#SolarUpdate No charts this month because the web portal data is fucked up from my provider... the data is there, but they've probably done some AIslop coding in the updates because there was 9 days missing data from Jan and 4 days missing from Feb.

The system works fine, the data is being generated... but the way they handle it and present it in the app and web portal is fucked up.

So the data I can see easily is missing several days... and that means I can't create the bar charts of the full data.

But it's been a shite month, wet and dull. Energy production was down about 70kwh over the last couple of years. Which means the electric bill was up about 25%

Last year we generated 214kwh, the previous year it was 174kwh

This year... it's hard to be sure due to the screw ups from the company and their webportal/app It tells me that we did 109kwh, but that's missing 4 days of data... 4 pretty miserable days. But if I take that 109 and divide by 24 (the days data recorded) it gives an avg of about 4.5kwh a day, which would put it in the region of 127kwh... Hence me saying down around 70kwh on previous years avg. That was boosted massively on the last day of Feb when we generated 15kwh in a single day. We had 2 days all month were we generated 10kwh or more.

It was cold, so gas use was also up because of my mum needing the temp to be 2ºC higher than I do. This adds about £25-30 a month to the bill alone over the winter.

Last years combined bill was £185, this year its £218... about a 17% rise overall thanks to some milder weather towards the end of Feb that meant the avg gas use for the month was £3.86 a day rather than around £4.74 that it was for the first 2 weeks... peaking at almost £6 a day for gas.

Avg weekly combined rates went from £60 a week at the end of Jan, dropping to £40 a week by the end of Feb... But they dipped in the first week of Feb to £44 and then jumped back up to £52... before falling back to £40 at the end.

It's been a weird month... Not sure what the year is going to be like... The avg for march over the last 3yrs has been 340kwh. It's predicting about 90kwh for the coming week...

#SolarUpdate time

New year, new data... I post these every month, giving people a glimpse into the solar and battery system I've had on my home since early 2023.

All figures are within a few % of actual, the data reported for the web portal is very close to true... but there's always a slight variance compared to the energy provider, as data drop outs can occur at times if wifi acts flaky for example.

Total solar generation for Jan 2026 was roughly 163kwh and we used 99% of that, only exporting 1kwh.

We imported roughly 286kwh of energy.

That's not bad generation for a January. Previous years have been in the 150kwh range, so we're up a few % on the avg of 155kwh.

Total cost of electric including all standing charges and VAT for the month was £92.

Gas for heating was still the biggest part of the bill. My elderly mum lives with me and struggles with the cold a lot more. So the heating is 2ºC higher than I would have it... and that adds about £30 a month extra to the heating bill over the colder months. Typically the heating is used between Oct-April.

So gas use for Jan inc all charges was £126.

The total bill was £227 and some change.

That's less than previous years... I've done a lot to help insulate the house these last couple of years, and it shows. Prior to that work, the winter bill for Jan 2023 was £267. After the work it's been £222 and £227. So that's an avg of £42 saved just in Jan these last 2yrs.

The gas bill was almost identical though for last year and this year. In spite of turning the thermostat up. Which means, the heating is using more gas when on, but the house is retaining the heat for longer. So if i could turn the thermostat down to my regular 18-19ºC rather than the 20-21ºC it is at the moment. I'd see better savings.

Obviously, the gas use isn't impacted by the solar/battery system. But I've worked hard to improve the efficiency of the whole house within my budget and abilities. The only way to improve it further would be to replace the cavity wall insulation... and that's expensive as they have to suck out the old stuff and replace with better quality... these days they use small resin bound polystyrene balls to replace the loose stuff they used before, as that drops over time leaving voids under windows and the tops of walls.

Savings for the month on electric are in the £42 range thanks to the solar generation.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate

A few interesting graphs that show how the solar system has performed over the last 3yrs... Bear in mind it only shows the first 11 months of 2025, whilst the ones for 2023 and 2024 are 12 months.

