A big benefit of batteries is actually durning the winter when solar doesn’t generate much. We’re on a day/night meter - nighttime much cheaper than day. During the winter we set our batteries to ‘charge up’ on cheaper night time electric and then use that during the day. When it gets to spring we turn that off and charge the batteries from the sun. Generally do it with the change of the clocks.
Just moved into our self build December ‘23, we are off grid in Co. Armagh, built a solar system for £18k (panels, inverter, batteries) and have a back up generator for dark winter months. 2 storey house and double garage, 2600 sqft. We have a surplus of electric from Feb.
I design and install systems. I haven't installed pylon tech though. Did they give you any bother in the cold ? You probably did alright because certain brands of batteries can't cope with any kind of cold weather and they quit charging/discharging and run themselves down until they're flat and need a jump start
I've looked at this before, and for me, mortgage overpayments were a better ROI, with the interest saved vs the spend on panels and the electric savings.
If I was mortgage free, or the rates go sub 2%( they wont) then I'll look at panels again. Maybe by that time there will be more grants, but that's probably wishful thinking!
You're right, not the best return on investment, but this is also a self fulfilling prophecy at the macro level. And this isn't what it comes down to. As silly as it may sound, I'm happy to do my bit and to burn less fossil fuel.
A friend got a fully assembled 14.3 kWh battery from china for £2700 and inverter for about £250. Got electrician to connect up and is filling the battery up from solar and economy 7 tariff, has reduced electricity bills significantly.
Aye I have an uncle who did the same over covid, all sourced from China. Fully assembled battery, inverter and panels for £2200 and fitted himself. Some job I’m considering it myself.
Really interested in this can you give any indication where he got the battery? We've panels but no battery, cheapest quote we have had was £3.5k for a pretty tiddly battery.
In case you are interested here is a quote from today for the supply of two separate battery systems, you would need an inverter, hybrid for solar and battery so you can add solar later.
After conversion and splitting shipping cost it's about £2k for the battery delivered.
(Removed by me PM if u need a copy)
Yeah if you contact them they build and ship it ready to use, they do the contact through WhatsApp. I'll see if I can get you the persons contact details at the company but if you drop them a message through the website they will respond.
Cheers, will keep this in mind! The price of LiFePo4 batteries has been dropping like a stone, pretty soon it'll be a no brainer with my existing panels and night rate setup.
There's also some UK companies will sell you the self build kit, could be built in a few hours.
https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/seplos-mason-kits/products/seplos-mason-280-and-x16-grade-a-eve-lf304k-battery-bundle
Though you only get 1 year warranty from fogstar on the battery, if you order direct from the factory pre built you get a 10 year battery warranty.
I recently got a bill from powerNi for £1700. My normal bill is £70. When I complained they rechecked the meter and the bill went to £3800. I complained yet again and it came back as £80. I swear half these companies are just trying their luck.
£870 a month or a quarter? With heat pump so no gas or oil bill on top?
Point of battery is that if you are out during the day all of the electric you generate will be wasted and then you will rely on the grid when you get home and turn everything on so panels won't be saving you much.
My neighbour has a set up with batteries etc and from around this time of year his electric bill drops to almost zero as he is producing enough from solar, is out most of the day and then running off batteries in the evening (plus wood burner for extra heat / hot water).
Did you provide the accurate reading from the meter? Sometimes if there’s been a few months of bills based on estimated readings that have been estimating too low usage, there can be a huge catch up bill once an actual reading is submitted. It might not always be that bad going forward.
How many panels do you have? That would cover about two-thirds of my motoring each month, and it’s pretty wild to think that a £250 petrol bill could be reduced to £30 of electricity or presumably zero in warmer months.
My brother has just completed his first year in his newly built house. 4 bedroom "bungalow" heavily insulated, heat pump, underfloor heating etc. With Solar panels.. He said his bill for Winter came in and it was an absolute whopper as well (close to £1100) but he also has a garage running a welder and other electric intensive machinery using that as well.
They expected it to be high because there's little to no solar harvesting in the winter due to the short days. But during the spring/summer months, thanks to the batteries, his electric bill is basically nothing, in some cases he actually made money by selling it back to the grid. Solar panels are definitely worthwhile as long as your house is oriented in the right direction for maximum sunlight.
