Localvolts provides a real-time API that allows you to integrate smart devices and automate energy trading decisions based on live market prices and forecasts.
Yes, you can integrate Localvolts with Home Assistant using a community-developed integration available on GitHub. This integration allows Home Assistant customers to access real-time data from our API, including 5-minute interval pricing and market information. The integration pulls data directly from our marketplace API and makes it available within your Home Assistant system, enabling you to automate your energy systems based on live Localvolts pricing and market conditions. You can find the integration at the GitHub repository and add it to your Home Assistant setup using the repository URL.
For customers looking for information and help with our API visit our community forum.
You can access the API guide and documentation through the API section on our website. The guide provides comprehensive information on how to use our real-time market and customer-specific data feed, including technical specifications and integration examples. As a Localvolts customer, you’ll have access to both the API documentation and your private API key to begin integrating our marketplace data with your energy management systems.
With the Localvolts API, you can access real-time market and customer-specific data to optimise your energy systems automatically. The API provides 5-minute pricing data from both our peer-to-peer and wholesale markets, enabling you to program your smart devices to respond to live electricity prices. Common applications include automatically charging batteries during periods of cheap or negative pricing, scheduling energy-intensive appliances to run when prices are low, controlling solar inverters to maximise export revenue, and integrating with home automation systems like Home Assistant. The API data can also be used to develop custom energy management solutions, create automated buying and selling strategies on our marketplace, and optimise the operation of electric vehicle chargers, pool pumps, hot water systems, and other controllable loads based on real-time market conditions.
You can get your API key from your profile page in the Localvolts app. Once you’re logged into your customer account, navigate to your profile section where your private API token will be available. The API provides access to real-time market and customer-specific data from our peer-to-peer electricity marketplace, allowing you to integrate our data feed with your smart devices and automation systems.
Yes, we provide comprehensive developer documentation for our API. The API guide includes technical specifications for endpoints such as GET /market/stats and GET /customer/interval for retrieving data, and POST /customer/interval for submitting data. The documentation covers authentication requirements, special commands, and includes practical integration examples such as Home Assistant configuration in the appendix.
To connect with other customers and learn more about our API, visit our community forum.
Yes, you can automate your energy systems using the Localvolts API. The API provides real-time market and customer-specific data that enables you to programme your smart devices to respond automatically to live electricity prices. This means your batteries, solar inverters, EV chargers, hot water systems, and other controllable loads can be optimised based on current marketplace conditions. Many customers integrate our API with home automation platforms like Home Assistant or use it with third-party energy management systems to create sophisticated automated responses to pricing signals, maximising savings when electricity is cheap and maximising earnings when selling energy at high prices.
We don’t currently offer a demo API key. However, there are no sign-up charges or cancellation fees, so developers and integrators can easily become customers to access our API without any upfront costs or commitment concerns. Once you’re a customer, you’ll receive your private API token through your profile page and can begin testing and developing integrations with our real-time marketplace data.
There’s a growing number of companies integrating their devices and systems with Localvolts through our API. We partner with like-minded businesses and organisations that share our vision of an open, fair, and transparent energy market. These partnerships enable customers to connect various smart home platforms, energy management systems, solar controllers, and automation devices to respond to real-time marketplace pricing signals.
You can find more information about our current and developing partnerships at https://localvolts.com/partners/, where we showcase the expanding ecosystem of integrated solutions available to customers.
The ‘flex’ figures are the ones to use for control decisions, as they will always have a value. The cost flex up is the cost to import another 1kWh into the site (e.g. when charging a battery). The flex down is essentially the opposite of this.
Earnings flex up is the reward for exporting another kWh to the grid. There will always be a difference in value between them as imports attract GST, network charges, certificate costs and various other costs only levied on consumption. Exports are generally (not always) GST free, sometimes have applicable networks costs (which can be charges or rewards) and generally don’t have regulatory and market costs applicable.
Yes, you can use this as a forward price curve. It will reflect the actual costs / earnings at the site, inclusive of all adjustments and distribution costs.
Yes, you can ignore these, they are just there for completeness.