Is it still worth exporting your home battery?

[mick D]

I’m with OVO also solar fitted by OVO if you use another installer the Seg price is 15 p

 

[JWD]

Re battery “degradation” / getting older - below is some data from our 3x Powerwall 2s of different ages. Over the last year we have been pursuing an approach that involves charging to 100% overnight on IOG, exporting solar from when the battery refills after 05:30 onwards and then actively discharging to grid in the evenings down as low as possible ( now automated) whilst not incurring peak rate usage before 23:30 arrives.
Relative to the battery remaining capacity (SoH) as it was on 1/4/2025, our 3 PW2s now have reduced capacities by 4.9% (7 years old and now at 87.5% of nominal capacity of 13.5kWh), 5.2% (a warranty replacement 1yr ago which started at 100%) and 6.5% (a new PW2 installed 10/24 and now at 101%). Rightly or wrongly I’m maxing the use of the capacity without regard for the battery longevity and with the expectation that at some point newer battery tech with lower pricing will justify replacing some or all of the Powerwalls.
Of course as and when import / export tariff rates and Ts and Cs change in the future we may well modify this pattern of use as we did before moving to SEG and IOG sometime in 2024 I think.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Well, I think this just answers the question. The differential between import and export is back up to where it was - actually a nominal 8.5p now, as opposed to 8p before the reduction in the export tariff.

View attachment 44436

How do I get 3.49p/day off peak? I'm on IOG variable and I'm paying 7p off peak and 28.22p peak on IOG.
I charge my battery at night and it powers the house in the peak period.
So all my solar is exported.
If I was advising someone thinking about home solar + battery, I would suggest that getting a battery is more advantageous than getting panels, purely for saving that 28p-7p = 21p/kwh for the majority of your electricity usage.

So far this month (March 2026), I have spent £44.14 on electricity and earned £79.55 exporing it.
Unfortunately I spent £72.39 on gas.
The situation in the height of summer is quite different. June 2025, I spent £47.54 on electricity, earned £257.98 exporting and spent £29.58 on gas. At the end of Autumn, we had nearly £1,000 credit.
With the new 12p export rate, I will be earning 20% less from exporting, but at least if I can get down to 3.49p to charge our EVs and battery, we will have a chance to redress the shortfall.

 

[mikgle]

How do I get 3.49p/day off peak? The Octopus app and desktop site don't tell me whether I'm on a fixed or variable tariff and I don't know. I'm paying 7p off peak and 28.22p peak on IOG.
I charge my battery at night and it powers the house in the peak period.
So all my solar is exported.
If I was advising someone thinking about home solar + battery, I would suggest that getting a battery is more advantageous than getting panels, purely for saving that 28p-7p = 21p/kwh for the majority of your electricity usage.

So far this month (March 2026), I have spent £44.14 on electricity and earned £79.55 exporing it.
Unfortunately I spent £72.39 on gas.
The situation in the height of summer is quite different. June 2025, I spent £47.54 on electricity, earned £257.98 exporting and spent £29.58 on gas. At the end of Autumn, we had nearly £1,000 credit.
With the new 12p export rate, I will be earning 20% less from exporting, but at least if I can get down to 3.49p to charge our EVs and battery, we will have a chance to redress the shortfall.

On the Octopus app click on Tariff, it will say and IOG is variable. I would always recommend getting panels before a battery, preferably both

 

[Rolfe]

How do I get 3.49p/day off peak? I'm on IOG variable and I'm paying 7p off peak and 28.22p peak on IOG.
I charge my battery at night and it powers the house in the peak period.
So all my solar is exported.
If I was advising someone thinking about home solar + battery, I would suggest that getting a battery is more advantageous than getting panels, purely for saving that 28p-7p = 21p/kwh for the majority of your electricity usage.

So far this month (March 2026), I have spent £44.14 on electricity and earned £79.55 exporing it.
Unfortunately I spent £72.39 on gas.
The situation in the height of summer is quite different. June 2025, I spent £47.54 on electricity, earned £257.98 exporting and spent £29.58 on gas. At the end of Autumn, we had nearly £1,000 credit.
With the new 12p export rate, I will be earning 20% less from exporting, but at least if I can get down to 3.49p to charge our EVs and battery, we will have a chance to redress the shortfall.

I don't know. They just handed it to me. I wonder if it was because I fixed my off-peak tariff back in October? But you should get an email detailing your new prices from 1st April.

 

[Everest]

How do I get 3.49p/day off peak?

From reading between the lines, it seems that Octopus are applying a 3.51p reduction wef 1/4/26 to all tariffs, as a result of some changes made in the autumn statement.

So if, like @Rolfe, you are on a fixed rate for months, you will get 3.51p off your fixed rate.