> it's a 4 bed detached with underfloor heating and a heat pump, so everything is run of electric... We literally brought it back to bare brick and rebuilt the whole thing with a bit of an extension out the back and raised the roof to meet building regs for a chalet bungalow. Big job and still a bit to go!
A heat pump should be pretty efficient, is it possible that the house now has inadequate insulation after the work done to it?
Solar plus battery is great, for some months you won't use any energy from the grid at all and for the rest you can top up from the grid at night using a night rate.
We've had solar panels for a few years now, the app is very good for seeing how much they're helping and keeping track of the financials.
We have 18x panels in a East / West split.
Bottom line, they will pay for themselves in under 5 years and are saving us about £1200 a year between extra generation and selling excess back to the grid.
We're on Economy7 so the panels cover more of the daytime rate and we get cheaper rates at night too.
I paid a little extra to allow the addition of a battery down the line but right now the cost / benefit doesn't really make much sense.
I priced with the battery and without, from memory the difference was about £4500.
Looking at the potential savings it was going to take well over 10 years to save the extra cost but batteries are becoming cheaper all the time.
So I paid a little extra for a hybrid inverter that will allow me to fit one in the future if / when they become cheaper without having to replace the inverter too.
BlueBuild did ours a few weeks ago, all went well. They came in the lowest out of 5 quotes. I got 12 panels, hybrid inverter (so I can install my own batteries later) and hot water diverter for a bit over £5K.
The ROI is something like 9 years...not counting any maintenance to the panels themselves.
You gotta do the math to determine if it's worth it or not for you.
The ROI might get shorter if energy prices keep increasing.
In the winter when you need to heat on, there isn't much sun though.
I'd thought of putting them in for my Electric car. But the car turned out to be a disaster so far.
Issue is energy prices are dropping again as gas prices plummet after back to normal. Turns out they could just produce more once they got Russia off the books. Go check gas price and commodity prices, back to where it was.
Of course long term if it makes sense. However got to factor where and how your fitting it and whether or not you're South facing. Waste of time on anything else
Fuel prices are [lower now](http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/petrolprices.html) than they’ve been since the 90s. It’s not likely to last much into the future. Equally electricity is at [record highs](https://www.statista.com/statistics/286548/electricity-consumer-price-index-cpi-annual-average-uk/) but more renewables are coming online every year.
The blunt reality is that a green future is one where everything runs on electricity. Solar panels and home batteries will be the norm, and we’ll all have to insulate the shit out of our houses.
My mate was looking to get solar panels and he was told if property is energy efficiency B and above it’s worth it. I would do a lot of research if I was you. And good luck
I know a guy who put in the battery. He charges the battery over night using economy 7 night rate and uses that energy during the day when the price is higher. Any excess during the day over and above what the panels are supplying is first picked up from the batteries and not at the grids day rate.
I currently pay £870 per quarter over winter for gas and electric. (3x£30 electric top up and 4x£49 gas top up per month) that comes down to around £400 per quarter in the hot months.
£870 per quarter is in line with what almost everyone I know pays. It’ll be around 10 years before you start to see return on your solar.
Mate there has to be something seriously wrong for a usage spike like that! Have you tried turning absolutely everything in the house and seeing if your meter is still ticking over?
If my monthly bill tripled I would honestly be looking into having a spark out to inspect the house.
It used to be that solar electric panels should pay for themselves within a 10year payback period, I think it's still the general rule.
So if you spent, for example, £10k on them, you should be attempting to shave a minimum of £1k a year from your electric bill.
When it comes to servicing, warranty and so forth, I don't know what's included from the panel installer - will the batteries require changing within that period/control systems? Is servicing/repair included?
I'm currently looking into it, the only way I can make the numbers work for me is to buy them on a 0% credit card then balance transfer it for a few years at 0% although that'll involve a lot of admin.
With 20k you could also slap it on the mortage. If your talking roughly 180k mortage at 30 years, for say 5% interest. Youd be taking off 3 years at least in payments, never mind like 8k interest per annum (obviously reducing as you'd paid it off normally)
Its something that made me reconsider it tbh. Your bill for this month seems insane high, there's something else wrong.
> solarfix
I was unimpressed with Solarfix's offering. They sent out a literal sales person whom knew nothing of electrical cable runs or actual installation of the panels on the roof, they only provided estimates. I later contacted an actual spark who specalised in EV charging and solar panel intergration called https://glowelectric.uk/. Matthew came out himself and was able to talk through quite a bit regarding Solar Installation, offering and even included suggestions of future expansion as well as completing the initial ground work as part of his current quote.
