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Open for votes

Incentivise battery and load shifting by domestic customers

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  • July 16, 2025
  • 7 replies
  • 99 views
B
Carbon Cutter*****
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I recently has a solar and home battery installation which I am very pleased with. Whenever I mention it to someone they always ask “What is the pay back time?”. This is not something I had really considered so I did a rough calculation which came out at 15-18 years. I think this is a hard sell to someone who considers pay back time to be important.

So I thought what could an energy company do that would make battery and solar more attractive while also offering benefits to the energy company and I cam up with 2 ideas that work together:

 

  1. Offer and add on for over night home battery charging similar to Charge Anytime for EVs. Probably easiest just to have an off peak tariff that can be used for battery charging to avoid the complexity of integration with battery charge controllers. I know this is already available  but it’s important to work with the 2nd idea. Could be limited to customers registered for SEG.
  2. Offer a premium export tariff at peak times say 5pm to 7pm to incentivize load shifting.

I know my small contribution to load shifting would make no difference but if we could get many thousands of people doing it there could be a significant flattening of the peak.

Let me know what you think.

If any OVO staff see this I would be grateful if you could pass it along to whoever is thinking about this type of thing within OVO.

 

Thanks

Bruce 

It takes individuals to take action to bring about change

7 replies

Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
  • Emmanuelle_OVO
  • Community Manager
  • July 21, 2025
New→Open for votes
Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
  • Emmanuelle_OVO
  • Community Manager
  • July 21, 2025

Hey ​@brichard, 

Would love to hear more about your personal experiences installing green tech. 

I think it’s a good idea you’ve put forwards, I’ve changed it to ‘open for votes’, so that we can guage interest from the community. 

I’ve added two further green tech badges to your profile 🙂

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
B
Carbon Cutter*****
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  • brichard
  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter*****
  • July 21, 2025

@

Hi Emmanuelle_OVO,

Thanks for opening my suggestion to votes. Is there any way I can promote it to holders of PV and battery badges?

I would love to say more about my green Tech experience. Should I put it here or start a new thread?

 

Bruce

It takes individuals to take action to bring about change
Peter E
Plan Zero Hero
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  • Peter EPlan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • July 23, 2025

I'll just say one thing on here which is the elephant in the room. If you only have flat rate tariffs then there is no real reward for moving your energy out of the peak and there is no opportunity for energy arbitrage (buying energy at a low rate and selling into the peak). Half hourly rates probably makes battery ownership at least cost neutral and it helps to cut peak demand on generators and making the transmission and distribution systems more efficient**. Energy suppliers have to evolve with the further introduction of renewables that give rise to these opportunities and benefits.

 

I will upvote on the basis that OVO will introduce HH rates to incentivise affordable ownership of battery technology.

 

Peter

 

** Power losses go up as the square of the current (demand) so it is more efficient if you have a steady demand compared to one that has peaks. For the same energy if you double the demand into half the time you double the losses.

Reducing my yearly fossil fuel usage with an EV (-900 litres petrol), A2AHP (-8,500 kWh gas) and Timed Immersion heater (-1,500 kWh gas)
Abby_OVO
B
Carbon Cutter*****
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  • brichard
  • Author
  • Carbon Cutter*****
  • July 23, 2025

Thanks for that ​@Peter E ,

 

You summarize my thinking in you post above. I’m not looking to make money just get closer to cost neutrality. Hopefully with better gid balancing comes reduced reliance on gas and cheaper electricity prices.

Wishful thinking maybe, but I can only do my little bit to make things better.

It takes individuals to take action to bring about change
Abby_OVO
Firedog
Plan Zero Hero
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  • FiredogPlan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • July 23, 2025

… with better gid balancing comes reduced reliance on gas and cheaper electricity prices.
  

Related, perhaps: https://www.irena.org/News/pressreleases/2025/Jul/91-Percent-of-New-Renewable-Projects-Now-Cheaper-Than-Fossil-Fuels-Alternatives

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
Peter E
Peter E
Plan Zero Hero
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  • Peter EPlan Zero Hero
  • Plan Zero Hero
  • July 23, 2025

And the lowest cost fossil fuel? COAL. 

 

 

And as we no longer burn coal in the UK (although we still import electricity generated using coal) and nuclear always runs it's a choice between renewables and gas. But there are complications that make renewables more expensive. Paradoxically, when there is plenty of wind and there are sites can't use it.

Reducing my yearly fossil fuel usage with an EV (-900 litres petrol), A2AHP (-8,500 kWh gas) and Timed Immersion heater (-1,500 kWh gas)
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