Power Manager

Power Manager helps you use electricity smarter, so you pay less for both energy and grid tariffs – without compromising home comfort.

How Power Manager optimizes:

1. Price optimization - Optimization against spot price and the energy component of the grid tariff
2. Consumption limit - keeps the daily peak down, saving you more on the capacity component of the grid tariff
3. Dynamic load balancing - automatically distributes the load so the main fuse doesn't trip

Prerequisites

• Smarthub online – Power Manager requires internet to function.
• At least one controllable device (thermostat, water heater, or EV charger) to shift consumption based on spot price.
• Futurehome HAN sensor if you want to save on grid tariffs – it measures the entire household consumption.
• Supported EV charger + HAN sensor for dynamic load balancing (prevents the fuse from tripping).

Important: Turn off other automations controlling the same devices – otherwise, Power Manager may be disrupted.

Supported devices

• Futurehome/Connecte Thermostat*
• Namron Zigbee Touch Thermostat (el-number 4512752 and 4512753)
• Futurehome/Connecte 16 A puck relay (connected to the water heater)
• Glen Dimplex thermostats and panel heaters;
  • SPC-IZW (module for panel heaters)
  • SPC-IZB (module for panel heaters)
  • SWT-IZW (Thermostat)
  • SWT-IZB (thermostat)

• Futurehome HAN sensor**
• Høiax water heater
• Easee car charger
• Zaptec car charger
• Futurehome Charge

Note: Power Manager needs to know how much power the Futurehome / Connecte Thermostat uses.

• If the thermostat does not have built-in power measurement, enter the value manually (cable power).
• Find the power value on the circuit diagram or the heating cable specifications.
• Ask an electrician to do it for you if necessary.

Click this link to learn more about the Futurehome Thermostat. Scroll to "Power measurement".

*Futurehome HAN gen. 1 is not supported yet — click the links to identify them.

How does Power Manager work?

3 signals Power Manager always follows:

1. Electricity price
   • Spot price – the hourly price of electricity.
   • Energy component – the part of the grid tariff that fluctuates throughout the day:
     • most expensive on weekdays during daytime
     • cheaper during evenings, nights, and weekends
2. Consumption limit (Capacity component) – the highest average power (kW) you have permitted Power Manager to use per hour, to keep the capacity component low.
3. Available energy in the home - How much electricity is being used in the entire household and how high is the load on the main fuse.

Once Power Manager is set up and running, you will have full control over the consumption of everything managed in Futurehome, total consumption measured from your meter, and an overview with month-by-month statistics for your household's consumption. You can also see an overview of the three highest daily peaks so far this month.

What is Spot Price?

The hourly price determined on the Nord Pool power exchange for each price area in Norway. The price can fluctuate significantly from hour to hour.

• Supplier margins: Most energy providers add a small markup per kWh and often a fixed monthly fee. The amount varies by company, and Power Manager cannot influence this.
• How Power Manager uses the spot price: The service automatically retrieves hourly prices and shifts flexible consumption (for example, water heaters and EV chargers) to the cheapest hours. The markup and any provider fees still apply, but shifting to low-price hours still results in the lowest possible total cost.

What is the Energy Component?

The number of kilowatt-hours consumed makes up the energy component. Prices vary for daytime and night/weekend consumption according to the grid provider in your area.

• Day price: Monday–Friday 06:00–22:00 (more expensive)
• Night/weekend price: Monday–Friday 22:00–06:00 + all day Saturday, Sunday, and holidays (cheaper)

Shifting as much consumption as possible to nights and weekends reduces the energy component cost. Power Manager does this automatically when you select the devices in the correct menus.

What is the Capacity Component?

• What you pay for: How much electricity you use simultaneously.
• How the tier is determined:
  1. The grid company looks at the hour you used the most electricity each day (daily peak).
  2. The three highest daily peaks in a month are taken – one from three different days.
  3. The average of these three hours determines which capacity tier you end up in.
     • Thresholds: Tier 1 applies to 0 – 1.999 kW, Tier 2 starts at 2.000 kW, etc.
     • How to save: Level out your consumption to stay in a lower tier and pay less.