Graph one, shows a pretty consistent total use in the home for the whole year. It's an avg of 5000kwh give or take around 100kwh. 2023 being 5072kwh, 2024 was 5102kwh and 2024 is currently 4672kwh, with approximately 380-400kwh expected for Dec. Which will bring the total to around 5080kwh.

So that's very consistent across 3 years.

Graph 2, shows the solar generation for the same 3yrs. That's not quite so consistent, and also doesn't quite factor in the expanded battery in Feb 2024 to increase storage. This nearly tripled our storage and reduced the export a huge amount, meaning we used more of what we generate and imported less. Solar fluctuates with the weather, and 2023 was a decent year, 2024 wasn't so good but the extra battery storage more than compensated for it, reducing import further... and 2025 has been really good so far, breaking all records set in previous years.

Graph 3, well that shows how I've managed to make the system work better for our needs. This is the amount of electric imported from the grid. In 2023 the 1st year of the system and with just a 5.2kwh battery, we imported 2195kwh of electric. In 2024, with the battery expanded to 15.4kwh... we imported 1954kwh... a reduction of roughly 240kwh. Less than 1kwh per day and roughly a 20p a day saving. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it's an extra £73 a year saved.

So far in 2025, we have used 1373kwh... plus the avg 380kwh for Dec and that's going to be around 1753kwh. A further 200kwh reduction and a further £40 a year saving.

So over the last 3yrs, we're saving an extra £113, on top of what we were already saving.

As for those savings, if we imported the 5100kwh entirely... that would be in the region of £1450 at current prices... 3yrs ago, that would have been 30% higher due to the higher costs for energy at the time. They're still exceptionally high and continue to rise every 3 months. Once you add on the daily standing charges and the 5% VAT, the bill would actually be more like £1694.

This helps us save more, and reduces the return on investment. What was originally going to pay for itself after 9yrs, will now pay for itself after 8yrs.

So far for 2025, the electric bill has been £581 including all extra fees. A direct saving of £1109 so far this year. That doesn't include all of the export earnings, nor the free energy sessions I've taken advantage of this year which totals around another £150. Meaning the savings so far this year are around the £1259 mark. With electric for Dec still to pay for, this will reduce by around £80-100 by the end of the month.

That's just the electric side though, we still have to pay for gas which is used for heating and hot water. Typically the heating is turned off towards the end of April and not turned back on until the start of Oct. This will usually be in the £700-750 range for the year.

The potential bill for the house without the solar system is in range of £2500. This would require monthly payments of around £250.

As it stands, we pay just £75 a month now after building up £1100 worth of credit on the account these last few years.

I cannot recommend a solar and battery system enough... I cannot also recommend you get one if you have to take out a loan to do so. You won't see those savings until the money is paid off. But if you qualify for a grant or have the spare cash at hand... It's worth it for the peace of mind it brings.

I'm considering what the next efficiency steps could be. I've improved insulation in the home as much as I can without serious work to remove the cavity blown insulation and fill with newer and more efficient products (around £3000), nor insulate between the floors (removing ceilings or floors) But as I've moved walls and redone bedrooms. I've added acoustic insulation to the stud walls upstairs to improve heat retention. I've replaced every radiator in the house with more efficient ones and switched to a better thermostat for more control.

The previous owners of this house had no solar system, not proper thermostat and no control over the heating as most of the TRV's were broken... and I think the heating was pretty much left on 24/7 because they ran up a debt of over £7000 to their provider... who continued trying to collect it for about a year after we bought the house and we had no forwarding address.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate I don't think I did one of these for Oct. Probably because solar generation was utterly appalling for the month, with generation down around 40% on the previous few years avg.

So it was a little refreshing, and very surprising to see that the Nov was actually a little up on previous years. In fact it was roughly 17% higher... That was surprising because it has been a dreadfully wet month... worse than the previous month of Oct, whilst only generating about 20kwh less energy than Oct.

