra. Finds the cheapest three hours between now and 07:00 tomorrow with the get_prices action and starts the car charger at that time. Change slots_needed to the number of slots you need: 3 for three hours with hourly prices, 12 with quarter-hour prices.

alias: Charge the car before 07:00
triggers:
  - trigger: time
    at: "20:00:00"
actions:
  - action: frank_energie.get_prices
    data:
      config_entry_id: YOUR_ENTRY_ID
      start: "{{ now() }}"
      end: "{{ today_at('07:00') + timedelta(days=1) }}"
    response_variable: frank
  - variables:
      slots_needed: 3
      best_start: >
        {% set slots = frank.electricity %}
        {% set ns = namespace(best=none, start=none) %}
        {% for i in range(0, (slots | count) - slots_needed + 1) %}
          {% set total = slots[i:i + slots_needed] | sum(attribute='price') %}
          {% if ns.best is none or total < ns.best %}
            {% set ns.best = total %}
            {% set ns.start = slots[i].start %}
          {% endif %}
        {% endfor %}
        {{ ns.start }}
  - wait_template: "{{ now() >= best_start | as_datetime }}"
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.car_charger

For a block without a deadline, the cheapest period does this without a template.

Warn when the month costs more than expected

Needs: Costs and invoices 🔑.

alias: Energy costs above expectation
triggers:
  - trigger: template
    value_template: >
      {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_costs_actual_monthly_cost') | float(0)
         > states('sensor.frank_energie_costs_expected_monthly_cost_until_now') | float(0) * 1.1 }}
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      message: >
        Energy costs this month are € {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_costs_actual_monthly_cost') }},
        more than 10% above the expected € {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_costs_expected_monthly_cost_until_now') }}.

Daily cost report

Needs: Daily usage and costs 🔑. Sent when Frank Energie's numbers for yesterday arrive.

alias: Yesterday's energy report
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: sensor.frank_energie_costs_electricity_usage_yesterday
    attribute: date
conditions:
  - condition: template
    value_template: "{{ trigger.to_state.attributes.date is defined }}"
actions:
  - action: notify.notify
    data:
      message: >
        {{ state_attr('sensor.frank_energie_costs_electricity_usage_yesterday', 'date') }}:
        {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_costs_electricity_usage_yesterday') | float | round(1) }} kWh
        for € {{ states('sensor.frank_energie_costs_electricity_costs_yesterday') | float | round(2) }}.

Tips

• Add a condition on the appliance itself (door closed, car connected) so a price signal alone never starts something that is not ready.
• Give automations that follow a binary sensor a fallback, for example a latest start time, for days on which the sensor stays off (Only when cheap) or prices are unavailable.
• In templates, compare times with now() and parse them with as_datetime; then the time zone option does not matter.