Homeowner Blog

Time of Use Tariffs: Saving the UK Grid?

George Riley · 21 Apr 2021

If you’ve spent much time trying to find the best energy deal, you may have come across the term ‘time of use tariffs’. It’s more exciting than it sounds - if you’re interested in Britain’s evolving energy system.

Energy suppliers are falling over themselves to launch more innovative tariffs to tempt savvy customers. Just last week, Good Energy announced its ‘Zap Flash’ tariff, with free EV charging when there’s excess power on the grid. So how do these tariffs work, and why do they have the potential to change the grid forever?

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Topics: Battery storage, EV charging, Tariffs

Type of Use Tariffs: OVO Energy’s Innovation

George Riley · 11 Mar 2021

We talk a lot about time of use tariffs, but now there’s a new kid on the block - type of use tariffs. The first of these has been announced by energy supplier OVO and is designed to reward EV owners with lower cost car charging.

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Topics: EV charging, Tariffs

How to Save on Your Energy Bills This Winter

George Riley · 26 Nov 2020

We’re facing a winter like no other.

Likely confined to our homes, many of us will be concerned about rising bills from extra heating and electricity usage. But it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve put together some practical tips for how to save on your energy bills over winter and investigated the impact of on site renewables in the colder months.

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Topics: Battery storage, Tariffs, Solar PV

Smart Meters and Solar Panels: What You Need to Know

George Riley · 07 Oct 2020

The rollout of smart meters is an important part of the energy revolution and transition to a clean electricity network. But if you’re generating your own electricity, how do smart meters and solar panels interact? Can you have smart meters with solar PV? You can - and it may make your life even easier.

Read on for more information on smart metering and Feed-in Tariffs, export tariffs and home batteries.

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Topics: Battery storage, Tariffs, Solar PV

What’s the Best Electricity Tariff?

George Riley · 13 Aug 2020

We’re often asked by our customers which is the best electricity tariff, especially when they’re investing in their own renewable energy systems. There are lots of energy suppliers, with prices varying by location and various contract commitments. But there are particular types of tariffs that we’d recommend looking at, depending on your circumstances:

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Topics: Battery storage, EV charging, Tariffs, Solar PV

Solar VAT Rise Threatens Domestic PV - Should You Install This Summer?

George Riley · 30 May 2019

The solar PV industry has faced a year of change in 2019, with more uncertainty lying ahead. First came the end of the Feed-in Tariff, the guaranteed payments for people generating solar energy. The 50% deemed Export Tariff for smaller systems ended at the same time and we’re still waiting to see what will fill the gap, to prevent customers with new solar systems from exporting excess electricity to the grid for free. (Don’t worry, this doesn’t impact people who installed their system before the final Feed-in Tariff deadline of 31st March 2019.) The current proposal from the government is the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) - more on this below. As a final kick in the teeth to the industry, another threat to solar PV installation has resurfaced - a potential solar VAT rise on domestic systems from 5% to 20%.

So what does all this mean to you? Is solar PV still worth installing now, either as an extension to your existing system, or as a new system altogether, or should you wait? And what about a solar battery?

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Topics: Tariffs, Solar PV

Solar Batteries and Smart Tariffs: Join the Revolution

Erica Charles · 05 Apr 2019

Around 30 GigaWatts of the UK’s older fossil fuel and nuclear capacity is due to be decommissioned by 2025. At the same time, more and more of us are taking delivery of our first electric car, pulling away from the lights much faster than the petrol heads while fuelling a significant increase in the national electricity demand.

Furthermore, with the advent of renewables, the problem of balancing supply and demand within the National Grid is become ever more challenging, leading to periods of excess demand and ‘negative electricity prices’. 

And with all this comes an increasing expectation of power cuts, grid constraints and increasing electricity costs.

Enter battery storage, and in particular, home battery storage. And smart meters, and smart electricity tariffs.

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Topics: Battery storage, Tariffs, Solar PV

Is Electricity Cheaper at Night?

Erica Charles · 28 Mar 2019

Is electricity cheaper at night?

If like me, your gut answer is ‘of course electricity is cheaper at night’, read on…

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Topics: Battery storage, Tariffs

Government Proposes New Export Tariff Scheme for Solar

Erica Charles · 11 Jan 2019

When the government announced in 2018 that it would close the Feed-in Tariff scheme with effect from 31st March 2019, it failed to put in place any replacement for the Export Tariff. Small scale solar PV systems installed after 31st March were likely to end up exporting excess solar generation to the grid for free.

Not surprisingly there was uproar within the industry at this prospect.

In response, the government has this week launched a consultation on the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG).

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Topics: Tariffs, Solar PV

The End of the Solar PV Export Tariff: Solar’s Turn to Subsidise the Grid?

Erica Charles · 07 Dec 2018

Back in July, the government announced its intention to close the Feed-in Tariff Scheme to new entrants from 31st March 2019.  The Export Tariff was scrapped at the same time, thus placing owners of small scale solar systems installed after 1st April 2019 in a position whereby they could find themselves exporting excess solar electricity to the Grid for free.

Not surprisingly the idea of the homeowner installing solar only to find themselves subsidising the Big 6 with free exported solar electricity has caused something of an outcry in the solar industry…

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Topics: Tariffs, Solar PV