Future electric costs, and what is worthwhile, crystal ball guessing time.

[ericmark]

I made the plunge, and installed solar panels, and battery, but as to in fullness of time, it will pay for its self, is not clear.

The problem is, it all depends on future tariffs, I have seen already the export payment drop from 15p/kWh to 12p/kWh and the more people who fit solar, the lower the payment is likely to go.

We have the same problem with off-peak import, it has been down to 6.500p/kWh but now 8.625p/kWh and although price cap has resulted in 26.11p/kWh, I have to pay 32.277p/kWh for peak.

As to standing charge, I understand how there is a cost to connect premises to the grid, but why is the default 57.19p/day and I am paying 69.699p/day, I would have thought it does not matter what tariff I select, the standing charge should remain the same. Clearly that's not the case.

So we are being asked to take a gamble, and the question has to be, if solar panels and batteries are that good, why are we being asked to install them, rather than the government installing them?

 

[Murdochcat]

Nobody is telling anyone to install solar and batteries. The break even point is about 8 years so people should think long and hard as to whether to do it

 

[flameport]

The whole point of solar and batteries is to use as much of the generated energy as possible, which also means you import/export almost nothing.

 

[ericmark]

Yes, I produce more than I use, but to have batteries large enough to bridge the gaps between solar production is not really going to happen, one needs the grid or generator for lean solar production time.

So the three rates, off-peak, export, and peak makes or breaks if the solar pays in 5 years or 15 years.

However, it is not that alone, there are so many tariffs, and it is a mind field when one gets solar and batteries to work out which tariff will work for one. After a year, then one knows the average production and one can do some maths, but a year can be a lot of money lost, when one is asked to pay £75 to leave a tariff, once selected, as I found out to my cost when I was with British Gas.

 

[StephenStephen]

I made the plunge, and installed solar panels, and battery, but as to in fullness of time, it will pay for its self, is not clear.

The problem is, it all depends on future tariffs, I have seen already the export payment drop from 15p/kWh to 12p/kWh and the more people who fit solar, the lower the payment is likely to go.

We have the same problem with off-peak import, it has been down to 6.500p/kWh but now 8.625p/kWh and although price cap has resulted in 26.11p/kWh, I have to pay 32.277p/kWh for peak.

As to standing charge, I understand how there is a cost to connect premises to the grid, but why is the default 57.19p/day and I am paying 69.699p/day, I would have thought it does not matter what tariff I select, the standing charge should remain the same. Clearly that's not the case.

So we are being asked to take a gamble, and the question has to be, if solar panels and batteries are that good, why are we being asked to install them, rather than the government installing them?

To some extent, successive governments have installed them, eg; through grants and FIT.
Apple trees are good, but the government aren't installing them in my garden...

 

[Munroast]

The whole point of solar and batteries is to use as much of the generated energy as possible, which also means you import/export almost nothing.

not really, the pricing structure encourages filling the batteries up from the grid during the night (when they have too much) and then exporting from the solar panels during the day (when they don't have enough)