Just received this email from Givenergy Hi XXXXXXXX I need to speak directly about an upcoming change to the software that powers your GivEnergy system. To date, it has been provided free of charge, funded by ongoing hardware sales. Infrastructure, data storage, and operations all have ongoing monthly costs. Our products can last over 15 years, which adds up to many hundreds of pounds over their lifetime. As our user base has grown and hardware sales have slowed, that model no longer works. What’s changing To continue operating the platform sustainably, we’re moving to a model which - I hope you’ll agree - is simple, fair and transparent: Local access remains free, forever You’ll always be able to manage your system over your home network. Your system can continue to function independently of cloud services, for those who want a more hands-on approach. Cloud access will become paid A single monthly fee will cover remote access, historical data, automation, and API usage (including third party remote access). These are the services which mainly drive our ongoing costs. How this change will save you money The software is not just a convenience. Smart Tariff actively reduces energy costs and carbon intensity compared to static schedules. Our goal is simple: for the subscription to save you more than it costs, with upcoming improvements to our use of: Automatic charging on time-of-use tariffs Solar generation prediction to optimise charge levels Export strategies to maximise income Integration with EV chargers As just one example, we’re implementing an option to charge your battery a little less overnight if we know your solar will produce more power the next day for your average usage – our calculations show that this alone can save 50p per day on average. Our goal isn’t to profit from the software but to make the platform sustainable, so it can continue to operate reliably for the long term and support our vision of empowering energy freedom for all. We’ll continuously review pricing to ensure it remains fair and reflects the cost of running the service. If we’re able to reduce costs over time, we’ll reflect that in how the service is priced. What about managing it yourself? Some customers prefer to take full control of their system locally, using their own tools and setup. That option will always remain available, and we plan to make this easier than ever before in the coming months. However, it typically requires: Additional hardware (a home server or controller) Ongoing electricity usage to run it Some networking tools and knowledge Trust and/or cost with additional software vendors Time and effort to configure, monitor, and maintain For most users, a managed cloud service is not only simpler and more reliable, but also cheaper overall once these factors are included. And, once the managed service is optimising your battery usage, this will easily offset its cost - and more - while you sleep! A personal note from me I’ve recently taken responsibility for GivEnergy Software, with a very clear goal: to make the platform sustainable and de-risk its future. I know that the GivEnergy experience - in software quality and hardware support - hasn't always been where it should be. That's on us. I am confident that we can make this work if we get this transition right and fund the product fairly and effectively. That’s why your input matters. I’ve put together a short survey to understand how you use the software and what matters most to you. It should take only a minute or two – there are 12 questions, most are multiple choice and all are optional. There’s also space for any other thoughts you may have that aren’t covered by the questions. Your responses will directly influence how we implement this change. We’ll feed back with your aggregated, anonymised responses in a future blog post, for maximum transparency. [Take the survey](https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=7uTDFetwkEifMwz8MySVMFNpDMP421RChoOPVvzTLEtUN0JNNlpQVTg0VlhJQTNaSUQxWkhOQUwxMC4u&utm_source=GivEnergy+Customers&utm_campaign=fc935fa373-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_03_31_03_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-fc935fa373-810933138&route=shorturl) What happens next We’ll review your feedback and feed back the results quickly. We’ll share full details on pricing and timing, with the new model beginning in May. We know this is a significant change, and not everyone will welcome it. My aim is to be transparent about why it’s necessary — and to ensure the platform continues to sustainably deliver real value for those who rely on it.

@"duplada"#p10597 If you take the survey you will see the range of costs they have in mind up to £12 per month LOL😆

Like who is going to pay anything for the current software that just doesn't work, that's why we are over here right.

@"duplada"#p10599 Unfortunately, without a Cloud Hosted API - currently provided by GivEnergy, > cover remote access, historical data, automation, and API usage (including third party remote access) nothing WW provides will work - currently.... so we are up sh1t creek, paddles are nowhere to be seen! Grrrrr GivEnergy!!

@"KristianS"#p10601 Well we knew this was coming warranty will be next. Do the survey and tell them what you think.

@"duplada"#p10602 Filling it in right now! and no, I won't be choosing the £12 a month option!

If GE wants any more than £5 a month then when added to the WW subs the benefit of the battery on the Agile tariff is completely lost and a straight timer would do as is possible with the Inverter Monitor app on Android devices. Unfortunately it will mean WW will lose revenue too unless a way can be found to run the WW scheduler locally.

