Homey adds new energy management features and a dongle

Smart location institution Homey has added a caller energy absorption tab to its app to way and show vigor usage from compatible astute devices specified arsenic plugs, appliances, thermostats, and EV chargers. This week, the institution besides announced the Homey Energy Dongle for Europe, which tin link straight to a astute metre to show a home’s vigor consumption.

Together, the bundle and hardware are a large measurement toward a afloat home vigor absorption system. Homey says it plans to bring enactment for automatic dynamic vigor pricing adjacent year, truthful users could acceptable up automations to bash things similar complaint their EV erstwhile energy prices are low. 

The caller vigor absorption tab is disposable successful nationalist beta to each Homey Pro and Homey Cloud customers, and the dongle tin beryllium preordered for €39 if you’re successful the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary, with shipping expected successful March 2025.

Homey is simply a astute location level centered astir a astute location hub, either the powerful, locally based Homey Pro ($399) oregon the lighter Homey Bridge ($69). Depending connected which hub you have, Homey tin link to and power a wide scope of astute location devices thanks to radios for Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Thread, IR, and more; there’s besides the enactment of cloud-based connections and compatibility with different bridges, specified arsenic Philips Hue. Homey besides supports the Matter astute location standard.

“The Energy Management functionality works with each devices connected to a Homey setup, nary substance if they usage a proprietary local/cloud API, Zigbee, Z-Wave oregon Matter to link to Homey,” explained Homey commercialized manager Stefan Witkamp successful an email to The Verge. A afloat database of currently compatible devices is connected Homey’s website.

The vigor tab uses charts to amusement a home’s unrecorded electricity, gas, and h2o usage (with compatible hardware) and tin supply humanities data. Homey says it “can besides way star generation, show EV charging, and amusement vigor proviso to, oregon depletion from, the grid.” It’s compatible with astute batteries and tin amusement a database of your apical vigor consumers, adjuvant for figuring retired wherever to chopped down connected usage. You tin participate your vigor terms to get outgo estimates, and Homey says it plans to adhd enactment for dynamic pricing adjacent year.

LG acquired Homey earlier this twelvemonth and has said it plans to incorporated Homey’s connectivity and bundle into its ThinQ platform. However, Homey volition proceed to run independently. While LG plans to integrate its appliances with Homey, authoritative enactment is inactive connected the roadmap, says Witkamp. 

Energy absorption is acceptable to play a cardinal portion successful the astute location arsenic a compelling crushed to link each your devices. Allowing a strategy to automate vigor usage successful your location could prevention you vigor and money. Several astute location companies already connection immoderate functionality here. Samsung’s SmartThings Energy platform, which works with its appliances and respective spouse devices, was the archetypal level to beryllium recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency arsenic an Energy STAR Smart Home Energy Management System. Others, specified arsenic Home Assistant, connection immoderate vigor absorption features, and Apple introduced an energy usage leafage to its Home app this year (although it’s constricted to PG&E customers).

The caller Matter astute location modular conscionable added vigor management to its spec on with enactment for respective cardinal devices successful the abstraction — electrical conveyance proviso equipment, star sheet inverters, location batteries, and more. All of this shows important momentum successful location vigor management, and Homey’s latest determination is different enactment for radical looking to usage astute location tech to maximize the ratio of their vigor usage and minimize their costs.