Not sure how to progress or to ask correctly. Quotes for solar and(or not) battery

Newbie_John

One key thing missing - why do you want solar panels? Your usage is tiny, big chunk of your electricity costs come from standing charge that solar won't help.

Solar cost a lot to install, your usage my halve - so let's say 1000kWh at 25p - £250 savings a year.

You need to understand where's best to sell it as that's the only way for you to have payback..

EV, better to be on ToU tarrif than have solar - tarrif has a cheap rate everyday, unlike sun that shines sometimes and almost doesn't in winter.

Regarding grants, check your mortgage provider - quite a few give a £1k under green home grants, Barclays, Halifax etc.

AboutUs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999918#Comment_81999918

OK, Thanks. Other comments from you apreciated.

If anyone can recommend in S Wales then, that could be handy. Looks

AboutUs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000212#Comment_82000212

Well, the idea was to be that much in my pocket after pay off and sell back options.

So, am I onto a hiding because shiny rather than need? EV was a recent thing but long lead time from manufacturer means I have a date in June for delivery. No day, just June, that will be when we shift tariffs (charger already in).

But that raises the question then, as we shift load, wait and see (not thought of that)? This wasn't going to be urgent must be tomorrow, the quotes are to see if it works, then make a decision.

Grants wise, no mortgage but reading a new Gov initiative in one business online a few days ago.

QrizB

There's another live South Wales thread here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6668485/solar-panels-who-to-trust

Maybe the two of you can compare notes / quotes?

AboutUs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999768#Comment_81999768

Not rural and not had a blackout in the 20 odd years here. Understood.

Reed_Richards

I have been advocating that a battery is much more worthwhile if you are on an EV tariff. Yesterday was mixed sun and cloud but chilly for the time of year. This is how the state of charge of my 6.5 kW battery varied during the day.

I don't let the charge level drop below 10% and it was still at 15% at midnight. I then charged it up to 90% starting at midnight, the start of my cheap period; charging took about 100 minutes. I left it at 90% until my cheap period finished at 6 am. After that usage in the house causes it to discharge until it gets down to 70% at 8:50. After that there is enough solar power to charge it up, it reaches 100% charge at 12:00, stays fully charged until 16:00 and is down to 10% by 21:45. It's a 6.5 kWh battery so I used 5.85 kWh (plus solar) during that time. So I have been using cheap rate or solar electricity from midnight to 21:45 then day rate from 21:45 until midnight. Current pricing means that I can charge my battery at night for less than I can export electricity so I don't have to worry that the battery spends 4 hours at 100% charge.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999768#Comment_81999768

Just to add, there may be other reasons for acquiring the right battery. Whole house backup is important to some of the rural homeowners who experience regular blackouts, but no £3K battery will deliver this.

A lot of batteries will not deliver that without the extra EPS module. Something a good installer should be asking if you require.

Perhaps more concerning - most EV tariffs have become decidedly less favourable since the War in Iran commenced, further reducing the appeal of a battery sadly.

That is not what the figures are saying. Auction prices for EV's are well above CAP price. Dealers are struggling to find stock, as demand is out stripping supply.

Even with the recent IOG price rise, I am paying less than pre dispute. Unlike ICE fueled vehicles.

I'm still getting prices for a 10kWh battery at home. Which will cover our daily usage, excluding EV's. So battery will mean that all (99.9% of time) home use will be at under 7p kWh rather than 28p kWh. Sure it will take a long time to pay back, but that is not a worry at my age. I'm looking at the far cheaper than the current £70 to £90 electric bills.

AboutUs

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81999902#Comment_81999902

Making the case for our EV to ourselves after wet belt shock, early this year I pulled a years worth of fuel station bills from the bank then found a site that compares EV vs petrol particular to my use. EV was a no brainer on cheap. Pretty sure I plugged in the day time and it was still a winner though obviously not as sweet as the cheap rate.

Daytime use now we have washing machine, tumble dryer (heat pump) and dishwasher. Dishwasher puts in 14.5kWh a month (give or take) says the app. That I can put to start on whatever time I need. Tumble is an old heat pump so not able to time or put a timed socket in(thought I could but nothing in instructions but cheap to run), and washing machine will still be daytime though that can be timed (option there to put the washing on at night and tumble in the morning). Thought I might have been able to shift the the tumble but only the dishwasher now. Not a lot else we can do.

Screwdriva

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000546#Comment_82000546

I don't know what/ how you are comparing but I am aware of several households paying <6p per KWh on the pre-war Intelligent Go tariff (cheaper than Gas). The post war version of IG offer 8p per KWh (fixed) with a higher daytime rate and standing charge.

Sure, there are many reasons to invest in a battery, including passion, but numbers do not lie. If a return on investment is important, a battery starts to make sense with household electricity consumption upwards of ~4000 KWh per year.

Martyn1981

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82000510#Comment_82000510

Yep, I totally get the battery due to EV argument. Even with PV our energy consumption didn't make TOU viable. But the moment we got a BEV, roughly doubling our leccy consumption, and all easily shifted to cheap rate, it was well worth doing.

Then adding the battery* meant we could go all electric (heating, cooking and DHW), and still use cheap rate for the whole day, even in the toughest month January. We imported 1,254kWh cheap rate, and 20kWh day rate. Annual bill should be ~£100 or less after deducting export income. Each element needs to be considered, but PV, batts, EV, cheap rate (and heat pump) all lean on each other, boosting the gains from each other.

Cost wise, cheap rate (with an EV tariff) can be very cheap. I'm more than happy with my 7p/kWh Octopus rate, but the more 'real rate' is probably the 5.2p it dropped to on April 1st, before going straight back up to 6.9p (1st May) after the impacts of the Iran war hit us.

*But we do have two large Solaredge batts giving 20kWh, plus some cheaper plug-n-play 8kWh batts, so it does cost, nothing for free, so to speak, but I'm happy with the investment.