Energy management

The world of energy is evolving rapidly. On the supply side, both wind and the sun are being put to good use, while on the consumption side, more and more homes and cars are 100% powered by electricity. These changes are making it harder for energy companies to keep the energy mix in balance, which is the reason why energy becomes more expensive for the end-user.

Do you have a digital meter at home? Or would you like to know more about your energy flows and why you have such high energy bills? A smart energy management systems (EMS) like Niko Home Control can help you optimize your energy efficiency. Besides the many smart energy saving functionalities, you’ll also gain insights into how much electricity you consume and produce. On top of that, you can automatically match your consumption to your production and spread your usage over the entire day.

Niko Home Control is the beating heart of your energy efficient home, as it manages devices and energy usage at the most opportune moments, sparing you the need for manual intervention. This enables you to lower your energy costs while maintaining your comfort levels.

Niko Home Control is suitable for all different types of homes (new or existing buildings), supporting a growing list of products like EV chargers, heat pumps, hot water boilers, air conditioning systems and inverters.

See https://guide.niko.eu/en/connhc2/lv/ for a full overview of compatible and partner brands within the Niko Home Control ecosystem.

You can, for example, do the following:

Energy insights & alerts

Understand the energy flows in your home and act on it to lower your energy costs. The first step to an energy efficient home is to be well informed about the energy flows in your home, and the amount of electricity you use and/or produce. Niko Home Control gives you detailed insights on your energy resources and what they are used for. It also uses this data to optimize your energy efficiency. For more information, see https://guide.niko.eu/en/umnhc2/lv/energy-insights.

Niko Home Control also notifies you when it detects abnormal electricity or gas consumption, or when there is no output at all. This helps you avoid unpleasant surprises on your energy bill, and you immediately know if something is wrong with your PV installation or when you inject energy back into the grid almost for free. For more information, see https://guide.niko.eu/en/umnhc2/lv/energy-alerts.

Solar mode

If you have solar panels, you’ll want to use this self-generated energy as much as possible. On average, only 30% of the generated solar energy is used immediately while the remaining 70% is injected back into the grid. The solar mode can help you increase your self-consumption, while also reducing your dependency on the grid. Self-consumption refers to the consumption of energy you obtain directly from you solar panels and therefore not from the electricity grid. Injecting your energy back into the grid doesn’t earn you much, so you might want to try and use as much of your self-generated energy as possible.

Choose from a number of major brands working within Niko’s ecosystem to help you increase your comfort and better manage energy consumption in your home. For more information, see https://guide.niko.eu/en/umnhc2/lv/solar-mode.

Peak mode

Avoid additional costs with peak mode. Niko Home Control can help you better manage your electricity consumption during the day, by guiding your energy flows in a smart way and avoiding peaks in your consumption.

Our peak mode helps you monitor and control the parallel usage of the ever growing amount of heavy devices in your home, whether is is a heat pump, car charger or air conditioning unit. The peak mode will manage your different devices and appliances to make sure your consumption is nicely balanced out. When a certain device is turned on, Niko Home Control may temporarily stop charging another device or temporarily lower your ventilation, to keep your consumption below a certain level.

Choose from a number of major brands working within Niko’s ecosystem to help you increase your comfort and better manage energy consumption in your home. For more information, see Peak mode.

Dynamic tariff and Time Of Use distribution tariff control

In addition to fixed and variable tariffs, Niko Home Control also offers the option of using dynamic tariffs and Time Of Use tariff.
With a Dynamic tariff, the price of the generated electricity fluctuates based on hourly based market prices. On a typical day, there are two periods with low prices and two periods with higher prices.

With a Time Of Use distribution tariff (e.g. “Tarif Impact” in Wallonia, Belgium), the price to transport your electricity fluctuates based on fixed time periods in a day.

With this tariff control, Niko Home Control automatically shifts your EV charger energy consumption in time. For example, to a moment when there is a lot of wind or solar energy, or when the prices are very low or even negative. This way, you can cut charging costs by more than 50% compared to fixed rates. For more information, see Energy planning with dynamic tariffs.

Connect your heating system to have an integrated experience and optimal temperature

With Niko Home Control’s central control, you can always enjoy the optimal climate in every corner of your home in the most energy-efficient manner. Thanks to multi-zone heating, the temperature is measured and regulated per room. As such, it stays warm where it needs to, while the rest of the home saves energy by not unnecessarily heating unused rooms.

Is the sun shining? In winter, your sun blinds will automatically open to let the sun in. In summer, your sun blinds will roll down to keep your home cool.

Has a window been opened somewhere while the heating is on? Then the heating will automatically be switched off for a while.

Open and close your blinds and shutters automatically

Connect your windows, curtains and roll-down shutters to your smart home system and enjoy greater energy efficiency and more peace of mind.

In the winter, your roll-down shutters and curtains stay open to let in the suns’s warmth. In the summer, they automatically close to keep the heat at bay. This saves you energy and reduces energy costs for heating and cooling.

For an overview of compatible and partner brands, and the required products, see https://guide.niko.eu/en/connhc2/lv/control-your-shutters-blinds-and-awning.

How to optimize your energy costs?

Here are some overall guidelines to optimize your own energy consumption and reduce your energy costs:

• Get insights in the energy flows of your home and change your behaviour

• Choose the right energy contract for you and your electrical assets

• Use your home appliances in a smarter way and run them at the cheapest moments

• Use your heat pump for your heating and domestic hot water in a smarter way

• Use your air conditioning for your heating/cooling and domestic hot water in a smarter way

• Use your car and its battery optimally and charge at the cheapest moments

• Use a home battery to increase your self-consumption and to be able to charge at the cheapest moments and discharge at the expensive moments

• Identify smaller energy consuming appliances (like a bike charger, wine cooler, …) and use them in a smarter way

Combine your home with Niko Home Control to automate all those actions and maintain your comfort without the need to become an energy expert.