@"WindyMiller"#p10604 Well I for one don't want that to happen

> @"WindyMiller"#p10604 Unfortunately it will mean WW will lose revenue I have the BBC APP and the paid for Inverter APP however, I use them for emergencies WW is street ahead in scheduling in every department and I want to keep it that way.

@"WindyMiller"#p10604 They (GE) seem to imagine that it is all about them and your GivEnergy lives in isolation.... Well, for some maybe. But it doesn't! The API should remain free, or at the least - a very low cost / month. I don't mind paying for functionality, but to the point of extortion and then arguing that we are saving you money by using a paid for service that they currently do not provide me is just incredible. I have sent a suitably robust reply to their survey.

Give Energy API to become Subscription Based

KristianS

amackayj Home Assistant is not for the faint-hearted.
I am building my skills there, but I still do not yet manage my GivEnergy setup with it. I am just monitoring currently.
The real question is.... does GivEnergy + WW save you time.... Because GivEnergy claim that their inbuilt integrations are enough. I personally disagree with them on that front, which is why I came to WW in the first place.
Managing this interaction can become quite time-consuming. It requires a level of understanding that most folks do not want to learn. Most folks on here are still in the early adopter category.
Saving you money each week/month to offset the costs of each service is a byproduct - because there won't be much in it going forward.

amackayj

KristianS or you can just look at the https://terravolt.co.uk/uk-grid/wind-output-forecasts/ and manually schedule your inverter!

WW saves time and money

johalareewi

Crazysquares I was thinking of running predbat on my NAS and using home assistant

Beware, there appear to be 2 flavours of HA (at least).
I have a Ugreen NAS and in the NAS App library, it has HA.
So I installed it and tried to get it going with Givenergy but no luck.
Turns out that version of HA runs in a docker container and doesn't have the Add Ons option you need.

There is another version of HA that you install on a suitable computer or virtual machine which has this option and is the one to go for. I did try it a couple of years ago on a Raspberry Pi but it was slow and not easy to setup so I gave up.
I hoped the NAS HA would be easier to get going (which is was) but it can't do the Givenergy bit.
It can however, do my troublesome Ohme Pro EV charger 😮

KristianS

johalareewi I purchased the Home Assistant Green as this is the simplest method to get going. No side loading on to NAS appliances, no installing OS with loads of security holes and no fumbling with installs that then don't support the two flavours of GivEnergy integration:

GivTCP (most popular/advanced)
GivEnergy-Local (direct integration)

I went for monitoring only on mine as that is the easiest to set up. However, I now have a choice to make going forward.... depending on the final landing price of GivEnergy Software subscription - and how long it exists for....

Speak to the Geek has lots of useful articles. However, on his latest one around Home Assistant (2022) he now points to a YouTube video from 10th May 2025, where he says he will be redoing his article at some point. The video is here: GivTCP v3 Setup in Home Assistant (2025 Guide!) | Unlock Full GivEnergy Local Control
I will warn you though... if you go down this route.... you need several components to all work together to make it work.
Easy button: Pay Subscription per month from GivEnergy | Pay Subscription to WW.

Crazysquares

johalareewi With the help of Google Gemini I got the whole home assistant / predbat set up running on my Asustor NAS within Docker.
Yes it was fiddly, but Gemini wrote and re-wrote the docker stack code until it worked.
Next task tomorrow is to figure out how it all gives me the control I want. Interestingly my boiler supplier was on their list of integrations so maybe a wider control ecosystem beckons!!!

Ifgow

johalareewi

That’s odd, I run HAOS as a virtual machine on my QNAP NAS TS-251, and it seems to speak quite happily to my GivEnergy and Solaredge kit.

paulcynamon

Although disappointed that GivEnergy Cloud Api will become a subscription, I will have no hesitation in paying if it means I can continue to use WonderWatt. WonderWatt is a great app, saves me loads of money and the support team are excellent.

The latest comms from Giv Energy Software team was very informative. I had no idea that the software and hardware elements of Giv would be such different business entities. It was also good that they shared the results of their questionnaire so quickly and answered many of the concerns that people had addressed on this and other forums.

Problems will persist with hardware side of things no doubt and that is my major concern now moving forward as we all know the support team is hopeless.