Avg use on the house was 433kwh, battery didn't get much charging, with the best days only getting it to about 45%. We've been trying to maximise solar use even more, so when it's sunny and the battery is charging... get the washing done, use the tumble dryer if needed.

Import was around 300kwh for the month... around avg for this time of year.

Total energy bill inc gas and all extra charges was up around 10%, we've been on a fixed deal until next Spring, so the 3 prices rises this year have yet to affect us... But I've had to turn the heating up nearly 2ºC over it's normal setting to appease my mum who lives with me now. That alone is going to increase the gas bill 10-15% and I've seen that already in Nov with the gas use being almost 15% higher, inspite of the temperature for more than half the month being very mild and the first 15 days of Nov using very little.

It's a good job, the solar and battery system has allowed us to increase the credit on the energy account over the rest of the year to cover it.

We'll make it through the winter without running the credit down to zero too.

Over the last few years, my 'parental training' has started to pay off. My mum is a dreadful energy waster who puts her convenience before anything and anyone else. So she'll leaves all the lights on, she goes to bed and leaves the tv or her computer on... She always 'claims' she turned them off... but I've seen what she does... she hits a button on a remote without ever actually looking at what she does... so she hits the tv off button then gets up and walks past the TV that still on without even seeing it. 🤦 and blindly claims she DID turn it off. there's a disconnect between her actions and her comprehension of those same actions.

But... the amount of energy we import from the grid has fallen from about 2200kwh a year in the first year of the system, to around 1750kwh for this year (1363kwh so far, Dec is usually between 350-390kwh).

That saving is just from making better use of what we have... turning stuff off when not in use, and using the higher electric using products at times when we have more solar and battery available.

I also conducted an experiment when my mum went away for a week, and found that her use alone accounts for 35% of total energy used. Shared use accounts for another 43% (cooking, cleaning and heating) which means I account for just 22% of excess electric use (which is mostly my computers for work and gaming).

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate LIES.... LIES... IT'S ALL LIES!!!

This is an example of how I have been lied to for the last 8 days.

The grey is the prediction for solar generation tomorrow.

Every single day for the last 8 days have seen a similar curve prediction between 12-17kwh of generation.

The very small partially coloured in irregular curve is what happens on the actual day.

Those 12-17kwh turn into 1-4kwh... at worst, 10% of the prediction, at best 20%.

It's like they've lost the ability to predict anything properly... they couldn't even predict if bears shit in the woods.

It's frustrating, because I can't plan for shit... I think, oh tomorrow will be good, I can do some laundry and drying for almost nothing... or I could put the dishwasher on... important things to reduce how much electric we consume.

So the dishwasher is full, the laundry is piling up and if it lies tomorrow too... I'm going to have a very expensive day using 2 or 3 times the amount of electric I normally.

It's already the worst Oct we've ever had, more than 50% down on the avg. It's more like Dec generation.

I know we're heading into the colder, darker, months... But we should normally be generating 280kwh of electric still... we won't even hit 140kwh at this rate.

It's also starting to affect my S A D... I've not seen sunlight for 8 or 9 days now.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen
#SunshineWhatFuckingSunshine

#SolarUpdate time once more.

We're in the transition period from Summer to Autumn, evenings are getting darker earlier, sun sinking a little lower in the sky.

So solar generation starts to lower at a quicker rate. It's been an odd year, we were breaking records from March through May with 10-20% more generation than any previous year... then we had the weakest June we'd ever had (but still 506kwh and still only a combined bill of £23)... But 10% lower than the previous year and 20% lower than the year before).

But then July was about the same & August gave us a little tick up with a 13% improvement over last year (Aug is normally 480kwh, and this year was 550kwh).

So far in Sept after the first week, we've generated about 80kwh, if that continues to be the avg each week, we'll be around the same as previous years.

