Setting up Automation to Control AC when Utility Prices are Low (Comed, Hourly Pricing)

Configuration
,
1

Hi, looking for some assistance with this automation to change the thermostat temp based on hourly pricing.

Using Home Assistant Green, Ecobee thermostat, and ComEd five-minute pricing.

When I test the automations (Run Actions), the automation runs correctly. But it is not running on its own when the five minute price has been under 5 cents for more than the set period of time. This is the current automations.yaml I’m using:

  • id: ‘redacted’
    alias: Pre-cool when ComEd is cheap
    description: ‘’
    triggers:
    • entity_id: sensor.comed_five_minute_price
      below: 5
      for:
      minutes: 10
      trigger: numeric_state
      conditions:
      actions:
    • target:
      entity_id: climate.my_ecobee
      data:
      temperature: 68
      action: climate.set_temperature
    • action: notify.mobile_app_iphone_redacted
      metadata: {}
      data:
      message: ‘"Pre-cooling; price={{ states(’‘sensor.comed_five_minute_price’‘)
      }}"’
      mode: single
  • id: redacted
    alias: Restore temp when ComEd is expensive
    description: ‘’
    triggers:
    • entity_id: sensor.comed_five_minute_price
      above: 10
      for:
      minutes: 10
      trigger: numeric_state
      conditions:
      actions:
    • target:
      entity_id: climate.my_ecobee
      data:
      temperature: 72
      action: climate.set_temperature
    • action: notify.mobile_app_iphone_redacted
      metadata: {}
      data:
      message: ‘"Price is high, restoring temperature; price={{ states(’‘sensor.comed_five_minute_price’‘)
      }}"’
      mode: single
2

Update. It started working but tends to take a few hours to work again after updating the automation (and restarting yaml or HA).

3

Numeric State triggers are often misunderstood… there is an article in the Community Cookbook Index that you may find helpful:

Also, please follow Community Questions Guideline #11 by using the “Preformatted text” option on any code or configuration.

1 Like
4 
- id: 'redacted'
  alias: Pre-cool when ComEd is cheap
  description: ''
  triggers:
  - entity_id: sensor.comed_five_minute_price
    below: 5
    for:
      minutes: 10
    trigger: numeric_state
  conditions: []
  actions:
  - target:
      entity_id: climate.my_ecobee
    data:
      temperature: 67
    action: climate.set_temperature
  - action: notify.mobile_app_iphone
    metadata: {}
    data:
      message: '"Pre-cooling; price={{ states(''sensor.comed_five_minute_price'')
        }}"'
  mode: single
- id: redacted
  alias: Restore temp when ComEd is expensive
  description: ''
  triggers:
  - entity_id:
    - sensor.comed_five_minute_price
    above: 10
    for:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 5
      seconds: 0
    trigger: numeric_state
  conditions: []
  actions:
  - target:
      entity_id: climate.my_ecobee
    data:
      temperature: 72
    action: climate.set_temperature
  - action: notify.mobile_app_iphone
    metadata: {}
    data:
      message: '"Price is high, restoring temperature; price={{ states(''sensor.comed_five_minute_price'')
        }}"'
5

Thanks for confirming the numeric state trigger as the likely cause. I’ll more into that.