Episode #8 – I’m within my rights to change my mind!!
Oh, what a difference a couple of months makes in the energy sector.?Having summarily dismissed the idea of installing a fixed battery in my last blog in March ((4) Episode #7 - Where for art thou Vehicle to Grid / Vehicle to Home technology?! | LinkedIn), and deciding at that point to wait for Vehicle to Home technology, I have been doing more research, and reading the news.?And looking at my energy bills.?And thinking.
It should be no surprise to say that energy prices are going up.?And will stay up for some time – at least through 2023 according to investment firm Cornwall Insight (who correctly predicted the recent price cap rise), and apparently hopes “are crumbling” that post-2023 will be any better.
As a result – just two months later, I have been re-evaluating my decision.?The “do nothing” and wait for Vehicle to Home technology to magically appear, and / or energy bills to reduce back to 2021 levels is not an option.
But, before I explain my spectacular u-turn – some updates on my current energy usage and costs to provide context, now that my fixed rate energy tariff has expired; I have more data on the impact of my previous retrofitting has had and the future energy costs ‘direction of travel’ is becoming ‘clearer’.
In my first tranche of trying to reduce my energy bills, I focused on generating energy – and using that as effectively as I could, to reduce my gas, electricity and car fuel costs.?That was quite successful, and I’ve discussed that in previous posts.
In my second tranche of retrofitting the house with various energy saving / greening initiatives, I focussed on reducing my consumption, so upgraded the old (but much loved!) boiler, upgraded the windows and did a hit on the draft proofing.?To what effect??Well, I made those changes in December 2021:?the following graph indicates the impact well:
You can see that my gas usage (in KwH) over the winter months of 2022 (in dark orange) are significantly lower than the equivalent months the year before (2021, in lighter orange).?Not bad! Some of this may have been down to the fact that the winter was warmer this year, but nevertheless, a significant impact to the consumption…and long may that continue.?Since the end of April, the heating has been switched off, and the solar diverter (iBoost) is heating our water via the solar panels – so my gas consumption is negligible, and will be to about October – just in time for the next price cap rise ??
However – talking of price cap rises, the equivalent graph showing the cost of that winter gas, is not quite so rosy:
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Even though I’ve reduced my usage significantly, my energy bill has gone up…case in point – see April in the graph above:?usage in 2021 was 2,439KwH at a cost of ￡84, but in 2022, same month, my consumption was less than half of last year’s at 1,148KwH but the cost was ￡10 higher at ￡94!?I came off our EDF Energy fixed price tariff in March…perfect timing!?Always looking at the positive side to this though – it hasn’t gone up as much as it could / should have if I hadn’t made that investment last December.
That’s my gas bill.?Short of moving to a heat pump (and the financial impact of that is a whole other topic of conversation), there is not an awful lot I can do in this house now to affect our gas consumption (other than wear more clothing), so I am at the mercy of the energy suppliers to try and reduce the unit rates.
So – my attention turned to the electricity bill – this is a rich seam of potential financial saving, surely??My daily electricity consumption varies between 5KwH and about 20KwH on average (at current prices – circa ￡1.50 - ￡6 / day), which equates to roughly 6000KwH per year, and bill of ￡1680.?The key driver for the electricity bill each month is the electric car (BMW i3, with a 42KwH battery).?I currently have solar panels and an EO Mini Pro EV charger, and I am now on the EDF Energy standard variable rate.?The car charger is a “dumb” charger – in that I can change the time it charges the car, and that’s it – it uses the solar power whilst the solar is generating, and pulls from the Grid the extra it needs – so it is not smart – it will always draw 4KW or 7KW – whichever I choose – and only those two options, regardless of what the solar is producing.?Outside of when the car is charging, virtually all of our electricity consumption is fairly typical: 6.30am to 8am, and 5pm – 10pm.?The solar panels absorb the daily consumption very well.?However – I tend to export a lot of the solar – as the house is quieter during the day – just me and dog typically.
To that end, I am instigating tranche 3 of my “go green / avoid fuel poverty” plan:?Batteries.?But what about Vehicle to Home tho, I hear you cry??My view at the moment is that it’s a fair way off – the technology is in trial still, and (my view) is that we are still some way off getting to an economically viable solution.?And the energy crisis is here and now.?V2G / V2H technology may well feature in a subsequent tranche – but I need to solve a problem now.
So – tranche 3 has been instigated, and consists of:
My goal is that I reduce my electricity bill to “almost zero” (!) by using more of that excess solar.?I hope to:
The beauty of the pylontech batteries is that they are modular – coming in 3.5KwH modules – so I have 3 going in initially, and I have room for 4 more in the cabinet should I wish to expand the capacity.
The batteries and the Zappi charger go in Tuesday next week.?Wait for the next blog to see whether my hopes are met, or dashed!
Skills Training Manager
2 年Very interesting as usual, Jon. The one thing I think you forgot to mention (or rather didn’t bother mentioning as there’s nothing you can do about it) is the standing charge. Rather than charging (no pun intended) us more for the energy we actually use, we pay more for the supply we have, regardless of consumption and as a % that’s gone up more than the unit cost. Seems bonkers, and particularly impacts the people who can least afford it. Your new batteries aren’t going to have any impact on that part of the bill are they. Time for a windfall tax IMHO.
Architect and Senior Software Engineer on Smart Grid Projects
2 年Those pylontech batteries look interesting - one I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on
Helping clients maximise their investment in IT.
2 年Great article again Jon. A few thoughts; Zappi charger. Excellent choice. They're very flexible and working out well for us. The modular battery; look at the size of the inverter as that's usually the limiting factor in how fast they can both charge and discharge. If you need to run the house fully off the battery (say in the evening) you may find it can't deal with high loads such as induction hobs, electric ovens etc. No big deal, but the excess would have to come from the grid if the inverters not big enough. Does the battery provide full off-grid backup and safe disconnect in the event of a power cut? Rare these days perhaps, but if you have this feature you can keep generating and storing the surplus even if the grid goes down. Your DNO will want any backup battery to disconnect the house from the grid in a power cut to protect their staff.