Yesterday (Sunday) was a miserable day, heavy rain and little solar (less than 4kwh all day)... and coincided with a lot of cooking. So the oven was running for 4-5hrs baking apple crumbles and a Sunday roast. Hence the huge spike of 14kwh electric import in one day. I was also running my computer all day playing a rather graphically intensive game, which uses more power too.

So we've imported more in the first week of Sept, than we imported during the entirety of August (32khw in Sept vs 19kwh in Aug).

In fact, from March to August, we've only imported around 130kwh of electric, whilst using 2147kwh of electric in the home and exporting 690kwh of electric back to the grid.

That's a whopping 94% of our entire use for 6 months that was free electric from the solar and battery system.

Then that exported electric earned a further £106.

So here's the savings for the year so far, Jan-Aug

Jan - Paid £80, Bill £222
Feb - Paid £80, Bill £186
Mar - Paid £100, Bill £94
Apr - Paid £100, Bill £51
May - Paid £100, Bill £-1.63 (we earned more than we used)
Jun - Paid £100, Bill £23
Jul - Paid £100, Bill £27
Aug - Paid £100, Bill £26

So far this year, we've paid £760 into the energy account and used £627 worth of gas & electric... and roughly £240 of that amount is in the daily standing charges we have to pay here just for the privilege of being allowed to heat and light our homes.

No matter how much energy you consume... each home will pay in the region of £360 a year just to have gas & electric in the home.

Yet people who have no gas at all and save about 35p a day... still have to pay for their electric based on gas prices... because the entire grid system in the country occasionally has to use gas to supplement the grid when renewables are lower... whilst also paying billions to energy companies to turn off renewables when there's an excess instead of adjust the prices to make energy costs lower or even free, so people will manage their energy intensive tasks better... Which is exactly what I try to do here.

Sun is out, washing goes on... it's a free wash cycle for energy, I can even throw some bits in the tumble dryer for free as a tumble dry gets a better result for some things over putting out to dry on a rack or line.

This afternoon, the dishwasher can go on for free too.

This October, energy prices are going up... they claim by 2%.

But the majority of the rise is being added to those daily standing charges. So higher users (wealthier people) are actually going to see a 1% or less rise in their bills, whilst lower users (poorer people) will actually see a 4.5% increase in their bills.

Punish the poor once more... gotta keep them in their place and worried about simply existing... then they can stoke the fire and blame the immigrants rather than the greed of billionaires and corporate interests who own the politicians.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen
#EatTheRich
#TaxTheRich

After a couple of days of reasonable, yet poor solar generating weather. We will finally be running out of battery power at some point tonight.

In the 192 days since March 1st 2025.... We have spent 151 of those days off grid for electric use.

Of those 41 days we imported more than 1kwh of electric. The total amount of electric imported in those days is just 129kwh of electric.

We use about 400-450kwh of electric a month.

So that's about 10 days worth of electric purchased from the supplier in 192 days (6 months).

Because even on those days we imported more than 1kwh (Below that is effectively off grid, because there's always a tiny trickle for load balancing) we still imported very little. You could argue that anything below 10% of avg daily use counted as off grid, then we'd slash another 30 days of the 41.

It's only when you start looking at the whole picture, that you start to see the savings.

We have generated 3600kwh of free electric so far this year, and there's still 4 months left. The avg for those last 4 months over the last couple of years has been 210kwh. So that's a reasonable expectation of another 800kwh of free electric this year.

Last year we generated 3900kwh, the year before 4100kwh.

If the avg pans out, that would mean about 4400kwh.

We use in the region of 5500kwh of electric on the house in a year. 80% of that use occurs before Nov-Feb 15% in Mar-Apr & Sept-Oct and less than 5% in May-Aug.

We're heading into the part of the year where we won't see much earned from exporting. Last year it was about £90, so far this year it's been £123.

Savings alone so far this year are currently at £767 for just the kwh import. Plus the export so far, and that's £890 saved in just shy of 8 months in 2025.

Not bad going really.

#SolarUpdate
#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate time again.

