Homey adds new energy management features and a dongle

Smart home company Homey has added a new energy management tab to its app to track and monitor energy use from compatible smart devices such as plugs, appliances, thermostats, and EV chargers. This week, the company also announced the Homey Energy Dongle for Europe, which can connect directly to a smart meter to monitor a home’s energy consumption.

Together, the software and hardware are a big step toward a full home energy management system. Homey says it plans to bring support for automatic dynamic energy pricing next year, so users could set up automations to do things like charge their EV when electricity prices are low.

The new energy management tab is available in public beta to all Homey Pro and Homey Cloud customers, and the dongle can be preordered for €39 if you’re in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary, with shipping expected in March 2025.

Image: Homey

Homey is a smart home platform centered around a smart home hub, either the powerful, locally based Homey Pro ($399) or the lighter Homey Bridge ($69). Depending on which hub you have, Homey can connect to and control a wide range of smart home devices thanks to radios for Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Thread, IR, and more; there’s also the option of cloud-based connections and compatibility with other bridges, such as Philips Hue. Homey also supports the Matter smart home standard.

“The Energy Management functionality works with all devices connected to a Homey setup, no matter if they use a proprietary local/cloud API, Zigbee, Z-Wave or Matter to connect to Homey,” explained Homey commercial director Stefan Witkamp in an email to The Verge. A full list of currently compatible devices is on Homey’s website.

Image: Homey

The energy tab uses charts to show a home’s live electricity, gas, and water usage (with compatible hardware) and can provide historical data. Homey says it “can also track solar generation, monitor EV charging, and show energy supply to, or consumption from, the grid.” It’s compatible with smart batteries and can show a list of your top energy consumers, helpful for figuring out where to cut down on usage. You can enter your energy price to get cost estimates, and Homey says it plans to add support for dynamic pricing next year.

LG acquired Homey earlier this year and has said it plans to incorporate Homey’s connectivity and software into its ThinQ platform. However, Homey will continue to operate independently. While LG plans to integrate its appliances with Homey, official support is still on the roadmap, says Witkamp.

Energy management is set to play a key part in the smart home as a compelling reason to connect all your devices. Allowing a system to automate energy use in your home could save you energy and money. Several smart home companies already offer some functionality here. Samsung’s SmartThings Energy platform, which works with its appliances and several partner devices, was the first platform to be recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as an Energy STAR Smart Home Energy Management System. Others, such as Home Assistant, offer some energy management features, and Apple introduced an electricity usage page to its Home app this year (although it’s limited to PG&E customers).

The new Matter smart home standard just added energy management to its spec along with support for several key devices in the space — electrical vehicle supply equipment, solar panel inverters, home batteries, and more. All of this shows significant momentum in home energy management, and Homey’s latest move is another option for people looking to use smart home tech to maximize the efficiency of their energy use and minimize their costs.