Virtual Solar

Utilities move slowly. But ultimately they do. Half a year ago I installed the Home Assistant multi-channel energy meter which has  clearly shown the energy usage patterns. I had known before my addiction to hot bath every day cost me dearly. And it was really the lowest hanging fruit. Water boiler is the most efficient and available energy storage.

After seeing the usage patterns, I was planning to switch to variable energy pricing plan. But filling the related paperwork was tedious enough to procrastinate. Until the utility offered the helping hand: switch to energy pricing with just a single "yes" click on their web site. No paperwork, no nothing. 

A couple of days later the confirmation of the switch arrived. Plus I have online access to the formal energy meter readings. No Home Assistant integration yet, but the patterns and values match with what I have, which is reassuring.

I need to get used to this a bit (although the main patterns have already been preprogrammed). Water boiler in the night (or during the day in Summer). Laundry on weekends. The winter schedule will be more challenging but still the electrically heated floors should have enough heat holding capacity that disconnecting them during the peak hours should not be a problem.

The nice thing is it runs and feels like having a solar farm without having it physically. My location is really difficult for solar, but of course my energy usage patters can easily match the combined solar production. It is like having a virtual internet server. You don't need to own it to have it. At least today nobody does. Even if people have their own hardware, they co-locate the machines at hosting centers. So similarly I'm happy to use somebody else's photovoltaic panels.