Hi all,
I built SmartPrice.be — a free Belgian energy price platform with a public REST API
that works perfectly with Home Assistant. No API key needed, no rate limits.
What it gives you
- Live EPEX Spot price for Belgium (updated every 15 min)
- The N cheapest upcoming hours (great for automations)
- TTF gas price
- Belgium generation mix (nuclear/solar/wind/gas)
Belgian prices have been extreme lately — last week went from −€479/MWh to
+€269/MWh in the same week. 140 hours with negative prices (grid paying you
to consume). Automations based on this can save serious money.
Basic configuration.yaml
sensor:
-
platform: rest
name: “EPEX Spot Belgium”
resource: https://smartprice.be/api/current
value_template: “{{ value_json.current.price_eur_mwh }}”
unit_of_measurement: “€/MWh”
scan_interval: 900
json_attributes_path: “$.current”
json_attributes:- hour
- price_category
- is_negative
-
platform: rest
name: “Belgium Cheapest Hour”
resource: https://smartprice.be/api/cheapest?hours=1
value_template: “{{ value_json.cheapest_hours[0].hour }}”
unit_of_measurement: “h”
scan_interval: 3600
Example automation — charge EV when price is negative
automation:
- alias: “Charge EV when electricity is free”
trigger:- platform: state
entity_id: sensor.epex_spot_belgium
condition: - condition: template
value_template: “{{ states(‘sensor.epex_spot_belgium’) | float < 0 }}”
action: - service: notify.mobile_app
data:
message: “
Electricity is FREE right now ({{ states(‘sensor.epex_spot_belgium’) }} €/MWh) — start charging!”
- platform: state
Example automation — run dishwasher at cheapest hour
automation:
- alias: “Schedule dishwasher for cheapest hour”
trigger:- platform: time
at: “22:00:00”
action: - service: notify.mobile_app
data:
message: >
Cheapest hour tonight:
{{ states(‘sensor.belgium_cheapest_hour’) }}:00
({{ state_attr(‘sensor.epex_spot_belgium’, ‘price_category’) }})
- platform: time
Full API docs
The API returns enriched data including hour (Brussels timezone), day
(today/tomorrow), is_current, is_negative, price_category. All free,
no auth needed.
Happy to help with more complex automations — post below!