The advantage of using grid electricity in your energy storage battery
If you have installed a solar PV system with battery storage you will already be benefitting from all the electricity you generate from your solar panels as you won’t need to export it to the grid. But did you know that you could also use your storage battery to store grid electricity when it is available at cheaper rates?
If you are yet to install solar PV and haven’t decided whether to include battery storage then read on, as there are more benefits than just storing the electricity you have generated.
One energy company that is encouraging households with solar PV and battery storage to use their battery storage flexibly is Octopus Energy. They have created a specific tariff called Octopus Flux to support these customers so that they can buy electricity at lower prices when there is the lowest demand and reward you for exporting electricity to the grid when the demand is at its highest with premium rates.
It is an experimental tariff that is exploring how domestic battery storage can aid the national grid in meeting peak demands for electricity more flexibly. It is designed to reward you for supporting this but tariffs do vary slightly depending on your location, so please check on their postcode checker for the exact rates for your address.
How much could you save?
Let’s look at two standard storage battery sizes and the costs of charging between midnight and 5:00 AM on Octopus Flux versus the national average cost for electricity.
For a 4.85kWh battery:
| Cost – pence per watt | Cost per full charge | |
| National Average Cost | 0.0245p | £11.76 |
| Octopus Flux | 0.01385p | £6.62 |
This would mean that for every 4.85kWh charge using our Octopus Approved Battery System, you would be 77% better off.
For a 10kWp storage battery:
| Cost pence per watt | Cost per full charge | |
| National Average Cost | 0.0245p | £24.50 |
| Octopus Flux | 0.01385p | £13.85 |
Again using our Octopus Approved Battery System for a 10kWh charge you would be 77% better off.
You can then use the electricity yourself and top up the battery during daylight hours using your solar panels. Then during the peak demand hours of 16.00 and 19.00, you can export the electricity to the grid at a premium rate of 27.05p/kWh
As you can set your battery storage to automatically import and export it doesn’t require you to do anything, as it will all happen for you. All you will need to do is set up the tariff with Octopus Energy and program the battery storage as desired. You can then sit back and know that your solar PV system with battery storage is working even harder for you to save you money and earn it too.
You can learn more about the Octopus Flux tariff here, and if you are still considering installing solar panels, contact us for a free quote.
