Having solar seems like a winner for many, with the growing costs of grid power the UK is one of the most expensive power providers in the world. In 2025 we are seeing changes again in the price of power. Many homes will see a rise of around £95 in 2025 during the first period.
The UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, is planning to consult on introducing zero standing charge tariffs in early 2025. This would give consumers the option to choose a tariff with or without a standing charge, and would be available from next winter. Ofgem’s consultation on standing charges closed in January 2024 and received 30,000 responses, with the majority calling for standing charges to be scrapped. However, there are some concerns that moving fixed costs to unit rates could significantly increase bills for some consumers, particularly those who use a lot of energy for medical or health reasons. [find out more]
The report said “in early 2025 we will consult on a zero standing charge option within the price cap, alongside the existing tariff. If implemented, this would be available from next winter to anyone who thinks it is right for them and opts to change to this tariff, including with their existing supplier.
There are many different ways this tariff cap could be designed, such as through a block tariff cap where rates change once a certain level of usage is reached. Under all options, the unit rate would include the costs that are currently allocated to the standing charge.”
Could you save £233-£264 per year? The standing charge varies from place to place as does the unit cost, if the standing charge is available for you to opt out, then the cost will be shifted to the unit. There are NO details on how the charges will apply and what the unit prices will be. However i should point out that the whole sale price of power. As of 2024, the wholesale price of electricity in the UK is 6.93 pence per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
What you may find interesting is that the lowest price of £53.69 was on April 3rd and the highest was on December 2nd at £103.09 This is per 1000kWh and you are likely to use around 2600kWh per year, which on the low side is a annual cost of £139.59 and on the high £268.03 per year, so the math does not add up to what people are seeing as their bills. While the top companies profits were £457,924,447,000
£61 billion has been posted in profits this year alone and we can see that people are “being taken for a ride” as you are paying a standing charge and then a considerable amount per unit cost over what it cost but around more than 5 times you can see why the profits are so big.
lets look at a moral non capitalistic prices…
£0.07839 per kwh £0.0979875 with 25% profit £728,000 per 1000 staff £4,000,000 projects
Wind power: For onshore wind power, the cost is between £1 million and £1.6 million per MW. For offshore wind power, the cost is between £3 million and £4.5 million per MW.
Hydroelectric power: For small-scale hydroelectric power, the cost is between £1,000 and £5,000 per kW. For large-scale hydroelectric power, the cost is between £1.5 million and £3 million per MW.
CCGTs: For projects commissioning in 2025, the cost for CCGTs is estimated to be £114/MWh.
Offshore wind: For 2025, the levelized cost for offshore wind is estimated to be £44/MWh.
The levelized cost of electricity from utility-scale solar power and onshore wind power is generally less than from coal and gas-fired power stations. However, this varies by location.
So we could say that the companies would need to add £4,728,000 to the annual cost of power in the UK. The UK has around 29.9 million dwellings giving a house hold total of £6.32. ( that’s 32 times the standing charge). The revenue on the low standing charge rate comes to £6,966,700,000.
Going back to how much solar can save you…
Solar power for a home will cost you less than £7500. This is currently the equivalent of 31,250 kWh, if you used 2600kWh per year your solar power system needs to cost £763 per year to break even.
The standard solar installation costs £5,500; if you use 20kwh a day that is 7300kWh a year you would break even in around 3.2 years. and have around 4.7 times this in savings through the life of the system.
Going off grid will be the next big thing for solar for all homes on the grid. The term off grid will change slightly where by the home will not be directly using the grid but solar and battery systems and the grid will be used for winter charging, provided that the unit cost is no greater than a generator cost – we already know its not…
A bit stuck for solar?
If your in a place where solar is limited, then there are problems with the system as you can only off set. So small solar (2 panels) will come in handy to off set the extra costs. with a higher unit cost, lowering the unit by half (500w) will be ideal for some and more so if your usage is covered by the small solar system. You should need around 2.2kw to cover the larger peak power drains, such as the kettle and oven or washing machine.
The other option is BESS – the Home battery system. There are still going to be split rates, so charging a battery from the grid at cheap rate to use all day long, it going to be a key part of life for most who cannot have solar panels. 15kWh Battery 48v — RenewSolar £1,400 While you have to add an inverter to the cost, one of two of these batteries would last most homes for the day. They have a stored energy value of £3.60 working out to be zero cost in 1.2 years – excludes charging costs which changes this to 1.7 years, and you have to add the cost of an inverter/charger. the Victron 3kw inverter is currently £506.
This will ONLY work out worth while if you can get a low rate from your supplier, and you would add benefit if you can have some form of solar.
just 7.9p per kWh between 12am-5am. is available from British gas on their EV tariff. The average Economy 7 night rate across all regions in the UK is 13.19 pence per kWh, and the average day rate is 30.59 pence per kWh. Don’t forget these are Averaged.
If you look at this package of power, you can see that the low rate for battery storage is just £0.05 and the standard rates are nothing more than you would currently pay. However they do not offer this “deal” with solar panels. ( its not a ev tariff)
While I cannot comment of if this data is accurate or “a sales tactic” we did look at the rates from Octopus Energy – Agile Portal (new tab). All the other “deals” did not seem to work out too well other than a few pennies per kWh This was Off set by a lager peak rate cost. However look at the day rate, You will have to work out what you will use from the grid and the battery you have to see where you will make savings and how.
Day rate 19.59p / kWh
Night rate (00:00 – 07:00) 17.41p / kWh
Peak rate (16:00 – 19:00) 39.11p / kWh
Standing charge 51.19p / day
Setting battery charge times
One of the skills you need will be setting your inverter/Charger up correctly to make it work for you. You may find it more easy to use a PI, home assistant, Solar Assistant of our bespoke systems to do this for you.
You have to take care of it, as you may find that times of cheaper rates may change, and you would want to keep a close eye on the paid to use power periods. with a tracking system you can have this charge or not based on how you have your set up.
Picking the battery. When selecting your battery, you need to consider a few factors, the amount of power in the battery. the rate you can charge the battery, and the cycles or stresses your putting on the battery.
Lets say you have our 15 kWh battery, you can charge at 100 amps (ADC) or 4800w ((WAC) 21 amp AC) This gives you a 3.1 hour full charge window. With two batteries that jumps to 6.25 hours. As you can see from the low rate of tomato energy, you have 6 hours from 00:00 – 06:00 The likelihood of you having to fully charge the 30 kWh battery is fairly remote as you usage should be around 20kwh in a day giving you a 4.16 hour charge time.
You should ALWAYS lower the charge rate to fit the window. so if you used 20Kwh you would want to charge at 71 amps (DC) /15 amp (AC). The Victron unit supports up to 70 amps DC Where as the Sunsynk/Deye will support up to 120amps.
How do I size the battery?
If you look at your daily average power, this will give you an idea of how much power you use per day, it does not tell you your peak power which relates to the inverter size you would need. if you can see your current usage, we can do the math: 20kwh /24hours 833w per hour 30kwh /24hours 1.25kw per hour Victon 3kva 24hour full power 57.6 kWh
In reality, you will be battery running for 18 hours, so the 20kwh battery could run a load of 1.1kwh during the day, therefore your normal loads should be less that the hourly power provision. A 10kWh battery could run a load of 555w
If we take a quick look at money savings per year with a £0.05 kwh 20kw Charing cost £1 amounts to a saving of £3.80 per day and a £1378 per year saving.
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