Dynamic tariff provider

Currently following data providers are available:

• tibber
• awattar
• Two-Tariff Providers (e.g. Octopus)
• evcc
• energyforecast.de

You can chose one and need to adjust the configuration.

tibber

You need to get an API Key from https://developer.tibber.com/ , which looks like Zz-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx. After obtaining this key, use the following configuration:

utility:
  type: tibber 
  apikey: YOUR-PASSWORD

awattar

batcontrol provides to different awattar types:

• awattar_defor German aWATTar
• awattar_at for Austrian aWATTar

Please chose the corresponding version. For aWATTar you can you this configuration:

utility:
  type: awattar_de
  vat: 0.19     # 19% VAT
  fees: 0.015   # Depends on you Netzendgeld
  markup: 0.03  # Depends on you aWATTar contract

The calculation is ( marketprice/1000*(1+markup) + fees ) * (1+vat)

Multi-Zone Tariff Providers (e.g. Octopus, Two-Tariff) (since 0.7.0)

If your energy provider offers distinct tariff zones (e.g. day/night rates, peak/off-peak), you can configure batcontrol to optimize battery usage accordingly. The tariff_zones provider supports up to 3 different price zones.

tariff_zones — Static & multi-zone tariff

The tariff_zones provider uses a locally configured, fixed price schedule instead of an external API. It supports 1, 2, or 3 zones:

Zones configured	Behaviour
1 zone (static price)	One flat price for every hour of the day
2 zones	Classic peak / off-peak split
3 zones	Peak / shoulder / off-peak

Since v0.8.0: tariff_zone_2 / zone_2_hours are optional. In earlier versions zone 2 was mandatory. Configurations written for the old 2-zone-only behaviour keep working unchanged.

This makes it suitable for:

• Users without a dynamic tariff who still want peak-shaving (see issue #318).
• Users with a fixed day / night tariff.
• Users with a fixed three-period (HT/NT/shoulder) tariff.

Static price mode (single zone)

Available since v0.8.0.

Set only tariff_zone_1. zone_1_hours is optional and defaults to all 24 hours.

utility:
  type: tariff_zones
  tariff_zone_1: 0.30   # EUR/kWh incl. VAT/fees, applied to every hour

Two zones (peak / off-peak)

utility:
  type: tariff_zones
  tariff_zone_1: 0.2733   # peak price
  zone_1_hours: 7-22
  tariff_zone_2: 0.1734   # off-peak price
  zone_2_hours: 0-6,23

Three zones (peak / shoulder / off-peak)

utility:
  type: tariff_zones
  tariff_zone_1: 0.30
  zone_1_hours: 9-16
  tariff_zone_2: 0.15
  zone_2_hours: 0-6,23
  tariff_zone_3: 0.22
  zone_3_hours: 7-8,17-22

Configuration reference

Key	Required	Description
type	yes	Must be tariff_zones
tariff_zone_1	yes	Price for zone 1 in EUR/kWh (incl. VAT & fees)
zone_1_hours	optional in single-zone mode; required otherwise	Hours assigned to zone 1
tariff_zone_2	optional since v0.8.0 (paired with zone_2_hours)	Price for zone 2
zone_2_hours	optional since v0.8.0 (paired with tariff_zone_2)	Hours assigned to zone 2
tariff_zone_3	optional (paired with zone_3_hours)	Price for zone 3
zone_3_hours	optional (paired with tariff_zone_3)	Hours assigned to zone 3

Hour syntax

zone_*_hours accepts flexible formats (may be mixed):

• Single integer: 5
• Comma-separated list: 0,1,2,3
• Inclusive range: 0-5 → [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Mixed: 0-5,6,7
• YAML list with any of the above: [7, 8, '17-22']

Validation rules

• tariff_zone_1 is always required. All prices must be positive.
• If tariff_zone_2 is set, zone_2_hours must also be set (and vice versa). Same rule applies to zone 3.
• Every hour 0–23 must be assigned to exactly one zone — no gaps, no overlaps. If you configure zone_1_hours explicitly in single-zone mode, it must cover the full day (it is not auto-extended); omit it to get the default 0-23.
• zone_1_hours may only be omitted when zones 2 and 3 are also omitted (single-zone / static mode, v0.8.0+).

Charging behaviour tips

The charge rate is not evenly distributed across low-price hours by default.

• For more even charging across low-price hours, enable soften_price_difference_on_charging and set max_grid_charge_rate to a modest value (e.g. battery capacity ÷ low-price hours).
• For a late charging start (optimise efficiency, keep the battery at high SOC for less time), disable soften_price_difference_on_charging.

In pure single-zone (static) mode, prices never differ between hours, so price-based scheduling has no effect — use it together with peak-shaving (see #271) or fixed charging-window settings.

evcc

If you are running evcc, it can be used to fetch the price information from this endpoint. The configuration for this is

utility:
  type: evcc
  url: http://evcc.local:7070/api/tariff/grid

You may need to adjust hostname + port for your setup. If evcc is running under HomeAssistant, you should you either http://homeassistant:7070/api/tariff/grid or http://<homeassistant-ip>:7070/api/tariff/grid

energyforecast.de (0.5.6)

energyforecast.de provides a calculated forecast for upcoming prices. Dayahead prices are populated at 14:00 GMT+2, which is after the lunch-drop in prices and prevents a good energy calculation. Based on different values, energyforecast.de calculates a price expectation with a median of 3 cent of. batcontrol uses the 48h forecast only and it is not possible to activate the 96 hour forecast. You need to setup VAT, markup (+ % on energy price) and fees (Netzentgeld) in the configuration. We are not using the calculation provided by energyforecast.de. If you like to use this forecast type, please create a login at energyforecast.de to aquire an API key.

utility:
  type: energyforecast
  apikey:  xxxxxxxxx
  vat: 0.19     # 19% VAT
  fees: 0.15    # Depends on you Netzendgeld
  markup: 0.00  # Depends on you aWATTar contract

To enable the paid 96h forecast, use type: energyforecast_96