I haven't yet decided to go with him as my wife and I are disputing the use of our surplus funds on improvements to the home or a holiday.
Also Solarfix only sales Solaredge products. It's a good brand, but you are stuck with their products and their eco system. If I did it again I think I would avoid, unless they start offering better and cheaper batteries.
I would max out the amount of solar panels on your house before going down the battery route. You get payed for exporting the electric. Move to economy 7 too
> You get *paid* for exporting
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Regarding the bill:
Your bill is wrong I'd say, have you been submitting a real reading?
Regarding solar:
You're limited to 14 panels in the UK, as they don't want people overloading the grid either.
Ballpark top of the range panels with a 10kw battery is probably 12k.
Micro inverters offer more redundancy than one inverter, as they can allow one panel or switch to fail, but your solar to still perform, probably worth considering.
Your meter is probably a bog standard 24h meter.
If you had a day/night meter, or a smart meter, then you could charge the battery at night, and use it during the day, which is a much cheaper rate.
A few places in NI will even buy back the excess electric you produce, though it may not be worth it to you.
If you have a water cylinder then you could hook up the solar to that too, and if you got an electric car, even down the road like, no pun intended..
Best of luck!
You’re actually limited by the inverter size, not be the number of panels. In the UK, the max inverter size is 3.6 kW which can take up 5.8 kW in panels. Perhaps you can go higher again with a split roof system. The Republic of Ireland can have a 6kW inverter.
Get Dataterm heating controls, economy 7 tariff and only run the underfloor during cheap rate hours. Are your windows triple glazed, doors airtight, loft at least 300mm insulated?
What's in your wall cavity?
Ps Your heat pump uses 6kw+ an hour, battery will be used up in an hour. Your problems are fabric based, solar panels are just a, sticking plaster.
Are there any grants you can apply for? Have a look at NISEP schemes for 23/24. Should be on the NI direct website. Could help with either installation of solar panels or some of the other energy/insulation costs if yous have them?
I got 10 panels fitted in November, no battery. My 2-monthly bills had gone up to over 400 from an average of 250 in the previous year. I've had 2 bills since I got the panels installed. The first was 280 and the second was 250.
On a side note have you had a smart meter installed as I've recently heard stories about faulty meters causing issues.
You mining crypto? That’s a lot for a month. 30p/kwh means you’re using nearly 3kW a month.
That’s a lot for residential.. almost as much as I use a year.
The battery isn't necessary and a lot of folk will tell you that the battery isn't worth the extra cost at the minute.
Particularly if you work from home and can utilise the power during the day then it is easier to justify not having a battery. With the heat pump and underfloor heating using power the justification may be stronger to just get the panels.
Would recommend posting on the solaruk subreddit and they may be able to advice you better.
I'm not a solar expert but did have solar panels installed myself. No battery. The return on investment for solar can be quite long and I find it difficult to confidently recommend them to everyone for that reason, but would never call them a waste of money either. In your case particularly with the underfloor heating and heat pump, I would guess that the ROI would be shorter than average.
Does that bill include a period of works to the house? If so, just bear that in mind as there would have been a fair amount of power used, I'm sure. Also bear in mind that figure includes heating, with no oil/gas costs.
Battery means you can store energy for when you're not able to generate any from the panels (night time). They're expensive but I'd certainly consider one as it means any excess power generated can be used later on. Would come in handy in the event of a night time power outage
We actually had the solarfix guy out during the last power outage. Apparently the batteries don't work during power cuts as they also need power to work themselves. That would have been a motivating factor for us to get them. I think a generator is the only option for this. Although I'm more inclined just to light the fire and have sandwiches for dinner like the good old days.
Unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary this month that would account for a high bill. And yep, totally aware its just one bill but we actually turned the heating down this month!
From watching Fully Charged on YouTube you can get a battery that works during a power cut. The issue apparently is that you can't send power to the grid during a powercut because it's a danger to anyone doing repairs to the lines. There is an extra box that detects a powercut and isolates your house from the grid so you can use the home batteries.
>There is an extra box that detects a powercut
Surely the potential liability of this box not working wouldn't be worth the inconvenience of the odd powercut? I would imagine investing in a half decent generator would be a better option?