Another not so great month, but a little better than June (which was awful)... yet slightly better than July 2024 (which was also awful)

Figures are not 100% as the data logging can be from 0-5% out. But it's within a margin of error mostly.

Generation 524kwh, that's up 18kwh over June, up 54kwh over July 2024... and yet isn't even as good as the generation for April this year... middle of summer and the weather is worse than the start of spring.

You can see in the yearly graph (image 2) how good the first 5 months of the year were. Then it drops of massively. June 'should' be the highest generation month of the year and yet it's actually only the 4th highest. That's never happened before. It's always been 1st or 2nd... with May beating it in 2023 and 2025.

That said... we were still effectively off grid for the majority of the month. Only 5 days in the whole month that we imported in excess of 1kwh.

So we only imported around 26kwh of electric the entire month, whilst exporting 106kwh. Including all daily charges and gas use, subtracting what we earned for export. The bill was £27.04, which meant we increased the credit on the account by a further £72.96 to £862.73. That's just about enough credit to cover the entirety of the winter bills from Nov-Feb (avg between £800-950 for those 4 months).

As usual the energy company cannot comprehend how solar and batteries work... and think that we should be paying £4.73 a month... whilst predicting that those Nov-Feb bills will be upto £100 lower than they have been every year previously because those Mar-Oct bills are lower thanks to free electric... also thanks to... oh.. I don't know... WARMER weather... we use less gas because the central heating isn't used between May-Sept and only use gas for hot water.

tl:dr crappy month compared to normal, but crappy is still good and electric was still mostly free.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate

Once more Octopus demonstrate their utter inability to understand how solar and batteries work.

Hint - It's when longer days and sunnier weather produces for free electric, and when shorter darker, miserable days produce less.

They're now predicting... after 3yrs of winter bills in the £750-850 range... that we're going to use £550 due to the miraculous decrease in energy prices of 7% this month... the same energy prices that have risen about 18% over the previous 9 months... and WILL rise again when people started needing more electric and gas this winter.

So the new 'recommendation' for our monthly payment... £7.62.

I thought last months £15.68 was comical... they've doubled down once more.

They're complete obsessed with us not having credit on the account... which earns them interest and keeps our monthly payments at £100 a month... which is affordable rather than the £150-200 they'd be asking for if we let them eradicate it.

That credit covers the winter bills in their entirety (currently £789) with 2 or 3 more months were our bills will be under the £100 we pay each month.

With the extra £400 we pay in that Nov-Feb window of highest bills. It ensures we leave the winter with a small credit still, even if we have a severe winter that increases our bills a lot. We've managed to keep this credit running for almost 3yrs now thanks to the winter fuel payments my mum was getting during the (still ongoing) cost of living crisis.

It won't last forever, by winter 2026, it's not going to be as high as the avg credit has been dropping by around £300 each year after being £1500 back in 2022 (winter fuel payments, low rate fixed tariff that avoided the early price rises for 12 months and final payment from solar panels on mums old home)

But it's frustrating that the admittedly 'first world problem' of having a decent credit on your energy bills means having to tell them to 'fuck off' every 4 weeks when they try to lower the bills to stupid levels.

Lower it to £75-80 and I think we'd still be ok. through the winter. It's unlikely based on previous years... that July-Sept bills will be higher than that each month. Borderline with October even. But those Nov-Feb bills will be an avg of £200+ (£807 last winter, £904 the winter before that). So it's essential for us to keep that credit to avoid money issues and increasing the amount we put into the house each month... That's our fun money. 😆

#SolarUpdate time for June

An odd month, as it's both the worst June we've ever had in many ways, yet still good overall if that makes sense.

The total bill for the month of June was 75% higher than last year... But at £23.18 vs last years £13.31... Still considered good. We, still increased the credit on our energy account by £76.82 towards the winter high bills. (Usually around £800 from Nov-Feb).

Solar generation for June was 506kwh, the lowest June figure we've ever recorded. Lower even, than April and 190kwh down on the previous month.

