Home batteries, tariffs and solar, in real figures.

All guides

• Eight findings, a year of 20 modelled homes and one real home How to get more from your solar battery What moved the saving most, in order: how the battery is planned, being paid for export, the tariff, the export tariff and limit, when to store, winter and Agile. Each links to its guide. Read the guide
• Calculator, a year of 20 modelled homes Solar battery savings calculator Your tariff, your battery and your yearly use in: what planning the battery every half hour saved the modelled homes nearest yours, against the same battery on its own schedule. Work out yours
• A year, 20 homes, four sizes What size solar battery do I need? 5, 9.5, 13.5 and 20 kWh on the same homes for a year. Each extra kWh saved less, and how much more a bigger battery saved followed the home’s own use. Read the guide
• Five options, and a year of 20 modelled homes Home battery scheduling software in the UK Maker apps, a routine set by hand, Intelligent Octopus Flux, Predbat and Orza: what each costs and needs. Self use saved £171 a year; a hand-set routine £246; planned, £431. Read the guide
• A year, 20 modelled homes, month by month Do solar batteries work in winter? In December a battery left to itself saved £3.75; planned every half hour, £29.42. The sun, the use and the saving, every month of a year. Read the guide
• A year, 40 modelled homes Is a solar battery worth it in the UK? No battery, a battery left to itself, and one planned every half hour. Planned, it saved £435 a year; left alone, £171. What that means over a battery’s life. Read the guide
• Real prices by season, and a year of 40 modelled homes Is it better to store solar or export it? Usually store it. The real prices by time of day, the three times exporting wins, and what deciding it every half hour was worth a year. Read the guide
• One real home, 34 days, three limits What is an export limit, and does it cost you money? Most homes may send 3.68 kW to the grid. How to find yours, and what it was worth to one home: £27.81 in five weeks on a fixed export rate. Read the guide
• A year, 40 modelled homes Octopus Go, Agile or Flux with a home battery? Five Octopus tariffs, a whole year, two sizes of battery. What each cost, what planning saved, and why Flux and Agile with fixed export came out ahead. Read the guide
• One real home, 34 days Agile Outgoing or Outgoing Octopus with a home battery? The flat 12p came out £12.15 ahead over 34 days. Why, by season, and how much a home’s export limit changed it. Read the guide
• One real home, 32 days Is Octopus Agile worth it with a home battery? A home paid 12.99p a kWh on Agile against a price cap of 26p. The real figures, and what it took to get them. Read the guide
• 26 terms, with real figures Solar battery and tariff terms, explained Agile, Go, Flux, SEG, export limits, G98, kWp, round trip efficiency, self use and more, each in a few lines, with a link to the guide that goes further. Read the guide

A real home’s figures are from its own battery and meter. The modelled homes’ use is real households’ smart meter readings (Low Carbon London, UK Power Networks, CC BY 4.0), with modelled panels and batteries. Each guide says which it uses, and what was left out.