Are batteries worth it for me? 1000kw per month usage

smart_taunton_bloke

Looking for some advice about batteries. Hope someone can help?

We use about 1000kw a month. No gas. 

In March we used:

350kw daytime at 51pence - cost £178.50
625kw nighttime at 12.3pence - cost £76.80

If I got batteries could I have moved the daytime to nighttime, are these figures correct? 

Cost daytime - £178.50
Moving that to nighttime 350 x 12.3 pence £43.05
Saving - £178.50 - £43.05 = £135.45

We also have 14 solar panels that would help top up during the day. 

I'm looking at a Lux inverter and battery system that would £5,300 installed - 7.2kw. 

Am I thinking along the right lines here or am I missing something?!

Thank you

lisyloo

I’m no expert, but you seem to be suggesting saving 12kw per day with a 7kw battery.

smart_taunton_bloke

Thanks @lisyloo. Yes that's what I was thinking and needed to check. 

So I would need a bigger battery?

I think in the autumn/spring the solar would top up the battery in the daytime, so I might need to buy some daytime electric in the winter months if I kept to the 7.2kw. 

Petriix

You could potentially save a huge amount if you bought a battery and switched to Octopus Flux. You might be better also buying an EV and going for Intelligent. However, it's unclear what your high usage is caused by; high peak demand items like electric showers and heating might exceed what a typical battery system could output. Perhaps provide some more details. 

silverwhistle

That seems an expensive tariff you're on. As I have an EV I'm on Intelligent Octopus which in my area is 39.84 and 7.5, although I'm not sure what new customers would be offered. As energy prices are now coming down again it might be worth having a look around as companies try to build their market share again.

Screwdriva

At 12000 kW per annum, you are consuming nearly 4X the average household. If these numbers are accurate, a larger battery would make alot of sense (I don't say this often). 

Top battery brands worth considering are: Tesla Powerwall 2 (~£13K for 13 kW), Myenergy Libbi ( £9.5K for 10kW of storage w/ 5kW inverter) or GiveEnergy. I'd skip Lux, Growatt etc. entirely.

pcgtron

We use about 10k kW per year, and have a 13.2 kwh of battery storage.

This allows most of our electricity to be at off peak prices (we're on intelligent so 7.5pence off peak. Since our solar/battery install, my average pence per Kwh has been about 8.5 pence. 
For us, sizing the battery has helped massively on the electric bills. 
For your usage, that battery is too small. Get a bigger one, get an off peak tarrif and your cost's should come down 

Alnat1

If you are looking at Lux inverters, consider pylontech batteries. If you find you need more storage you can easily buy them online and self-install with just a couple of cables. Two US5000 (4.8kw x 2) might be a good starting point.

Grandad2b

I hope I'm not about to take this thread off topic - I keep seeing certain inverter/battery pairings being mentioned - are there batteries that have to be used with certain inverters or vice-versa or is it more a question of installers being tied to particular brands?

Krakkkers

Biggest saving would be using less, is this possible to look at first?

EcoScruples

Krakkkers said:

Biggest saving would be using less, is this possible to look at first?

The most cost effective way to save electric, nothing comes close.