Hey all,
I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in the last week setting up various ultilty meters and the most elaborate automation I’ve done yet, just to get an energy summary every month when the billing cycle rolls over. It includes:
- Overall peak usage + cost.
- Overall off-peak usage + cost.
- Car charges (peak/off-peak) + costs for both.
- Solar exports + value.
- The whole cost totalled along with the standing charge for that month and exports deducted.
Having done all of that I now realise that I’d previously setup the energy dashboard to track most of this already, using the exact same sensors that drive the ultity meters!
So it got me wondering: What is the fundamental difference here? What are the use cases for when you’d want to use a utility meter over the energy dashboard? They appear to serve much the same function and I feel like I’m missing the wood for the trees…
Appreciate any thoughts or insights!