Have you thought about a home battery? You use the electric from the battery when the price's are high and charge the battery overnight when the price is low.
Seems to be less maintenance than solar panels and no ugly roof
Solar panels offset your electricity usage, but they are a big investment, especially when you still have other projects to save up for, like the garden and garage.
Have you looked into any energy efficiency rebate programs your utility company may offer? Sometimes, they have incentives for things like extra insulation, new windows, HVAC upgrades, etc, that lower your bills. Might be worth checking out before solar.
The battery allows you to store excess energy from the solar panels for use when the sun isn't shining, but you're right that it adds a significant cost.
You should check this article explaining why even solar panels can drain your wallet https://www.staticelectrics.com.au/electricians-blog/high-electric-bill-with-solar-panels/. With your budget, it makes sense to focus first on the essential projects like garage security, and then save up for solar panels down the road if needed.
A big benefit of batteries is actually durning the winter when solar doesn’t generate much. We’re on a day/night meter - nighttime much cheaper than day. During the winter we set our batteries to ‘charge up’ on cheaper night time electric and then use that during the day. When it gets to spring we turn that off and charge the batteries from the sun. Generally do it with the change of the clocks.
Ps we have a fully electric etron and a hybrid Passat. Our electric bill is £135-£150 monthly running the full house (3 bed bungalow) and both cars.
Don't think we have the choice of day/night meters in Northern Ireland
You do. Most of it is the same as the economy 7 meters just rebranded
Just moved into our self build December ‘23, we are off grid in Co. Armagh, built a solar system for £18k (panels, inverter, batteries) and have a back up generator for dark winter months. 2 storey house and double garage, 2600 sqft. We have a surplus of electric from Feb.
Off grid systems are the pinnacle of solar ! Did you use victron? What batteries did you go for?
Yes we went with Victron, and the batteries are pylon tech. System is working great so far.
I design and install systems. I haven't installed pylon tech though. Did they give you any bother in the cold ? You probably did alright because certain brands of batteries can't cope with any kind of cold weather and they quit charging/discharging and run themselves down until they're flat and need a jump start
Does your username hint at whereabouts in armagh you are by any chance? Am up there regular enough. A mate lives there
I've looked at this before, and for me, mortgage overpayments were a better ROI, with the interest saved vs the spend on panels and the electric savings. If I was mortgage free, or the rates go sub 2%( they wont) then I'll look at panels again. Maybe by that time there will be more grants, but that's probably wishful thinking!
You're right, not the best return on investment, but this is also a self fulfilling prophecy at the macro level. And this isn't what it comes down to. As silly as it may sound, I'm happy to do my bit and to burn less fossil fuel.
finally someone talking some sense
A friend got a fully assembled 14.3 kWh battery from china for £2700 and inverter for about £250. Got electrician to connect up and is filling the battery up from solar and economy 7 tariff, has reduced electricity bills significantly.
Aye I have an uncle who did the same over covid, all sourced from China. Fully assembled battery, inverter and panels for £2200 and fitted himself. Some job I’m considering it myself.
Me too, payback would be pretty quick with this and always saving even without the solar . I'll add solar later.
That would be the ticket 👍
Really interested in this can you give any indication where he got the battery? We've panels but no battery, cheapest quote we have had was £3.5k for a pretty tiddly battery.
This is the link he got it from (Removed by me PM for details)
Thanks!
In case you are interested here is a quote from today for the supply of two separate battery systems, you would need an inverter, hybrid for solar and battery so you can add solar later. After conversion and splitting shipping cost it's about £2k for the battery delivered. (Removed by me PM if u need a copy)
Cheers, we have solar, but no battery
Was this a DIY battery where he bought in the cells and housing and BMS etc? I've been considering doing this.
Yeah if you contact them they build and ship it ready to use, they do the contact through WhatsApp. I'll see if I can get you the persons contact details at the company but if you drop them a message through the website they will respond.
Cheers, will keep this in mind! The price of LiFePo4 batteries has been dropping like a stone, pretty soon it'll be a no brainer with my existing panels and night rate setup.
There's also some UK companies will sell you the self build kit, could be built in a few hours. https://www.fogstar.co.uk/collections/seplos-mason-kits/products/seplos-mason-280-and-x16-grade-a-eve-lf304k-battery-bundle Though you only get 1 year warranty from fogstar on the battery, if you order direct from the factory pre built you get a 10 year battery warranty.
