Yeah, what has prompted the thought for me was the fact that I would like an EV next time I swap my car. I know that the two things dont necessarily need to go hand in hand because you can just get a smart meter and sign up to a time based rate such as with Octopus that gives you overnight electricity for 5p per kWh to charge the car, but as we have quite a high electric bill anyway (fish tank, two people at home all day, washer, dryer, electric heater in the study at 2kw), plus times when I need to charge the car during the day, I thought it would be a good idea and potentially pay back quite quickly. We are not going anywhere, we are in this house for the long term so I have the time to wait for it to pay back.
Suspect that is when the panels were put up by one of the fly by night companies that cold called offering you free electricity in exchange for them leasing your roof space so they could bank the feed in tariff payments. In those cases, there is a third party interest in the house. If you bought them, and intend to include them in any sale, I can't see the mortgage companies having problems with that.
Probably not as you have described. During the day there will be times when you are generating more than you are using so the surplus goes back into the grid and you get paid about 4p/kWh for it. But then at night you will still be using electricity but your panels will be generating none of it, so you will drawing from the grid as normal and paying normal price for it. So you are likely to still have an electric bill, just a lower one. And some money back for the power fed back in. That is offset further if you also invest in a battery to store the excess generated in, so you can use it later at night. But they are an expensive addition and I am not sure they are currently worth it because, like with batteries in EV cars, the tech will improve dramatically in coming years and the price of them will plummet. Maybe add one of those in a few years time.
Ok, makes sense. Like you say, the Economy 7 type rate is actually false economy if you’re at home in the day. The better the brand, the more efficient they usually are per sqm. Which means you get more power per sqm. But it’s also dearer. The battery banks are great. If you speak to YESSS Electical, they have a new system available which can be demonstrated in selected stores or at their HQ in Normanton. Some of the tech out there now, means with a decent investment, you can realistically be ‘off-grid’ for decent periods throughout the year.
I've just been through our logs, the last time we used any electricity from the grid was in the night 18/19th May, so we've been self-sufficient for about 10 days. During May we've produced 400kWh, of which we've sold 230kWh to the grid. If it wasn't for the standing charge we'd be making a profit.
