Making sure you’re on the best power plan for your solar energy system

Installing a solar energy system isn’t just about installing the panels and the battery at your home, it’s also making sure you are on the best power plan to make the most of the system. With solar, you want to be paid a premium for any excess solar energy you are generating and selling back to the grid. Likewise, you want to make sure that any energy purchased to fill up your battery is done when energy is cheapest. Our ecoSOLAR plan is designed for solar customers to do just this. Here’s how it works.

Understanding Time of Use plans

Time of Use pricing is unique to homeowners who have a solar energy system installed. It means that you pay different rates for the energy you export and import, to and from the grid, depending on the time of day and whether it’s in a peak, shoulder, or off-peak pricing period. It’s a shift from fixed rates where you get paid one rate throughout the whole day.

To make the most of these rates, you want to first store any excess solar energy in your battery to use during peak pricing periods. If you still have more energy than you need, then you want to export it during peak pricing periods so you can get paid the most for your excess energy. This will appear as a credit on your monthly power bill from Ecotricity.

Shoulder and off-peak periods are when it is cheapest to purchase energy. If it’s a winter’s day when there isn’t much sunshine, or your home is using more energy than the power generated from your panels, you will need to purchase additional energy from the grid. Purchasing energy during the shoulder and off-peak periods saves money, as you aren’t purchasing energy when it is most expensive.

Here’s what a typical day looks like with Time of Use rates when you power your home with our ecoSOLAR plan:

Seasonality with solar

It’s important to remember that your power bill will change depending on the season when you‘re powering your home with solar. In summer, there are longer sunshine hours and you are normally using less energy to power your home. You can expect a lower power bill as you will likely have exported more solar power to the grid. This will appear as a credit on your power bill.

Meanwhile, in winter your power bills will be slightly higher. This is because winter days are shorter, and having less hours of sunshine means that less energy is generated. You are also likely using more energy to heat your home. Over the year, you will find overall savings on your power bill with solar.