What is the problem? Utility meter sensor doesn't work properly

Energy
1

Hello,
I have an odd problem with an utility meter sensor that tracks my kWh. I have some Shelly EM that track some “sections” of my house and a value template to sum every section to have the total W and kWh of the house.
If one (or more) Shelly EM goes offline or reboots or turn off, the value template increase its value with an abnormal error.

2023-04-27
2023-04-27822×653 25 KB

I had some abnormal increase previously. The total should be aroud 250 kWh for the reference.

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Assorbimento Villa"
        unit_of_measurement: 'W'
        state: >
          {{ states("sensor.assorbimento_casa")|int(0) +
          states("sensor.assorbimento_location")|int(0) +
          states("sensor.assorbimento_rosso")|int(0) +
          states("sensor.assorbimento_verde")|int(0) }}
        device_class: power
        
      - name: "Consumo Villa"
        unit_of_measurement: 'kWh'
        state: >
          {{ (states("sensor.contatore_casa")|float(0) +
          states("sensor.contatore_location")|float(0) +
          states("sensor.contatore_rosso")|float(0) +
          states("sensor.contatore_verde")|float(0))|round(3) }}
        device_class: energy

and the utility meter:

utility_meter:
  contatore_villa:
    source: sensor.consumo_villa
    cycle: monthly

homeassistant:
  customize:
    sensor.contatore_villa:
      state_class: total_increasing
      friendly_name: Contatore Villa

any idea?

2

You need to add an availability template to prevent the sensors reporting 0 (from the float filter default) when they are unavailable.

      - name: "Consumo Villa"
        unit_of_measurement: 'kWh'
        state: >
          {{ (states("sensor.contatore_casa")|float(0) +
          states("sensor.contatore_location")|float(0) +
          states("sensor.contatore_rosso")|float(0) +
          states("sensor.contatore_verde")|float(0))|round(3) }}
        availability: >
          {{ states("sensor.contatore_casa")|is_number and
          states("sensor.contatore_location")|is_number and
          states("sensor.contatore_rosso")|is_number and
          states("sensor.contatore_verde")|is_number }}
        device_class: energy

Total → 0 → Total, adds the whole total to the utility meter.
Total → unavailable → Total, does nothing to the utility meter total.

1 Like
3

Thank you very much for your reply. I thought that adding (0) was ok for unavailable too. I will try to understand more about it, now I am a bit confused :slight_smile:
I will implement your code and report.

Thanks again

4

It always a good idea to supply defaults. The issue occurs because of the way the utility meter behaves:

To avoid this we replace the template sensor output with unavailable using the availability template when the source sensors are unavailable.

5

Got it. Could you please explain me one more thing? The first 2 sensors are 2 inputs in the first Shelly EM, the 3rd and 4th are another Shelly EM. What happens if just one out of two Shelly is offline? I think that, since there is an “and”, the total sensor will be unavailable because 2 sensors are not number. Is it a problem?

6

All of the sensors have to be available for the template to output a result. This prevents similar jumps in the utility meter total (though not as big) if one sensor becomes unavailable momentarily.

1 Like
7

It works perfectly. Thanks!

8

I faced a similar problem. I have a zigbee electricity meter with energy sensor in Wh, I also have a sensor with the conversion of these Wh to kWh and I also have a utility meter sensor in which the above-mentioned conversion sensor (Wh to kWh) is used as a source, and this utility meter sensor is calibrated with my physical electricity meter.

If my zigbee meter is unavailable or I reload templates and etc., the utility meter always adds the already accumulated last value from the sensor in Wh, and I always have 6650+ extra kWh.

My template looks like this and it solved the problem:

      - name: electricity_input_wh_to_kwh
        state: "{{ (states('sensor.corridor_input_electricity_meter_energy_l2') | float(0) / 1000) | round(2) }}"
        unit_of_measurement: "kWh"
        availability: "{{ states('sensor.corridor_input_electricity_meter_energy_l2') | is_number }}"

Thanks Tom! :+1: @tom_l

1 Like