Calibrate a utility meter

Use this action to calibrate a utility meter by setting one of its sensors to a specific value. This is handy when you want the meter to match a real-world reading, for example to line it up with the number printed on your physical energy or water meter.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To calibrate a utility meter from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select the utility meter sensor you want to calibrate.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Calibrate.
7. Set the Value to calibrate the sensor with.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as utility_meter.calibrate. A basic example looks like this:

action: utility_meter.calibrate
target:
  entity_id: sensor.energy_monthly
data:
  value: 100

Options in YAML

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching sensor entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific sensor entity, such as sensor.living_room.
• Device: every sensor entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every sensor entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every sensor entity on a floor.
• Label: every sensor entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.

Good to know

• If your meter does not use tariffs, you can reset it by running this action with value: 0.
• Calibrate each tariff sensor separately. If your meter tracks several tariffs, target the specific sensor you want to set.

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Reset a utility meter: Resets all counters of a utility meter back to zero.