In terms of what we normally do (high 500's or low 600's) it's 20% lower.

We exported 115kwh of that... which is 45% lower than last year. So earnings from solar were just under £20.

As usual, the majority of the bill for both gas & electric was in the daily standing charges (£29) with energy charges being around £14 for both gas & electric.

We continue to use around the 400kwh per month on the home, it fluctuates from month to mont, being closer to the 390-410 range for warmer days, and 420-450kwh over the winter months.

So whilst that should be seen as a good month, we covered 376kwh of the 401kwh used in the home from solar & battery, importing just 28kwh the whole month of June (bill and web data are not 100% aligned as different data point collection)... It feels, disappointing....

It feels like this year has peaked and it's only going to be downhill from here.

It feels like summer was over after May... before it actually began.

Whilst England bathes in sunshine and warmth, we're getting clouds and rain once more.

I know I should be grateful for such a small bill, whilst many others suffer and struggle... I know it's a privileged first world problem. But that's doesn't stop me from feeling that disappointment. After such a warm spring and great energy production, having such a massive fall below that previous years just has that effect.

So, I decided to compare last years bills to this. To try and put that disappointment into a better perspective.

I was quite surprised by what I saw.

From Jan-June 2024, the total bills were £832 for gas & electric. We had rather cold start to the year, and the expanded battery storage wasn't installed until the 29th Feb in time for the longer days. But £499 of that bill was just Jan & Feb.

So when I realised that from Jan-June 2025, the bills were just £575... a reduction of £257... It was quite the eye opener. I know a lot of that is due to the warmer weather reducing the gas bill, but that's also the first time we've a Jan-Feb period with the larger battery, so we used every single bit of solar generation and exported less than 6kwh over 2 months... and that was mostly when we had extra bright days and solar power peaked above what we could flow into the house and battery combined... it happens when we generate close to 4kw of energy and the house is idle (we might go out and turn of all computers for example).

So whilst a bad month... still a good one overall... and I cannot predict what the rest of the year will be like. The solar forecast for the rest of this week for example is very mixed... bad for the 1st July, great for 2nd & 3rd and then getting lower each day for the following 5 days... that can and does often change daily though. Solar generation is a weird thing, it doesn't 'require' direct sunlight, and sometimes too much sun is bad for generation. Cloud cover still produces, and sometimes... as crazy as it sounds, some cloud cover produces the best generation. Light thin cloud, allows sunlight through, that can bounce back of the ground and be reflected back down by those clouds... increasing the amount of light reaching the panels.

So... bad is good still... lower bills are always good, a £790 credit on the energy account is roughly enough to cover the bills for Nov-Feb alone. We might even be able to reduce the £100 monthly payment, as my mum will be getting a £200 winter fuel payment again this year, which gets put onto the account.

It's all good... all good.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate a quick one, no data as that's for tomorrow and the 1st July.

It's been the worst June for solar we've ever had, we haven't even generated as much energy as we did in April, and have barely produced more than we did in March.

However... the total gas & electric bill this month is still only £23.18. So that's not bad.

But with only about 10-12kwh predicted for todays generation, we are roughly 190kwh down on last month...

#SolarUpdate It's been a disappointing first 2 weeks of June compared to other years.

At this rate we'll be around the 500-525kwh of generation mark this month, down from 696kwh last month and way down on June in 2023 & 2024.

However, we've still covered the majority of the home use and have still been around the avg of less than 1kwh of import per day. So lar export has been down, so earnings are down.

We've spent about £12 on electric and standing charges so far, and earned about £10. So we're close to covering the electric side of the bill, but not the gas side like last month.

Solar forecast for the coming week is a bit 'meh' for the next few days, then it's supposed to improve.

I was hoping to get out and about one day this week... and Weds looks like the only day that might be possible (trades in Thurs-Fri doing some jobs)

The data as usual.

