How are people actually calculating their home base load?

Newbie_John

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81966011#Comment_81966011

All it does is:

6h x 250 days x £0.25p/kWh x Base_Load

With small adjustments up or down.

Alnat1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81965930#Comment_81965930

The lower powered kettle also helps when my hubby forgets the rules again 😖 and puts the toaster on at the same time.

QrizB

... and puts the toaster on at the same time

Oh, toasters are energy hogs.

We had a 2-slot 4-slice toaster that worked OK but the slots weren't quite deep enough to toast a whole slice of bread. It pulled about 1200 watts.

We put up with it for perhaps a decade 😆 before deciding we needed a better one. The new one is 4-slot 4-slice. It makes good toast but draws 2200 watts 😱

A redeeming feature is that you can use half of it (2 slots, 2 slices) and it then draws half the power.

always_learning22

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81966011#Comment_81966011

Fair point to be honest. If you’re tracking your generation and usage that closely, your numbers are always going to be more grounded than a generic online estimate.

From what I’ve seen, the gap usually comes down to two things. First is self-consumption assumptions. A lot of calculators assume you’ll use a higher percentage of what you generate than you realistically can, especially during the middle of the day when demand is low. Even with a battery there are still limits around capacity, charge rate and losses.

Second is lack of time of day and behaviour modelling. If a tool is working off daily or monthly averages rather than matching generation to when you’re actually home and using power, it will naturally come out optimistic. Things like work patterns, time away and holidays make a bigger difference than most models account for.

Feels like the more accurate approach is closer to what you’re doing, matching generation against demand over time rather than just totals. Would be good to see more calculators reflect that or at least show a realistic range instead of a single figure.

Spoonie_Turtle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81965963#Comment_81965963

Yep. I'll be honest my guard was down reading this thread (silly of me, of course, looking back), but there it is.

always_learning22

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81966370#Comment_81966370

Fair point, and just to be clear I’m not trying to spam anyone here. I’m genuinely interested in building the most accurate free calculator possible because a lot of people will be looking at plug-in solar soon, and they deserve realistic figures before spending money.

I’ve taken on board the feedback from people here and added an advanced mode where users can adjust things like base load, home occupancy, battery use, usage habits and other variables that affect real savings.

I understand why some may be sceptical, but the aim is simply to provide something useful that helps people decide whether plug-in solar stacks up for their own situation. I’m not posting links or pushing anything, I’m more interested in learning from the expertise on this forum and improving the tool with proper real-world feedback.

TroubledTarts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81967129#Comment_81967129

So you are the account previously known as plug in solar?

Spoonie_Turtle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81967129#Comment_81967129

The point is you were posting deceptively, taking advantage of people's good faith and desire to help others, for covert research to help you build your tool.

If you'd done it properly and transparently nobody would have had a problem.

Plus one of the very clear forum rules is "one person = one account". https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs/#behaviour

(Begrudging credit where it's due though, at least you admitted it once you were caught instead of denying it.)

always_learning22

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81967235#Comment_81967235

Fair enough, and I’ll take that on board. From my side, I genuinely saw this as a place where people share real experiences and useful information, which is why I asked here. It wasn’t about trying to deceive anyone.

The questions were genuine because I’m personally interested in getting a plug-in solar setup myself once it’s legalised, so I wanted to understand things like base load, real savings, usage habits and what actually works in practice.

Yes, I’m building a tool from that research, but it’s intended to be a free tool that gives people realistic numbers and helps them make better decisions. If anything, the aim was to give value back from what I was learning.

That said, I understand the point about transparency, and I’ll be clearer about that going forward. I do appreciate the knowledge people shared because it has been genuinely useful.

always_learning22

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81967234#Comment_81967234

Deleted account as recommended by you