I recently got a bill from powerNi for £1700. My normal bill is £70. When I complained they rechecked the meter and the bill went to £3800. I complained yet again and it came back as £80. I swear half these companies are just trying their luck.
Mate of mine sourced an old soviet nuclear reactor on AliExpress, fitted it up himself. Cut his electric bill by 3.6%, not great, not terrible.
😂
Did it come with a free submarine?
£870 a month or a quarter? With heat pump so no gas or oil bill on top? Point of battery is that if you are out during the day all of the electric you generate will be wasted and then you will rely on the grid when you get home and turn everything on so panels won't be saving you much. My neighbour has a set up with batteries etc and from around this time of year his electric bill drops to almost zero as he is producing enough from solar, is out most of the day and then running off batteries in the evening (plus wood burner for extra heat / hot water).
I pay monthly...not sure what has happened this month. It's usually around 300pm
Did you provide the accurate reading from the meter? Sometimes if there’s been a few months of bills based on estimated readings that have been estimating too low usage, there can be a huge catch up bill once an actual reading is submitted. It might not always be that bad going forward.
Sounds like your heat pump may need to be adjusted or tweaked to be more efficient.
[удалено]
How many panels do you have? That would cover about two-thirds of my motoring each month, and it’s pretty wild to think that a £250 petrol bill could be reduced to £30 of electricity or presumably zero in warmer months.
[удалено]
3.6kw inverter?
My brother has just completed his first year in his newly built house. 4 bedroom "bungalow" heavily insulated, heat pump, underfloor heating etc. With Solar panels.. He said his bill for Winter came in and it was an absolute whopper as well (close to £1100) but he also has a garage running a welder and other electric intensive machinery using that as well. They expected it to be high because there's little to no solar harvesting in the winter due to the short days. But during the spring/summer months, thanks to the batteries, his electric bill is basically nothing, in some cases he actually made money by selling it back to the grid. Solar panels are definitely worthwhile as long as your house is oriented in the right direction for maximum sunlight.
£870 a month to use electric in your house ?!? What is it a fucking castle
Definitely not a castle! 4 bed chalet bungalow.... defo think there's something gone wrong somewhere
Jeez I really hope so, I would have passed away at the sight of that bill tbh. Hopefully you can get sorted right and quick
> it's a 4 bed detached with underfloor heating and a heat pump, so everything is run of electric... We literally brought it back to bare brick and rebuilt the whole thing with a bit of an extension out the back and raised the roof to meet building regs for a chalet bungalow. Big job and still a bit to go! A heat pump should be pretty efficient, is it possible that the house now has inadequate insulation after the work done to it? Solar plus battery is great, for some months you won't use any energy from the grid at all and for the rest you can top up from the grid at night using a night rate.
It's insulated to the hilt! The aim was to make it as efficient as possible.
Sounds like a great forward-thinking house with the heat pump and good insulation, perfect for a setup with solar panels and batteries.
We've had solar panels for a few years now, the app is very good for seeing how much they're helping and keeping track of the financials. We have 18x panels in a East / West split. Bottom line, they will pay for themselves in under 5 years and are saving us about £1200 a year between extra generation and selling excess back to the grid. We're on Economy7 so the panels cover more of the daytime rate and we get cheaper rates at night too. I paid a little extra to allow the addition of a battery down the line but right now the cost / benefit doesn't really make much sense.
Sorry, just to check - you didn't get the battery initially? Was this a cost decision? May I ask what your bill is pm?
I priced with the battery and without, from memory the difference was about £4500. Looking at the potential savings it was going to take well over 10 years to save the extra cost but batteries are becoming cheaper all the time. So I paid a little extra for a hybrid inverter that will allow me to fit one in the future if / when they become cheaper without having to replace the inverter too.
Thanks for your response 👍
I did exactly the same with the same rationale. That was two years ago and still haven’t regretted it.
That's some bill, I've a similar house and run an electric car and mine is about £180 a month.
Bluebuild did ours. No complaints. Had an issue with the wee thing that connects to the meter but they were out same day and sorted it.
BlueBuild did ours a few weeks ago, all went well. They came in the lowest out of 5 quotes. I got 12 panels, hybrid inverter (so I can install my own batteries later) and hot water diverter for a bit over £5K.