Solar Generation - 249kwh
Solar Export - 62kwh
Electric Import - 11kwh

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate time

We broke records again. Lots of good weather, plenty of solar generation and we earned enough from export to entirely offset the gas & electric bills, and even earned £1.63 back on top of that.

The last few days of the month turned with more inclement weather. But not enough to ruin the month or spoil the data.

So here's some figures.

697kwh of solar generation (243kwh used directly, 180kwh via battery and 274kwh exported).

These are all new records, the previous generation record was May 2023 when we did 668kwh and exported 260kwh. I was really hoping we'd hit 700, but that last few days of inclement weather dashed my hopes.

25kwh of electric imported, no record broken there, that still remains June 2025 with about 15kwh.

Without the solar, the electric bill would have been £129 and the gas bill would have been £16 (inc all other charges).

We actually generated and exported enough to wipe out both of those bills and earn an extra £1.63 on top. So this month alone we saved around £147.

We've increased the credit on our energy account this month by £101.63. Last month we increased it by about £49 and in March we added about £6 to it. So the credit has increased by about £156 and we're not even into summer yet.

All of the images are bar charts showing import, export and generation from Jan to May this year.

So far this year, we've imported 610kwh of electric from the grid at a cost of about £158 (not including standing charges)

We've exported about 490kwh and earned about £75 so far this year.

We've generated about 2050kwh of electric, passing the 50% mark in only 5 months. last year after 6 months we'd only hit 1950kwh, and in 2023 we did around 2050kwh in 6 months.

Here's hoping for a decent summer.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate A quickie today... because we finally did it. We exported enough electric to cover a full months worth of electric, gas and all other charges & VAT.

Just barely though... We cancelled out the whole bill and earned an extra £1.63 that's added to the credit on the account.

We continue to pay £100 a month and our bills for the next 4-5 months should all be well under £100 (the avg for June-Aug last year was around £30) and unless we have a sustained period of inclement weather, should see that credit increase to at least £900.

I know we could get that refunded back to my account, but it's a nice cushion to have, and means we don't have to increase the monthly payments to cover the much higher bills we get over the winter period. Typically, the Nov-Feb bills are around 80% of our total gas & electric import due to using the heating a lot (it's turned of May-Sept) and far less sunlight for generation.

If I refunded it, my monthly payments would probably increase to £150 or more and that would actually put a bit of stress on the monthly budget after all of the other price rises we had in April. Energy prices went up 6%, we had a 10% rise in council tax and a 30% rise in the water bill. With food prices continuing to be higher our monthly avg of £300 for groceries and household supplies is now £325. So the monthly basic budget is £100 higher than it was in March... that's an extra £1200 a year already... throwing another £600 on top of that just so we can have a little extra money to spend now... doesn't make any sense at all.

As of yesterday, we'd hit 650kwh of solar generation, 3 days left in the month and nearly 60kwh of generation being predicted.

The previous record was in May 2023 when we did 668kwh and exported 260kwh (worth £39), so far this month we've exported 272kwh (£40.80).

I'm crossing my fingers the solar forecast is accurate and we hit that 700kwh mark for the first time... and that we finally have a good summer. So far we've had a decent May and most of June the last few years and then from the last week of June onwards it gets wet and windy.

So far this year, we have imported 635kwh of electric for the whole house. We've used 2034kwh on the house (avg 405/month). That's 1400kwh of 'free' electric we've used directly... on top of that, we've exported 497kwh of electric and earned an extra £74 back. So in a few days short of 5 months this year, we've already saved £378 + earned £74 back for a total of around £452.

We've not even reached the summer months yet.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate A quickie before bed... oooer 🤔

3 weeks into May... here's the data

10.5kwh of electric imported (£15.82 inc standing order fees)

264.3kwh of electric exported (£36.95 earned)

£9.53 of gas used (inc standing charges)

Current bill +£11.60 credit

529kwh generated in total (May 2024 was 485kwh, May 2023 was 668kwh)

170kwh used directly,
118kwh sent to the battery
246kwh sent back to the grid

Daily avg 25.2kwh

It's been an exceptional month so far, and whilst rain is forecast for the end of the week, it's scattered showers rather than dark clouds and heavy rain. So solar forecast is still looking reasonable for the next week.

