Smart Meter Texas API

As a TexasNewMexicoPower user, I have access to an account on https://www.smartmetertexas.com/home

They cover all folks that get their electricity from:

AEP Texas Central Company,
AEP Texas North Company,
CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC,
Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC, and
Texas-New Mexico Power Company

This site provides energy readings in 15 minute intervals and can do "On Demand" reads.

I use to use an Energy Eagle and the plugin for it, but TNMP discontinued the use of HAN devices.
Smart Meter Texas (SMT), however, has an API for integration.
Their 185 page API is way over my head.
Anyone here in Texas integrating SMT data with Indigo?
Any takers on making a plugin for this?
API PDF Link = https://www.smartmetertexas.com/Smart_Meter_Texas_Interface_Guide.pdf

I had no idea this was even a thing, thanks for the info! I now have an account as well.
The API documentation is above my head too, but I would also be interested in a plugin.

HA now has a plugin for this (actually they have had it for a while... but I just found it). https://github.com/home-assistant/core/tree/dev/homeassistant/components/smart_meter_texas.

Thanks for the update!

With Flying Diver having made communication between Indigo and HA possible with his recent plugin update, perhaps it's time for me to put HA somewhere and implement this.

...put HA somewhere and implement this....

I had the same thought. For myself, I'm holding off until there are more HA items of interest for me... I don't want a separate platform just to act as one device. I'm hoping someone can figure out the HA smart meter plugin and translate it to an indigo plugin. I did look under the hood, but as a non-programmer, I couldn't make heads or tails out of what I was looking at.

I basically did something similar with Node-Red. (for other stuff, not smart meter). It served as a stop-gap measure for implementing a few things that weren't ready for indigo. As those items became controllable through indigo, I phased out using Node-Red. It worked, but was a bit of a pain to troubleshoot when I had two home automation platforms working in tandem.

UPDATE: I just thought to look, and there is also a Node-Red Smart Meter Texas Flow available. Last updated a year ago. https://github.com/stmrocket/ha-smartmetertexas So I guess there is that option as well.

If you get it working with HA and the HA plugin, I'd like to hear about it.

I did get this working with an install of HA on a rPi and got the data into indigo with the HA plugin. I was working on something else, so didn't pay too much attention to it. My HA device lasted about 2 days then crapped out. When I searched google on the error I was getting, it sounds like it's pretty common that the whole install will crap out after an update (which my device was yelling at me to do). Since it was only 2 days old, I didn't have a back-up yet, so it's dead.

If Indigo bricked my mac everytime there was an update, I'd drive to Austin and kick someone in the nads.

Thanks Matt and Jay for such a great product!

On the basis that being on the other side of the Atlantic should keep my nads safe, I feel comfortable suggesting this.

If the Node red part talks to HA via MQTT, would it not be possible to just bypass the HA part completely and subscribe to the MQTT topic directly in Indigo ?

I know Cricket is not such a big thing but I am sure Amazon UK could ship a couple if these to Texas just in case https://amzn.eu/d/boHiAOf but then it would never be needed.

Neil

HA now has a plugin for this (actually they have had it for a while... but I just found it). https://github.com/home-assistant/core/tree/dev/homeassistant/components/smart_meter_texas.

We need an HA to Indio plugin converter. They have so many

We need an HA to Indio plugin converter. They have so many

You mean convert the actual Python code? Not use HA and the HAA Indigo plugin?

That would be extremely hard. Maybe impossible. Among other problems, Home Assistant doesn't really have plugins. ALL integrations are actually merged into the base application. There's no way to cleanly extract that code.

would it not be possible to just bypass the HA part completely and subscribe to the MQTT topic directly in Indigo ?l

There is/was a node red indigo .... node. I know it hadn't been updated in a while, but talking to node red via MQTT should be very doable. I also scrapped my node red project (I think.... it might still be running in the background on a project computer somewhere in my office.... but I stopped using it.)

For me, Node Red was a stop gap for automating things that I couldn't get working in indigo. Mainly amazon alexa integration and CCTV integration. Indigo's link to alexa has greatly improved since then and way more stable than my memory of it on Node Red. I've switched my NVR from Amcrest to Blue Iris which has a direct indigo plugin..... so I really didn't have a use for it anymore.

I still have another rPi running Bullseye?.... with Mosquitto and owntracks recorder in the background.... plenty of room to add in a node-red server.

While it (the smart meter HA Add-on) was running, It was only updating me every hour. From the smart meter web documentation, it should be able to get a read every 15 minutes and should be able to pull history in 15 minute increments. (The add on didn't pull in history) I don't remember if you can do on command meter reads or not. I'm not sure if that was an issue with the smart meter server, with HA or with the internet (we were in the middle of a cold snap and internet has been wonky all week).

For better automating, I would want data as close to 'now' as possible. Since I am finally figuring out MQTT, I may look at the shelly energy meter for the whole house (around $50USD). Then flying diver's plugins will carry it the rest of the way home for instant knowledge of electric use without a 3rd party device (HA), without an internet API link, etc.