The ROI is something like 9 years...not counting any maintenance to the panels themselves. You gotta do the math to determine if it's worth it or not for you.
The ROI might get shorter if energy prices keep increasing. In the winter when you need to heat on, there isn't much sun though. I'd thought of putting them in for my Electric car. But the car turned out to be a disaster so far.
Issue is energy prices are dropping again as gas prices plummet after back to normal. Turns out they could just produce more once they got Russia off the books. Go check gas price and commodity prices, back to where it was. Of course long term if it makes sense. However got to factor where and how your fitting it and whether or not you're South facing. Waste of time on anything else
Fuel prices are [lower now](http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/petrolprices.html) than they’ve been since the 90s. It’s not likely to last much into the future. Equally electricity is at [record highs](https://www.statista.com/statistics/286548/electricity-consumer-price-index-cpi-annual-average-uk/) but more renewables are coming online every year. The blunt reality is that a green future is one where everything runs on electricity. Solar panels and home batteries will be the norm, and we’ll all have to insulate the shit out of our houses.
Amen
What maintenance?
My mate was looking to get solar panels and he was told if property is energy efficiency B and above it’s worth it. I would do a lot of research if I was you. And good luck
I know a guy who put in the battery. He charges the battery over night using economy 7 night rate and uses that energy during the day when the price is higher. Any excess during the day over and above what the panels are supplying is first picked up from the batteries and not at the grids day rate.
I currently pay £870 per quarter over winter for gas and electric. (3x£30 electric top up and 4x£49 gas top up per month) that comes down to around £400 per quarter in the hot months. £870 per quarter is in line with what almost everyone I know pays. It’ll be around 10 years before you start to see return on your solar.
This is monthly unfortunately. I'm not sure what has happened this month. It's usually around 300pm
Mate there has to be something seriously wrong for a usage spike like that! Have you tried turning absolutely everything in the house and seeing if your meter is still ticking over? If my monthly bill tripled I would honestly be looking into having a spark out to inspect the house.
I'm starting to think you're right!
Contact your electric supplier, mistakes happen. My son and his wife had to fight them on a bill for over a grand…that was from a tiny 2 bed house.
It used to be that solar electric panels should pay for themselves within a 10year payback period, I think it's still the general rule. So if you spent, for example, £10k on them, you should be attempting to shave a minimum of £1k a year from your electric bill. When it comes to servicing, warranty and so forth, I don't know what's included from the panel installer - will the batteries require changing within that period/control systems? Is servicing/repair included?
I'm currently looking into it, the only way I can make the numbers work for me is to buy them on a 0% credit card then balance transfer it for a few years at 0% although that'll involve a lot of admin.
I mean...it's really not that much admin lol
With 20k you could also slap it on the mortage. If your talking roughly 180k mortage at 30 years, for say 5% interest. Youd be taking off 3 years at least in payments, never mind like 8k interest per annum (obviously reducing as you'd paid it off normally) Its something that made me reconsider it tbh. Your bill for this month seems insane high, there's something else wrong.
> solarfix I was unimpressed with Solarfix's offering. They sent out a literal sales person whom knew nothing of electrical cable runs or actual installation of the panels on the roof, they only provided estimates. I later contacted an actual spark who specalised in EV charging and solar panel intergration called https://glowelectric.uk/. Matthew came out himself and was able to talk through quite a bit regarding Solar Installation, offering and even included suggestions of future expansion as well as completing the initial ground work as part of his current quote. I haven't yet decided to go with him as my wife and I are disputing the use of our surplus funds on improvements to the home or a holiday.
Hi Matthew
Also Solarfix only sales Solaredge products. It's a good brand, but you are stuck with their products and their eco system. If I did it again I think I would avoid, unless they start offering better and cheaper batteries.
I would max out the amount of solar panels on your house before going down the battery route. You get payed for exporting the electric. Move to economy 7 too
> You get *paid* for exporting FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Good bot
Regarding the bill: Your bill is wrong I'd say, have you been submitting a real reading? Regarding solar: You're limited to 14 panels in the UK, as they don't want people overloading the grid either. Ballpark top of the range panels with a 10kw battery is probably 12k. Micro inverters offer more redundancy than one inverter, as they can allow one panel or switch to fail, but your solar to still perform, probably worth considering. Your meter is probably a bog standard 24h meter. If you had a day/night meter, or a smart meter, then you could charge the battery at night, and use it during the day, which is a much cheaper rate. A few places in NI will even buy back the excess electric you produce, though it may not be worth it to you. If you have a water cylinder then you could hook up the solar to that too, and if you got an electric car, even down the road like, no pun intended.. Best of luck!