Instead of it predicting 207kwh of generation for the last 7 days, it's predicting 130kwh, with an avg of a 50-60% chance of rain each day from Saturday onwards. Which is still a daily avg of 18.5kwh and would only bring the daily total to the 28th down to 23.5kwh a day.

It would also mean (if it's accurate) that we'd equal, if not beat the previous record of total generation in a single month... Which was also May 2023 (668kwh).

Only 10 days left in the month... will we break records or won't we... Tune in and find out.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

Going to start looking into accessing the solar and EV APIs so I can get some update stats.

But so far this month

Generated: 451.5 kWh
Consumed: 81.36 kWh
Of which EV: 40.4 kWh
To battery: 81.4 kWh

To grid: 335.8 kWh

#SolarUpdate

#SolarUpdate so far this month we’ve generated 330KW, fed 44KW of that into the grid (and taken 14KW from it, by accident, my bad) and 43KW into the car. Today we’re out and most of the 25KW we generate (after putting 5KW into the house battery) will go to grid, offsetting our standing charge.

House came with the solar panels, we installed the battery last March, at the moment it’ll pay back in about 10 years.

#SolarUpdate 2 weeks into May and here's the data.

347kwh of electricity generated
158kwh of electric exported back to the grid
8.5kwh of electric imported

So after 14 days, we've spent about £11.30 on electric (inc standing charges)

We've earned £23.70 from exporting.

We've also spent about £6.30 on gas (inc standing charges)

So our bill for the first 2 weeks of May is about £17.60 and we've earned about £23.70.

Which means so far this month, we are about £6 in profit.

We still paid the £100 direct debit the other day, so the credit on the account is currently up by £106.

The best day so far this month was 27.71kwh of generation, we've had an average of 24.7kwh of electric per day.

The lowest day was 12kwh and that's the only day so far this month below 22kwh.

The best ever day we've had was may 2023, when we generated 29.7kwh.

Forecast for the next 7 days is more of the same... 192kwh of solar generation is being predicted for the next 7 days.

At this rate, we'll surpass last years 555kwh for May with 9 days left in the month, and current predictions for the month are over 700kwh.

We use around the 390-450kwh mark each month... lower over warmer months as we use sunshine to dry clothes rather than the tumble dryer. So if we hit 700kwh generation, at least 300+ of that will be exported for around £45+

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate As we move into the more sunny and productive part of the year. I do more regular updates on the system.

So after 1 week of May, here's a few stats.

179kwh of solar generation
87kwh of solar export.
3.7kwh of import

Avg daily generation 25.5kwh
Avg daily use in the home 13kwh
Avg daily export 12.4kwh

When you factor in the daily charges for electric, the current energy bill for electric is about £6. If you add on the gas charges since we turned of the heating at the end of April, it's a total of £9

The earnings from the export £13

So after the first week of May, we are roughly £4 in profit for the month.

#Solar
#Battery
#GoingGreen

#SolarUpdate

Interesting bit of info I just spotted in the data.

Since Feb 1st 2025, we have spent 46 days effectively off-grid. So far this year.

Off-grid is when we import less than 1kwh of electric in a day. There's always a little trickle here and there as the inverter and battery can take 5-10s to adjust to changes in the load on the system.

So 46 days off grid, and 46 days where we imported more than 1kwh each day.

We've imported 299kwh in that period, and 197kwh of it was in Feb.

That's an avg of 3.1kwh per day over 92 days.

For comparison... in the whole 2024, we spent 123 days off grid, and only 21 days of that in the exact same Feb-April period.

We're up more than 50% on last year.

This is where I sarcastically say... Yay, global warming... 🤔 🤦