Saving More On Your Energy Bills With Solar Panels
By now it is no secret that by installing solar you can save money on your energy bill. From storing cheaper energy, to running your car off sunshine, we break down the 5 different ways you can save on your energy bills by installing solar panels and some solar accessories.
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Using Your Generated Solar Energy
In its simplest form solar panels help you save money on your energy bill by generating your home it’s own green energy, to use instead of buying electricity directly from the National grid. Whilst solar energy won’t contribute to 100% of your bill, solar panels with battery storage is said to accommodate for up to 90% of your energy needs.
Considering that the Average UK home uses 3,100kWh of electricity a year, with the current price cap set by Ofgem at 34.0p/kWh for electricity, electricity bills are currently costing an average £88 a month (£1054 annually). However with a 4kW solar PV system and storage installed, you can be generating 3,600kWh of energy, offsetting 76% of your annual consumption. You could be saving on average £1,524 a year (£127.8 a month) for 25 years on your energy bill, not including the money you’ll earn from the SEG tariff also.
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Storing Cheaper Electricity
One of the biggest selling points of installing a home battery storage system, is the fact that you can charge your battery from cheaper rates of electricity during off-peak hours thanks to Economy 7 energy tariffs such as Octopus Go. By charging your battery storage during off-peak hours you can then consume this stored energy throughout the day when the unit rate of energy is at it’s highest due to demand. This is also a great way of toping up your solar batteries, when your generation is low, particulary in the winter months. But exactly how much could you save by installing this?
If you were to install a 9.5kWh GivEnergy battery, to charge to full on the current Octopus go off-peak rate (November 2022) of 12p per kWh, it would cost you £1.14. However if you was to consume 9.5kWh of energy under their standard unit rate of 35.06p/ kWh, the same amount of energy would cost you £3.33. Which is nearly 3 times the cost.
Charging your solar batteries is just one of the many ways your solar energy can provide you with extra savings on your energy bill.
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Heating Your Hot Water With Solar
If you have a hot water tank at your property as well as solar, you can save on your energy bill by using your solar energy to heat your hot water essentially for free. By installing an immersion diverter such as the myenergi Eddi, you can reduce your exported energy. Typically a PV system will export anywhere between 10-20%. For your average 4kW solar panel system, this would be around 360kW of energy. By using this surplus energy to heat your hot water tank, you can save £122.40 a year of energy.
Find out more about how an immersion diverter works.
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Charging Your Electric Car From Sunshine
As more and more homeowners transition towards EV ownership, home electric car charging is becoming a new routine. Although one of the main reason to install a home EV charger is due to its cost-effectiveness, and charging your car from your solar panel system is even more so.
Considering that the typical annual mileage is 8,100 miles and the average energy price per unit is 34p/kWh, it can cost between 9.1p to 14.2p per mile (depending on your electric vehicle) to charge at home. Adding another £750 to £1,150 + to your energy bill. However, by installing solar you can save money on your energy bill by charging your EV from sunshine instead.
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Selling Your Energy Back to The Grid
Another great way that solar energy allows you to cut down on your energy bills, is by paying you for your surplus energy. When you have solar panels and a battery installed, there will be occasions where your home isn’t using all the energy your PV panels are generating, and your batteries are also full. At this point, you will be generating “surplus”, extra energy, which gets sent back to the National Grid.
You will be paid for this energy through the Smart Export Tariff from your chosen energy provider. This is a great way to earn some extra money, to put towards your remaining energy bill.
A 4kW system will, on average, generate around 3,600kWh of electricity per year. As you can expect to export up to 10% of your solar generation (approximately 360kW of energy) this means the average solar system owner can expect to receive around £54 a year from SEG payments. Currently, Octopus Energy offers the best SEG rate, paying 15p/kWh of Renewable energy sent back to the Grid.
Installing Solar Panels to Reduce Your Energy Bill
If you are a UK home or business owner interested in finding out how solar energy can save you money on your energy bill, contact our award-winning green team today on 01322 479369. As UK leading Solar panel installers, we offer free system designs, quotes, and a savings forecast so you can see how installing solar panels will reduce your energy costs, and when your payback time will be. For more information on solar panels, make sure to visit our guide to solar panels.