How Power Manager works:

• When electricity is cheap and the energy component is low: EV charging starts at full power. You take advantage of the cheapest hours and fill your “energy bank”. Power Manager optimizes based on the spot price by using the twelve cheapest hours (50th percentile) of the day for EV chargers. See more details below.

• When electricity prices are high and the energy component is expensive: EV charging is dimmed or paused.

• Only EV chargers are managed for price optimization (Spot / Energy component). Thermostats will be managed based on the maximum limit you set for the grid tariff. By using modes in the app, you can achieve more savings and comfort than in version 1 of Power Manager. To save more electricity on water heaters and thermostats/panel heaters, it is recommended to create modes, shortcuts, and automations to reduce/shift consumption.

• Optimization against consumption limit (capacity component)
  1. Forecast every 10 minutes
     Power Manager looks at your history and current consumption to guess how many kWh you will end up with this hour.
  2. Comparison with the limit
     If the forecast reaches more than 95% of the limit (5% safety buffer), the system intervenes.
  3. Actions in priority order
     • The largest consumers are disconnected one by one – largest load first.
     • The EV charger will attempt to continuously adjust down the power instead of pausing charging.
  4. Continuous adjustment: once the forecast is below the limit again, devices can turn on or ramp up automatically. This way, you stay below the capacity tier without having to monitor it yourself.

• If the capacity limit is threatened even during cheap hours: The capacity limit always wins. Power Manager applies the brakes long enough for total consumption to fall below the limit – then restarts as soon as it is safe.

• Dynamic load balancing Power Manager automatically adapts the charging current for the EV charger based on the main fuse capacity and the home's total consumption. The result is the fastest possible charging – without tripping the fuse. Supported chargers today: Futurehome Charge, Easee, and Zaptec.

In short:

Power Manager avoids expensive daytime hours, utilizes cheap night and weekend hours, and simultaneously ensures you never blow a fuse or jump into a more expensive grid tariff tier.

More details on price optimization

When it comes to managing spot price and energy components, we divide the day into two: Low price and high price. This is calculated based on the 12 cheapest hours and 12 most expensive, with some adjustments: We do not distinguish between hours where the price difference is negligible (e.g., where the price difference is only a few cents). In cases where a cheap hour is 1 NOK and an expensive one is 1.04 NOK, a couple of the expensive hours may be considered cheap due to the small price difference. Based on this, EV chargers will only charge during the cheapest hours. Water heaters and thermostats will not be affected by spot prices for two reasons. The first is that the 12 cheapest hours often occur when you are not at home or during the night. There is therefore no reason to heat the home even if it is relatively cheap. The second reason is comfort. When you are actually at home, you should not have to be cold or experience cold water due to Power Manager.

Setup

• You will find Power Manager under the setup menu
• Find Power Manager in the menu
• Turn Power Manager on
  
• Select the grid company for your area.

• Set the desired threshold in kWh per hour. It is important to be conscious of your consumption. If you often use 15 kWh per hour, it is difficult to maintain a maximum of 5 kWh.
  
  
  Tips:
  — Consumption is often higher in winter than in summer.
  — You can find historical consumption at www.elhub.no or on the latest invoice from your grid company or their app if they have one.
  — Start with a value that is too high rather than too low.

  Tier 1	0—2 kWh
  Tier 2	2—5 kWh
  Tier 3	5—10 kWh
  Tier 4	10—15 kWh
  Tier 5	15—20 kWh
  Tier 6	20—25 kWh

Select devices to be managed by Power Manager. In Power Manager, you will find two separate menus:
1. Energy price – devices to be managed by spot price and the energy component.
2. Consumption limit – devices that will keep you under the kWh limit.

• First open Energy price and check the devices you want to shift to cheap hours.
• Then go to Consumption limit and check the devices that can be paused or adjusted down when you approach your limit.
• You can select the same device in both menus or just one – depending on your needs.

Tips:
• Can't find a device? Check the list of supported products at the top and update your Smarthub.
• The more loads you add, the greater the saving potential – but remember the total power must stay below the limit set in step 2.

