Energy Prices and Tariff

Roosterrs

I am with British Gas and my tariff ends in Jan 2022.
I know I am late doing this but I had a quick look yesterday at my options. No options to switch and BG want to charge me £480 a month to fix in. I am currently paying around £130 a month.
Looking at my bill it looks like the electric is the highest cost.
I am doing nothing currently but I have been looking at solar with a battery.
A quick look around and Eon do solar panels and a battery for around £10K.
With the increase in energy costs, does adding solar to your home make a bigger saving difference now??

Astria

Before you buy anything solar, download and analyse the solar input from other properties in the UK to make sure you can get your money back. When I last looked it was going to take longer than I was prepared to stay in the property for to recoup the outlay so I didn't bother (> 10 years).

How much are you currently paying per kwh for both gas and electric? How much will you be paying if you "fix" ?

QrizB

Roosterrs said:

I am with British Gas and my tariff ends in Jan 2022.
I know I am late doing this but I had a quick look yesterday at my options. No options to switch and BG want to charge me £480 a month to fix in. I am currently paying around £130 a month.
Looking at my bill it looks like the electric is the highest cost.
I am doing nothing currently but I have been looking at solar with a battery.
A quick look around and Eon do solar panels and a battery for around £10K.
With the increase in energy costs, does adding solar to your home make a bigger saving difference now??

You've asked two different questions so here's two answers:

• Regarding your BG tariff, the general recommendation is to stick with your current fix until it ends in Jan 2022 then drop onto BG's standard variable tariff. Don't fix now.
• Regarding solar, even with the current electricity proces payback times are 7-15 years (and longer with a battery). If you're in your "forever home" and expect to stay there for that long, it might be worth doing; otherwise, you're doing it for the green feelgood factor rather than any financial reasons.
  

Roosterrs

Current payment for electric is 14.77p per KWhr and 17.55p standing charge. Gas is 2.561p per KWhr and 14.547p per day standing charge. It looks like my monthly payment has just gone up to around £240 a month as the website has been updated today. Annual gas use is 22500kwhr and electric around 6500. 

Where do you download the data to analyse?
I am just thinking about electric use. If I can generate and store my own energy and with the current price increases does it make it more cost effective. Is there a calculator online to do this check??

QrizB

Roosterrs said:

Annual gas use is 22500kwhr and electric around 6500.

At the current Ofgem cap (the BG default variable tariff, when your fix expires) that will cost around £2600/yr, so £240/month isn't entirely unreasonable.

Roosterrs said:

Where do you download the data to analyse?

Try https://pvoutput.org (it's a little idiosyncratic but you should be able to find a system near you).

Roosterrs said:

I am just thinking about electric use. If I can generate and store my own energy and with the current price increases does it make it more cost effective. Is there a calculator online to do this check??

A watt of solar panel, installed, costs around £1. In a year, in a typical UK location, a watt of panel will generate 1kWh of electricity. If you use that kWh instead of one you would normally have bought from the grid, you will save 20p. In this case you will pay for that watt of panel in 5 years. However if you export (sell) it to the grid, you will be paid 5p; in that case, payback is 20 years.

In practice most people fall somewhere between those two extremes, hence my 7-15 year estimate above.

A kWh of battery, installed, costs around £500. Each kWh that you can capture and use, rather than export, will save you an extra 15p. If you manage to cycle your battery 200 times in a year, that's £30 saved and payback will take 17 years.

jimjames

Roosterrs said:

Where do you download the data to analyse?
I am just thinking about electric use. If I can generate and store my own energy and with the current price increases does it make it more cost effective. Is there a calculator online to do this check??

You can see data here for the last 10 years for a SE England 3kWp solar installation. Total generation for the year averages 3250kWh.

http://solar-panels-review.321web.co.uk/index.php/yearly-comparison-of-solar-pv

If you can use more electricity during the day then it will pay back sooner, if you're out during the day then it will take longer.