Early access. Connecting and fully configuring a Shelly device is live today. The automation itself -- SaveElectro actually switching an appliance on during a cheap window -- is still in active development. See "What works today" below for the honest breakdown.
If you've never heard of Shelly: it's a small, WiFi-connected relay or smart plug -- made by a company of the same name -- that switches a real electrical circuit on or off remotely, from an app on your phone instead of a switch on the wall. That's the one piece SaveElectro can't do on its own: knowing the price is cheap is one thing, actually flipping something on is another.
Setup happens through the free Shelly app (iOS and Android) -- that's also where your Shelly account gets created, before you connect it to SaveElectro.
SaveElectro already knows, hour by hour, when electricity is genuinely cheap. A connected Shelly device is what turns that knowledge into something that actually happens, without you watching prices or setting your own alarms.
01
📉
A cheap window arrives
SaveElectro spots a genuinely cheap stretch of hours today, the same price data your alerts already use.
02
🔌
Your Shelly device switches on
No app to open, no reminder to act on -- it just happens.
03
💰
Real savings, not a guess
A power-monitoring device (see below) shows exactly what ran during cheap hours -- an honest number, not an estimate.
A few real scenarios, each honestly labelled -- not everything below works today, and we'd rather you know exactly which is which.
💧
Water heater
In development
Shift your tank's heating to the cheapest hours of the day, fully automatically. The tank's own thermostat keeps it electrically safe no matter when power arrives -- exactly why this was the first case we designed. We've also built a safety net on top: if price stays high for too long, it heats anyway rather than risk the tank going cold. More than one tank in the household works the same wayⓘA cottage plus a main home, or two tanks on one property -- each connected device runs its own independent schedule. They never share settings or state. -- there's no limit on how many.
What you'll be able to set
Heat when price is at or below6.3 c/kWh*
Dead-band (prevents flickering)0.5 c/kWh*
Minimum on/off duration300 seconds*
Safety netOff 5h → on 2h*
* Example values shown — yours are fully adjustable once connected.
🔓 You're never locked out. Override it in Automation for a lasting change, or reach the relay directly through Shelly's own app or right at the device itself for anything more immediate -- automation never has exclusive control of the circuit.
🌡️
Room heating (convectors)
In development
Common across Nordic and Scandinavian homes -- shift a convector's heating to the cheapest hours, room by room. Each convector gets its own relay and runs its own independent scheduleⓘSeveral convectors in one home just means several relays, each assigned separately. There's no limit on how many, and they don't need to know about each other., so heating two rooms differently is the normal case here, not a special setup.
What you'll be able to set
Heat when price is at or below6.3 c/kWh*
Dead-band (prevents flickering)0.5 c/kWh*
Minimum on/off duration300 seconds*
Safety netOff 1h → on 1.5h*
* Example values shown — yours are fully adjustable once connected. Room heating's own default is shorter than the water heater's, since a room cools faster than a tank does.
🔓 You're never locked out. Override it in Automation for a lasting change, or reach the relay directly through Shelly's own app or right at the device itself for anything more immediate -- automation never has exclusive control of the circuit.
🧺
Washing machine & dishwasher
Advice only
Many appliance manuals say not to power a washing machine, dishwasher or dryer through an external timer or switch, and a Finnish home insurer advises running them only when you are at home. So SaveElectro does not switch these: it messages you when a cheap window opens, and you press Start.
🔌
EV charger
Charger's own control
Wallboxes are normally scheduled through their own app, API or OCPP, which is how Shelly's own EV charging example works. A relay only suits a charger designed for external control, so SaveElectro does not switch chargers yet: it tells you the cheapest hours to set on the charger.
🧖
Sauna heater
Not via a relay
A sauna heater that can be started remotely must have a door switch or pass the cover test (standard EN 60335-2-53), because the danger is flammable material left on or near the stove. That safety lives in the heater's own control system, and a generic relay is not part of it. We found no Shelly product certified for this, so SaveElectro does not switch sauna heaters. Use your heater manufacturer's own remote control; SaveElectro's planner tells you the cheapest time to start heating. Details in the
buying guide.