• The next step is to select which price area you are in. If in doubt, you can select "postal code" and enter this manually.
  

The settings on this page are saved continuously, so it is not necessary to save during the process or when changes are made. Once you have finished configuring, Power Manager is active. 

Frequently Asked Questions

• You need at least one connected HAN sensor from Futurehome to use Power Manager. With only the HAN sensor connected, you will receive information when you exceed the limit set in kW per hour. Power Manager cannot control any of your devices to avoid exceeding the limit.
  
  With the HAN sensor and at least one other connected device (thermostat, water heater, or EV charger), Power Manager will both optimize the device against the spot price and set the limit for kWh per hour (grid tariff).
  
  The more devices connected and the more power values (kW) entered in Power Manager, the better the service performs.
• By using Power Manager, you can save on your electricity bill in three ways:
  1. By shifting electricity consumption for large loads, such as the water heater and EV charger, to times when electricity is cheaper.
  2. By reducing simultaneous consumption and thus reducing the grid tariff.
  3. Reducing consumption by lowering the temperature when you do not need a comfortable temperature.

  How much you can save depends on several parameters — which price area the home is in, which provider you have, and of course how much electricity you use and what you use it for. Find out how much you can save with the energy saving calculator.
• Installation and pricing for the Power Manager package are handled by your local electrician. Go to strømkontroll.no and request a quote from your local electrician.
  
  When installing the Power Manager package, you get 35% of the costs covered, both for the Power Manager package and the installation itself, from ENOVA. If you are going to install, or have installed a smart EV charger in the last 20 months, this investment is also included in the 35% support from ENOVA.
  
  Read more about this on ENOVA's website under Smart Power Management.
• To get the best possible effect from Power Manager, you must have a spot price agreement with your electricity provider, so you can optimize against both the spot price and the grid tariff.
  
  However, the service works even if you do not have a spot price agreement, because Futurehome still optimizes your consumption against the grid tariff you pay. By doing this, you can likely reduce one to two tiers in the grid tariff model, depending on the total kW of the devices you add to Power Manager. For example, moving from a peak hourly consumption of 15 kWh to 9 kWh (two tiers) a month with Glitre Energi amounts to 6,780 NOK per year in saved grid tariffs. A reduction from 10 kWh to 9 kWh (one tier) per month amounts to 4,185 NOK per year in saved grid tariffs from the same provider.
• If you are in an expensive hour and turn on the water heater, Power Manager will turn it off again. That's how it works. If you want to override this, you must go into Power Manager and deselect the water heater. Tap Energy on the front page → the lightning bolt at the top right → controlled devices → deselect the water heater.
  
• Optimization based on total hourly consumption overrides optimization based on spot price. This means that even if the price is low, the set limit for electricity consumption per hour will not be exceeded. Spot price optimization is updated every full hour, while optimization against hourly electricity consumption is monitored continuously.
  
• No, but this is something we are working on for the next version. We recommend that you turn off relevant units in Power Manager if needed, such as thermostats or the car charger in this case. The rest of the optimization will still work, even if some units are turned off. But remember to turn the units back on in Power Manager when you want them to be optimized again.
  
• Ensure the HAN sensor is assigned to a room
  1. Go to Settings → Devices → find the HAN sensor.
  2. Under the HAN's name, there is information about the room it is placed in. If it says "no room", tap the HAN sensor.
  3. Go to Settings → choose a room.

  Ensure the type is set to "meter" and the subtype to "main_elec" for the HAN sensor.

  1. Go to Settings → Devices → select the HAN sensor.
  2. Go to Settings.
  3. Ensure the type is "meter".
  4. Ensure the subtype is "main-elec".

  Ensure your app and Smarthub are updated to the correct version.

  You can update the app in the App Store for iOS devices or Google Play for Android (search for Futurehome).

  To update the hub, open the Futurehome app and go to Settings → Household → Hub settings → Update software.

  Version requirements for Power Manager are:

  • Futurehome app: 7.4.15 or higher
  • Energy guard: 2.0.0 or higher
  • Zigbee: 2.1.3 or higher