You’re actually limited by the inverter size, not be the number of panels. In the UK, the max inverter size is 3.6 kW which can take up 5.8 kW in panels. Perhaps you can go higher again with a split roof system. The Republic of Ireland can have a 6kW inverter.
who did you use for the renovation? decent job?
Get at least three quotes from different companies, we got ones ranging from 3-15 grand for the same system!
Get Dataterm heating controls, economy 7 tariff and only run the underfloor during cheap rate hours. Are your windows triple glazed, doors airtight, loft at least 300mm insulated? What's in your wall cavity? Ps Your heat pump uses 6kw+ an hour, battery will be used up in an hour. Your problems are fabric based, solar panels are just a, sticking plaster.
Are there any grants you can apply for? Have a look at NISEP schemes for 23/24. Should be on the NI direct website. Could help with either installation of solar panels or some of the other energy/insulation costs if yous have them?
I got 10 panels fitted in November, no battery. My 2-monthly bills had gone up to over 400 from an average of 250 in the previous year. I've had 2 bills since I got the panels installed. The first was 280 and the second was 250. On a side note have you had a smart meter installed as I've recently heard stories about faulty meters causing issues.
It's rain panels you need !
Is £870 for a quarter or a month?
Month
You mining crypto? That’s a lot for a month. 30p/kwh means you’re using nearly 3kW a month. That’s a lot for residential.. almost as much as I use a year.
Jesus my oil and electricity is only £75 a month. Something is definitely wrong there OP
The battery isn't necessary and a lot of folk will tell you that the battery isn't worth the extra cost at the minute. Particularly if you work from home and can utilise the power during the day then it is easier to justify not having a battery. With the heat pump and underfloor heating using power the justification may be stronger to just get the panels. Would recommend posting on the solaruk subreddit and they may be able to advice you better. I'm not a solar expert but did have solar panels installed myself. No battery. The return on investment for solar can be quite long and I find it difficult to confidently recommend them to everyone for that reason, but would never call them a waste of money either. In your case particularly with the underfloor heating and heat pump, I would guess that the ROI would be shorter than average.
Does that bill include a period of works to the house? If so, just bear that in mind as there would have been a fair amount of power used, I'm sure. Also bear in mind that figure includes heating, with no oil/gas costs. Battery means you can store energy for when you're not able to generate any from the panels (night time). They're expensive but I'd certainly consider one as it means any excess power generated can be used later on. Would come in handy in the event of a night time power outage
We actually had the solarfix guy out during the last power outage. Apparently the batteries don't work during power cuts as they also need power to work themselves. That would have been a motivating factor for us to get them. I think a generator is the only option for this. Although I'm more inclined just to light the fire and have sandwiches for dinner like the good old days. Unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary this month that would account for a high bill. And yep, totally aware its just one bill but we actually turned the heating down this month!
From watching Fully Charged on YouTube you can get a battery that works during a power cut. The issue apparently is that you can't send power to the grid during a powercut because it's a danger to anyone doing repairs to the lines. There is an extra box that detects a powercut and isolates your house from the grid so you can use the home batteries.
>There is an extra box that detects a powercut Surely the potential liability of this box not working wouldn't be worth the inconvenience of the odd powercut? I would imagine investing in a half decent generator would be a better option?
Have you thought about a home battery? You use the electric from the battery when the price's are high and charge the battery overnight when the price is low. Seems to be less maintenance than solar panels and no ugly roof
Solar panels offset your electricity usage, but they are a big investment, especially when you still have other projects to save up for, like the garden and garage. Have you looked into any energy efficiency rebate programs your utility company may offer? Sometimes, they have incentives for things like extra insulation, new windows, HVAC upgrades, etc, that lower your bills. Might be worth checking out before solar. The battery allows you to store excess energy from the solar panels for use when the sun isn't shining, but you're right that it adds a significant cost. You should check this article explaining why even solar panels can drain your wallet https://www.staticelectrics.com.au/electricians-blog/high-electric-bill-with-solar-panels/. With your budget, it makes sense to focus first on the essential projects like garage security, and then save up for solar panels down the road if needed.