But, if you are on a variable rate, you / we should hopefully see 3.51p off what the variable becomes after 1/4/26, which looks like it will be more than it is now.

We currently pay 8.5p on Dumb Octopus Go, but when I checked the deals yesterday, OG had increased OG by 2p to 10.5p for a 12 month fix now, with that reducing to 6.99p after 1/4/26.

Similarly, IOG has increased to 9p / kWh for new 12 months deals, reduced to 5.49p from April
Here's the info on IOG...

 

[Rolfe]

Some time last October I saw, I think on Twitter, that Octopus was offering to fix the 7p rate for 12 months, for anyone who would agree to a small increase in the peak rate. It seemed like a no-brainer to me, as I don't use any peak-rate electricity worth mentioning, so I did it. I had an email conversation with someone who even wanted to know my car registration number, and it was done.

I think that's what's given me the 3.49p rate. The email I had last week said that when I fixed my rate they bought the electricity in advance to supply me, and because of that I was getting the 3.5p reduction from the 7p rate. Turned out rather better than I had envisaged.

 

[Gomev]

From reading between the lines, it seems that Octopus are applying a 3.51p reduction wef 1/4/26 to all tariffs, as a result of some changes made in the autumn statement.

So if, like @Rolfe, you are on a fixed rate for months, you will get 3.51p off your fixed rate.

But, if you are on a variable rate, you / we should hopefully see 3.51p off what the variable becomes after 1/4/26, which looks like it will be more than it is now.

We currently pay 8.5p on Dumb Octopus Go, but when I checked the deals yesterday, OG had increased OG by 2p to 10.5p for a 12 month fix now, with that reducing to 6.99p after 1/4/26.

Similarly, IOG has increased to 9p / kWh for new 12 months deals, reduced to 5.49p from April
Here's the info on IOG...

View attachment 44586

Same here OG not fixed. Not worth taking the fix now IMO, I will take the lower prices for 3 months from April 1st and see how the war and future rates are looking in a couple of months.

 

[mikgle]

How do I get 3.49p/day off peak? I'm on IOG variable and I'm paying 7p off peak and 28.22p peak on IOG.
I charge my battery at night and it powers the house in the peak period.
So all my solar is exported.
If I was advising someone thinking about home solar + battery, I would suggest that getting a battery is more advantageous than getting panels, purely for saving that 28p-7p = 21p/kwh for the majority of your electricity usage.

So far this month (March 2026), I have spent £44.14 on electricity and earned £79.55 exporing it.
Unfortunately I spent £72.39 on gas.
The situation in the height of summer is quite different. June 2025, I spent £47.54 on electricity, earned £257.98 exporting and spent £29.58 on gas. At the end of Autumn, we had nearly £1,000 credit.
With the new 12p export rate, I will be earning 20% less from exporting, but at least if I can get down to 3.49p to charge our EVs and battery, we will have a chance to redress the shortfall.

Get rid of gas! Nasty horrible stuff and dangerous and likely now to get very expensive. I know a heat pump is a big outlay and not everyone can have one but there are offers around.. I got a 5 year interest free loan from BGas and pay £140/ month. That was when the grant was £5k, its now £7.5k. It works really well and dont forget the gas standing charge, which will also likely to increase.

 

[Bam Bam]

Get rid of gas! Nasty horrible stuff and dangerous and likely now to get very expensive. I know a heat pump is a big outlay and not everyone can have one but there are offers around.. I got a 5 year interest free loan from BGas and pay £140/ month. That was when the grant was £5k, its now £7.5k. It works really well and

Indeed, the government paid for over half the cost of our heat pump. This essentially removes the difference with installing a new gas boiler.

I was very happy to pay for the rest of the cost to have a much better, more comfortable and more efficient heating and hot water system.

We all need to do this at some point in the next few years, so time to get planning.

dont forget the gas standing charge, which will also likely to increase.

It is going to go up significantly when the old system has to be decommissioned at great expense. With fewer and fewer people connected and paying the charge as more and more people get heat pumps. We had our gas supply removed earlier this month and will be saving about £100 a year from now on.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Get rid of gas! Nasty horrible stuff and dangerous and likely now to get very expensive. I know a heat pump is a big outlay and not everyone can have one but there are offers around.. I got a 5 year interest free loan from BGas and pay £140/ month. That was when the grant was £5k, its now £7.5k. It works really well and dont forget the gas standing charge, which will also likely to increase.

Well, if our boiler was old, I would be looking in to it, but the vendors installed a new one right before we bought the house 4 years ago.
Plus with electricity being so expensive compared to gas, even with the mad efficiency of air source heat pumps, I don't think it would be a good investment even if I could afford it.