🔋
Battery charging (reserve power)
In development
Build up a reserve of cheap energy for whenever you actually need it, instead of a fixed daily schedule -- charge below a price you set, or within a price range, with an optional daily time cap. No forced charging when prices are high: your mains stays the fallback, you decide when to draw on it. Important: this is for a standalone battery with its own charge controller (a portable power station, a simple battery bank) -- not an integrated home battery system like a Tesla Powerwall or BYD Battery-Box, which already has its own grid-charging schedule built into its own app and shouldn't be switched with a generic relay.
What you'll be able to set
Charge when price isAt or below 6.3 c/kWh*
Daily charging cap4 hours*
ScheduleDaily — runs every day
* Example values shown — yours are fully adjustable once connected.
🔓 You choose exactly how many hours it's allowed to run per day, or switch to on-demand for just the days you need it -- and regardless of what SaveElectro decides, you can always reach the charger directly through Shelly's app or the device itself.
Live now: connecting a Shelly device to your SaveElectro account, and fully configuring it, from Automation -- choose what it controls (water heater, room heating, or battery charging), set your price rules, and for water heaters, the duty-cycle safety net too. All of it is saved to your account today and is completely safe -- none of it switches anything on by itself yet.
In development: the automation actually running -- SaveElectro reading your settings and flipping the relay in real time, across all three. Configuring everything now means there's nothing left to set up once it launches -- you won't need to come back and do this step again.
A Shelly device can be automated several ways. Here's an honest look at where SaveElectro's approach genuinely differs -- and where the alternatives have their own real advantages.
No hub to install or maintain
Our own
Home Assistant Blueprints are genuinely great, but they need a separate always-on HA server (often a Raspberry Pi) running continuously. This integration talks to your device directly through your SaveElectro account -- nothing extra to run.
Works whether or not you have solar
Solar-inverter bridges to Shelly (Huawei's EMMA, third-party apps like Zerofy) are built around routing solar surplus -- price-timing is usually a secondary mode layered on top. SaveElectro works the same for any household on a spot contract, solar or not.
What you actually pay, not just the raw spot price
Community price-automation scripts typically pull raw market prices and leave VAT, margin, and grid fees for you to add yourself. SaveElectro already does that -- the same real, contract-aware pricing your alerts and reviews already use, across all 7 markets.
The honest trade-off: convenience for control
Writing your own script against Shelly's API is free and fully yours to control if that's what you'd rather do. SaveElectro's trade-off is the other direction -- we handle reconnection, token refresh, and a built-in safety timeout, in exchange for it being our system rather than one you maintain yourself.
The same single unit covers all three: we recommend the Shelly 1PM Gen3 -- the "PM" adds power monitoring on top of a plain relay, so once automation launches you'll see the real energy shifted into cheap hours, not an estimate. A 2-3kW water heater draws well within its 16A rating, and Nordic convectors (typically 400W-2000W) leave even more headroom.
Available from Shelly's own store, Amazon, or Nordic electronics retailers. Want the details first? Our relay buying guide covers models, load limits and what to ask your electrician.
⚠ A note on safety. A Shelly relay switches real mains electricity. Have a licensed electrician handle the wiring into your water heater's or convector's switch circuit -- never DIY. Sauna heaters are a different case entirely: they have to be started through the heater's own certified control system, never a generic relay (see the buying guide).
Ready when the automation is
Connect your Shelly device now -- it takes a minute, and means you're first in line the moment the automation goes live.
Once water heaters are proven, we will look at other appliances where a relay is the right tool, and ask you which ones you want first. Appliances that should not be switched by a relay, like washing machines, keep getting advice messages instead. No date yet.
Shelly has its own active community -- forums and Nordic-specific groups -- worth a look if you want to go deeper on the hardware itself.
Questions about how this works with SaveElectro specifically? Email us -- we're happy to help, especially this early.