Electricity Trickery
Well, our decision to install solar panels, battery storage, and an EV has just taken a very welcome turn for the better.
Overnight electricity prices have effectively been slashed in half — dropping from 7p per kWh to just 3.49p per kWh.
Because we charge the batteries overnight, we can now shift almost all of our electricity usage onto this cheaper rate. In practice, that means we’re running the house during the day almost entirely off stored energy, avoiding peak-rate electricity altogether.
Car charging is done overnight too, so that benefits as well. A full charge now costs just under £2.20, which is pretty remarkable considering it gives us at least 250 miles of range. So far that’s based on winter driving, so we’re expecting that figure to improve a bit as the weather warms up.
With export now set up, things get even more interesting. We’re paid 12p per kWh for anything we send back to the grid, which is significantly more than the overnight import rate. That flips the usual logic on its head — it actually makes more sense to export as much as possible during the day rather than use it ourselves.
Yes, the solar panels and batteries were a significant upfront investment, but with this kind of price differential, the payback period is starting to look a lot shorter.
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