Ratings & Levels

Entity ID tip

<home_name> is a placeholder for your Tibber home display name in Home Assistant. Entity IDs are derived from the displayed name (localized), so the exact slug may differ. Can't find a sensor? Use the Entity Reference (All Languages) to search by name in your language.

The integration provides two classification systems for electricity prices. Both are useful, but serve different purposes.

Ratings vs Levels at a Glance

	Ratings	Levels
Source	Calculated by integration	Provided by Tibber API
Scale	3 levels (LOW, NORMAL, HIGH)	5 levels (VERY_CHEAP → VERY_EXPENSIVE)
Basis	Trailing 24h average	Daily min/max range
Best for	Automations (simple thresholds)	Dashboard displays (fine granularity)
Configurable	Yes (thresholds)	Gap tolerance only
Automation attribute	rating_level (always lowercase English)	level (always uppercase English)

Which to use?

• Automations: Use ratings (3 simple states, configurable thresholds, hysteresis)
• Dashboards: Use levels (5 color-coded states, more visual granularity)
• Advanced automations: Combine both (e.g., "LOW rating AND VERY_CHEAP level")

---

Rating Sensors

Rating sensors classify prices relative to the trailing 24-hour average, answering: "Is the current price cheap, normal, or expensive compared to recent history?"

How Ratings Work

The integration calculates a percentage difference between the current price and the trailing 24-hour average:

Show formula: How Ratings Work

difference = ((current_price - trailing_avg) / abs(trailing_avg)) × 100%

This percentage is then classified:

Rating	Condition (default)	Meaning
LOW	difference ≤ -10%	Significantly below recent average
NORMAL	-10% < difference < +10%	Within normal range
HIGH	difference ≥ +10%	Significantly above recent average

Hysteresis (default 2%) prevents flickering: once a rating enters LOW, it must cross -8% (not -10%) to return to NORMAL. This avoids rapid switching at threshold boundaries.

Enlarge

The 2% gap between entering (−10%) and leaving (−8%) a state prevents the sensor from flickering back and forth when prices hover near a threshold.

Available Rating Sensors

Sensor	Scope	Description
Current Price Rating	Current interval	Rating of the current 15-minute price
Next Price Rating	Next interval	Rating for the upcoming 15-minute price
Previous Price Rating	Previous interval	Rating for the past 15-minute price
Current Hour Price Rating	Rolling 5-interval	Smoothed rating around the current hour
Next Hour Price Rating	Rolling 5-interval	Smoothed rating around the next hour
Yesterday's Price Rating	Calendar day	Aggregated rating for yesterday
Today's Price Rating	Calendar day	Aggregated rating for today
Tomorrow's Price Rating	Calendar day	Aggregated rating for tomorrow

Key Attributes

Attribute	Description	Example
rating_level	Language-independent rating (always lowercase)	low
difference	Percentage difference from trailing average	-12.5
trailing_avg_24h	The reference average used for classification	22.3

Usage in Automations

Best Practice: Always use the rating_level attribute (lowercase English) instead of the sensor state (which is translated to your HA language):

Show YAML: Usage in Automations

# ✅ Correct — language-independent
condition:
    - condition: template
      value_template: >
          {{ state_attr('sensor.<home_name>_current_price_rating', 'rating_level') == 'low' }}

# ❌ Avoid — breaks when HA language changes
condition:
    - condition: state
      entity_id: sensor.<home_name>_current_price_rating
      state: "Low"  # "Niedrig" in German, "Lav" in Norwegian...

Configuration

Rating thresholds can be adjusted in the options flow:

1. Go to Settings → Devices & Services → Tibber Prices → Configure
2. Navigate to Price Rating Thresholds
3. Adjust LOW/HIGH thresholds, hysteresis, and gap tolerance

See Price Rating Thresholds for details.

---

Level Sensors

Level sensors show the Tibber API's own price classification with a 5-level scale:

Level	Meaning	Numeric Value
VERY_CHEAP	Exceptionally low	-2
CHEAP	Below average	-1
NORMAL	Typical range	0
EXPENSIVE	Above average	+1
VERY_EXPENSIVE	Exceptionally high	+2

Available Level Sensors

Sensor	Scope
Current Price Level	Current interval
Next Price Level	Next interval
Previous Price Level	Previous interval
Current Hour Price Level	Rolling 5-interval window
Next Hour Price Level	Rolling 5-interval window
Yesterday's Price Level	Calendar day (aggregated)
Today's Price Level	Calendar day (aggregated)
Tomorrow's Price Level	Calendar day (aggregated)

Gap tolerance smoothing is applied to prevent isolated level flickers (e.g., a single NORMAL between two CHEAPs → corrected to CHEAP). Configure in Price Level Gap Tolerance.

How Long Does It Stay Cheap?

The Current Price Level sensor (current_interval_price_level) tells you how long the current cheap or expensive stretch lasts, and when the next one starts. A stretch is a run of intervals with CHEAP or VERY_CHEAP (or EXPENSIVE or VERY_EXPENSIVE), after gap tolerance smoothing.

Attribute	Description	Example
cheap_until	End of the current cheap stretch; null if the price isn't cheap right now, or if the end isn't known yet (see below)	2026-10-14T05:30:00+02:00
next_cheap_start	Start of the next cheap stretch after the current one	2026-10-13T20:15:00+02:00
expensive_until	End of the current expensive stretch; null if the price isn't expensive right now, or if the end isn't known yet	null
next_expensive_start	Start of the next expensive stretch after the current one	2026-10-14T07:00:00+02:00

These complement the best and peak price periods, which are calculated differently and can be shorter or longer. Typical cases:

• The best price period ends at 04:15, but prices stay cheap until 05:30 (cheap_until): no need to rush.
• Prices turn cheap at 20:15 (next_cheap_start), an hour before the best price period starts.

All values only cover the prices that are already known (today, and tomorrow from the early afternoon). If a stretch lasts until the last known price, its end isn't known yet, so cheap_until stays null even though the price is cheap. Example: at 22:00, before tomorrow's prices are published, a cheap stretch running into the night has no cheap_until. Check the sensor state to tell "not cheap" from "cheap, end unknown".

Show YAML: Notify when prices stay cheap after the best price period

automation:
    - alias: "Cheap prices continue after best price period"
      trigger:
          - platform: state
            entity_id: binary_sensor.<home_name>_best_price_period
            to: "off"
      condition:
          - condition: state
            entity_id: sensor.<home_name>_current_price_level
            state: ["cheap", "very_cheap"]
      action:
          - service: notify.mobile_app_phone
            data:
                message: >
                    {% set until = state_attr('sensor.<home_name>_current_price_level', 'cheap_until') %}
                    Best price period is over, but prices stay cheap
                    {{ 'until ' ~ (as_timestamp(until) | timestamp_custom('%H:%M')) if until else 'for now (end not known yet)' }}.