Automate Smart Meter Readings with Node-RED & Home Assistant

🚀 Automate Smart Meter Readings with Node-RED & Home Assistant | No API Needed!
Are you stuck manually downloading your smart meter data from a utility provider that only offers a website? In this video, I walk you through a 100% automated, end-to-end solution using Node-RED and Home Assistant—no custom scripts, no Docker containers, just a visual, low-code workflow.

🔍 What You’ll Learn:
✅ Automate browser actions (login, navigation, and downloads) using Node-RED and Puppeteer
✅ Handle complex SPAs and timing issues with real-world tips
✅ Import readings into Home Assistant via WebSocket API
✅ Keep energy dashboards updated
✅ Monitor electricity, water, or gas usage seamlessly

Whether your utility provider gives you CSV downloads or just a web interface, this tutorial shows how to make it work reliably with zero manual effort.
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Chapters

00:00 Intro
00:52 Getting started
02:26 Node-RED Palette
03:06 Subflow 1 - Website automation
04:31 Chrome Recorder tool
08:55 Subflow 1 - demo
10:39 Subflow 2 - Parsing files
12:56 Subflow 3 - HA statistics API
17:05 Subflow 3 - Testing the flow
20:00 Outro
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🛠 Tools & Nodes Used:
• Node-RED https://nodered.org/

Palette nodes used:
o @digitalnodecom/node-red-contrib-puppeteer
o node-red-contrib-fs-ops
o node-red-contrib-home-assistant-websocket
o node-red-contrib-moment
o node-red-contrib-spreadsheet-in
o @node-red-contrib-themes/theme-collection

• Home Assistant

Note: For SPAs with slow loading elements, I use the delay node generously. It’s not ideal, but perfect for once-a-day automation.
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📂 GitHub Repo + Sample Flows:
Get everything you need here:
👉 GitHub – home-assistant-rpa-utilities https://github.com/ahmedelhaw/home-as...
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📌 Additional Resources:
• Home Assistant integration to import long term statistics from a file like csv or tsv. https://github.com/klausj1/homeassist...
• Home Assistant Community Add-on: SQLite Web https://github.com/hassio-addons/addo...
• Home Assistant https://www.home-assistant.io/
• Easiest way to get started is using a Raspberry Pi https://www.raspberrypi.com/
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💬 Have questions or want help? Drop a comment below!
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📈 Tags:
#nodered #homeassistant #smartmeter #homeautomation #energymonitoring #smarthome #webscraping #puppeteer #chromium