 

[mikgle]

Well, if our boiler was old, I would be looking in to it, but the vendors installed a new one right before we bought the house 4 years ago.
Plus with electricity being so expensive compared to gas, even with the mad efficiency of air source heat pumps, I don't think it would be a good investment even if I could afford it.

This is where solar pv, storage battery and cheap overnight electricity really come into their own but I take your point, not everyone can do that in the short term. However I believe the government are bringing in some sort of eco loan scheme..

 

[Everest]

We're interested in ASHP, but have doubts the old house would be efficient enough for it to be practical. Need to do some more research.

 

[Rolfe]

I got a new boiler in 2019 and a new oil tank in 2023. My house is quite big and has these microbore central heating pipes. The whole lot would have to be replaced, and more insulation added. It's just not practical. If I had to replace my boiler now I might look at it more carefully, but I'm still doubtful that it would be practical. Also, how would I heat the house all day using off-peak electricity?

 

[Everest]

Also, how would I heat the house all day using off-peak electricity?

Another 40kWh's of battery?

 

[Bam Bam]

Well, if our boiler was old, I would be looking in to it, but the vendors installed a new one right before we bought the house 4 years ago.
Plus with electricity being so expensive compared to gas, even with the mad efficiency of air source heat pumps, I don't think it would be a good investment even if I could afford it.

Yeah, I think it is just a case of getting ready for when it happens.

Our boiler was 35 or so years old and was very basic (hence inefficient).

I can understand not wanting to take out a more modern one.

But the greater efficiency is due to greater complexity and that comes at the expense of shorter lifespans. So I wouldn't be surprised if you were looking to replace yours in around five years, given the place the world will be by then.

Plus when you've got solar, battery and EV tariffs the heat pump is very cheap to run.

I got a new boiler in 2019 and a new oil tank in 2023. My house is quite big and has these microbore central heating pipes.

We had two radiators on microbore and they just increased the radiator size and left the pipes.

They should do the calculations but often the microbore is just the last little bit and it isn't a dealbreaker any more.

The whole lot would have to be replaced, and more insulation added. It's just not practical.

Wouldn't insulation be saving a lot of money whatever the heating source? Particularly with all the Trumpflation that is looking likely in the coming years.

If I had to replace my boiler now I might look at it more carefully, but I'm still doubtful that it would be practical. Also, how would I heat the house all day using off-peak electricity?

Ours has been so efficient over the winter that we haven't needed to increase our battery like I thought we would.

There were a few cold days where the battery ran out in the middle of the day, but it mostly lasted until about 11pm

If you've got South-facing solar you'll do even better in the winter, though I now remember you're in Scotland so that might not be so great.

 

[T1 Terry]

I got a new boiler in 2019 and a new oil tank in 2023. My house is quite big and has these microbore central heating pipes. The whole lot would have to be replaced, and more insulation added. It's just not practical. If I had to replace my boiler now I might look at it more carefully, but I'm still doubtful that it would be practical. Also, how would I heat the house all day using off-peak electricity?

Can you add a heat pump boiler to the circuit to reduce the heat load on the oil burner boiler?
The rest of the system would remain the same, us the MG4 to assist with the battery load during the day and recharge when the electricity price is lower.
You will still have the oil heater burner as back up if needed, but that would greatly reduce your heating oil bill .....

T1 Terry

 

[Bam Bam]

Can you add a heat pump boiler to the circuit to reduce the heat load on the oil burner boiler?
The rest of the system would remain the same, us the MG4 to assist with the battery load during the day and recharge when the electricity price is lower.
You will still have the oil heater burner as back up if needed, but that would greatly reduce your heating oil bill .....

T1 Terry

If considering a dual system (which would probably be expensive to install), it might be worth instead just adding an air-air Heat pump or two to provide a bit of efficient heating and cooling.

Basically an air conditioner that can provide heating as well.

You wouldn't get the grant for it, though, if you aren't removing a fossil system. But then air-air units are much cheaper.

 

[T1 Terry]

I wouldn't have thought a heat pump reverse cycle air conditioner would be any more efficient than a heat pump water heater, the benefit is water can carry 3 times the heat energy of air ..... not quite sure how the hydronics system would work reverse cycle though ...... maybe a drip tray under each radiator to catch the water that is removed from the air ......

T1 Terry

 

[johnb80]

I had my system setup nicely for exporting surplus energy during the evening all automatically done, no intervention required by me. Looking at the amount earned and the potential degredation of batteries, I switched the system off and no longer export during the evenings. I no longer participate with the saving sessions either for the same reasons, it's just not worth it.

Maybe Tesla will come up with something more attractive?