Energy
Consumption
What's drawing power, how much, and why the number isn't always the one you expected.
The Consumption view shows what your installation is drawing. It relies entirely on devices that can measure power — models with PM in the name, plus sockets and a few others.
A Shelly Plus 1 measures nothing. It will show 0 W forever. That's not a fault.
What you see
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Total Current Consumption | What the whole installation is drawing right now, in kW. |
| Consumption By Appliance Type | Broken down by category: Lighting, Cooking, Solar source, Grid source, Unknown. |
| Rooms Current Consumption | Per room. |
| History | Over time, in Wh. |
The categories don't fill themselves in
Consumption By Appliance Type is only meaningful if your devices are tagged with the right type. Do nothing and everything lands under Unknown, and the view becomes a single bar that tells you nothing.
The tagging sits on the device, not in the consumption view. It's ten minutes of tedious work that makes the view useful — and there's no shortcut.
Gauge Max Value
The gauge has an upper limit you set yourself, in kW. It only affects the scale in the graphics, not the measurement.
The default value rarely fits. If you have a house with a heat pump, your peak is somewhere else entirely than in a flat with a couple of lamps. Set it just above what you realistically peak at, or the needle will sit sloshing around at the bottom.
Resolution differs between Basic and Premium
This is the difference people notice most:
| Basic | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics interval | 1 hour | 1 minute |
| Activity log per device | 5 events | 100 events |
At hourly resolution you can see that something drew power during the morning. At minute resolution you can see it was the coffee maker at 07:12. If you're trying to track down an unexpected electricity bill, that's the difference between guessing and knowing. See Premium.
What does it cost?
Consumption only turns into money once you've entered your electricity price. See Electricity Tariff.
Why doesn't the number match the electricity meter?
It shouldn't. The app shows the sum of what your Shelly devices measure — not the house's consumption. Anything that sits past a Shelly — the stove, the EV charger, everything in unmetered sockets — is invisible here.
If you want the house's actual consumption, you need to measure at the distribution board, for example with a Shelly Pro 3EM, and then that device becomes the truth — not the sum of the others.