def consumption_diff(before, after): out = {} for key in after: out[key] = before.get(key, 0) - after.get(key, 0) return out def consumption_to_string(dic): out = '' for key in dic: out += '{0:s}:\t{1:.2f}W\n'.format(key, dic[key]) out += 'Total:\t{0:.2f}W'.format(sum(dic.values())) return out