Crazysquares

The problem with so many things in the home and cars now too is we almost sleepwalk into not realising the dependencies or indeed SPoF that we are adopting.
I had already taken mitigating actions for other cloud based home control environments but had not got round to this one. I dare say it will not be difficult but must go dig out the paperwork on the warranties which is the bigger concern and may not be worth a jot.

Green transition!! I should have known better!!!

duplada

After yesterdays Email from Givenergy quoting the price etc I decided to send then an email to Givenergy Software to clarify some points for my own understanding.

I have a Dual AIO system with Gateway which doesn't have a "Local" mode I also wanted clarification of the use of Givenergy API by Wonder Watt. At £5 per month as much as I don't like this extra cost I have a feeling that this time around the software and support will be much improved, and am I therefore going to go ahead with the subscription. My overriding aim is to continue to use Wonder Watt for my scheduling which enables me to run 24/7 hands off.

Below is my email conversation with Givenergy Software. I have to say that they were very quick to reply.

I wrote "I have a Gateway and Dual AIO system, which has never had local access when using the App. Can you tell me if this will change with your new subscription model? I also use the services of Wonder Watt for scheduling, I know that they use your API, my question here is that, do you bill Wonder watt for API services or do I need a subscription for that?"

The Givenergy Software reply was promptly received and is a follows.

"Thanks for getting in touch.

Regarding your system not supporting local access - we're working on resolving that. In the meantime, any hardware that does not support local access will be provided with free cloud access so that you can continue to use your system.

We don't have a relationship with Wonder Watt; anyone who shares their API key with a third party will need the Premium Tier to continue to do so. This is because Wonder Watt - and others - charge a subscription fee, but GivEnergy Software pays for the servers that actually action the commands. We'll reach out to Wonder Watt in the coming weeks and see if they would be interested in a commercial agreement.

Hope that helps.

Best,
GivEnergy Software"

So @admin expect and email from Givenergy Software

johalareewi

Ifgow That’s odd, I run HAOS as a virtual machine

That will work.
I installed the HA APP from the Ugreen NAS app store which doesn't work.
It needs to be the full blown HAOS version.

sniveling-border

I am considering using a low power router with VPN like Gl.inet beryl ax (gl-mt3000). With this you can create a Python program which can run on the Router via a shell script. The control can also call the solar forecast and set up Import and Export windows based on Octopus Agile prices. Gemini says I can copy/paste the 70 lines of code I need to make it work. This would give me local as well as remote access through VPN. Has anyone tried to do this?

amdsimpson

has anyone tried the 'local only access' in the Givenergy App that givenergy talk about?
I tried it today and it seemed to show me the power flows, updating every 10s.
It doesnt however seem to give any other data or even allow the control of manual or scheduled charge or discharge of the battery. has anyone else seen anything different?
otherwise the app based manual access is USELESS

sniveling-border

amdsimpson I tried mine and it found my inverter but showed only the circular panels,battery,grid and house in the center all displaying 0. It should be released within the next 10 days so we may be too early.

johalareewi

amdsimpson It doesnt however seem to give any other data

That is what is being reported on the GE forum and is consistent with recent GE software releases. 🙁
One reason why I won't be paying them £5 a month because their new stuff just doesn't work.

stuarth

The problem is though you won't be able to use Wonder Watt. I am in a real quandary about whether to pay the sub so I can continue to use Wonder Watt which I like as being a good half way house between complete automation and allowing me to make decisions on selling back to the grid, or taking the bull by the horns and learning how to use home assistant and predbat. Even Predbat Cloud is not expensive if your not having to pay two subscriptions as they are increasing their own server space so you don't have to have the GivEnergy API. They have also said that they are going to onboard GivEnergy systems first because of the current situation.

Pourl

stuarth

I am in the same boat and have decided to try the Android app as a half way house.
Bought a cheap tablet for £30 and paid the £10 for premium access.

https://forum.givenergymonitor.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=2

stuarth

Pourl I have tried the Android app and have paid for premium access but for me it's not reliable enough to be left on its own and not really suited to Agile. For me, after a few hours I get disconnections and read errors and I have to restart the app to get it to reconnect to the inverter. I have done battery optimization etc so it's not that and it's on a tablet I bought just to run that so nothing else is loaded. Also I cannot find a reliable way to connect remotely.

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