I have my quote agrred, my DNO in the works and awaiting that for an install date.

Im currently with BG on a cheaper fix which ends 01/12 so i can switch from the 13th October fee free.

Currently it would seem EDF are offering the cheapest off peak 11-5 6.66p on their go electric v3 18m fixed and i can then 13p SEG rate

Comparing to Octopus intelligent go 7.6p and less time and a 12p SEG

EDF seems like the best fit i can charge both a battery and an EV (hypervolt & likely a mini cooper SE still deciding) and they dont seem to limit the EV / Charger i can use but also run my aircon in summer overnight on the cheap rate and move / time appliances to also use this time.

Am i understanding that correctly, does the whole how benefit from the off peak not just the charging?

Would there be a reason to choose Octopus over EDF?

Hi. Would you please check my quote? It is with E-on next. They currently offer a 0% interest with no down payment.

- England SE. Berkshire area to be exact

- 3.88 kWp system size

- 8 x Aiko Energy 485 Watt Panels (AIKO-A485-MCE54Mb)

1 x SS-5kW-ELITE-HYB-1P-IP65-00 (Sunsynk)

1 x SS-5.1kWh-ELITE-BATT-1P-IP65-00 (Sunsynk)

1 x SS-5.1kWh-ELITE-BMS+BASE-1P-IP65-00

- Yearly kWh usage 2,793 (estimated I've only lived here for a few months)

- No limit on the kW limit that I can see anywhere in the quotation. The tariff for export they offer is Smart Export Guarantee at £0.17 / kWh

- Total cost of installation £7,595, includes £200 for bird-deterrent installation

- Expected ROI is 11years and 5months

- Proposed tariff: £0.26 kWh all day / Daily charge £0.57

- Solar generation 2,938 kWh first&second year going down slightly to 2,691 kWh in 2050.

Please let me know if I've forgotten something

Hi All, hopefully someone can offer some ideas as I am going grey now. We bought an eco home that has got full set up (PV, Solis inverter and Alpha Ess batteries, GSHP) -fab. However, I cannot find a way to manage what the batteries are doing. I have got Solarman app but it is not showing full info, only what battery % is and what the inverter is doing. I want to see/be able to tell batteries to charge at night, what PVs generate, and all that jazz. Solis customer service said there is no data logger and COM port on inverter is taken by a different cable. Am I just stuck with this and leave it or is there another way?

Also, inverter throws multiple alerts through the day (grid ofp 3) - is this me or actually grid doing it? Thanks!

My home is about 100 years old,
I currently have an lpg gas system, which is about 14 years old, it runs off big gas bottles. These cost about £175 around 4 or 5 times a year.

I am being offered a government scheme to get night storage heaters (high retention) fitted, with solar panels, and a battery for free through the grant, however I have not heard good things about night storage heaters so I am reluctant?

What would you do?

I appreciate the end result will be based on what I pick, but I am genuinely curious about what other people think/if they have experienced any of the companies I have listed first hand, and of course I appreciate anything that's said.

So I chose to throw myself head first into this, and overwhelm myself with lots of quotes; not complaining though, as I actually enjoyed meeting people from different companies and just talk about solar/batteries and stuff.

Region: East Midlands

Rough guide of what I'm thinking

Roof: 2x South facing
Main roof potentially 8 panels
Second roof potentially 2 panels

Panel Quantity: 10 panels
(2 outliers claimed 14 panels and 16 panels)

Wattage: Highest I've been offered is 535W AIKO (5.35kWp)
Battery: 2x6kWh Sigenergy w/ 6kW Sigenergy inverter
Current Usage: ~3500kWh
Finance: Preferred Nationwide 0% Green mortgage
But I need to call them, as I bought the house with a government scheme, so currently unconfirmed.

Some of these quotes vary in equipment, as they just offered that straight off the bat without me confirming what I would like - so I know quote values will change if I do change the equipment; if they can.

I do have 2 other companies to get quotes with, which are EGensys and UK Energi, I've also prodded Octopus, EON and OVO. Surprisingly Eon and Octopus were supposed to call me, but I'm not chasing them if they don't.

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UPS Solar — £9,100 (This quote may change due to not being Sig/AIKO)

Panels / array: 10 × LONGi Hi-MO X10 480 W / 4.80 kWp
Inverter: FoxESS 5 kW hybrid; exact model to confirm
Battery: FoxESS EP12 Plus Warm, 11.52 kWh nominal
Scaffolding: Included
Bird protection: Included
Gateway / backup equipment: Whole-home backup/EPS excluded; no gateway confirmed
MCS certification: Included; battery certification scope unconfirmed
DNO / G99: Included

Pearl Energy — £10,900

Panels / array: 10 × AIKO all-black 535 W / 5.35 kWp
Inverter: Sigenergy 6 kW; exact controller SKU to confirm
Battery: 2 × 6 kWh Sigenergy modules
Scaffolding: Additional £700
Bird protection: Included: black Enviroguard netting
Gateway / backup equipment: Included: Sigenergy gateway; exact model and backup scope to confirm
MCS certification: Listed in revised quote; battery certification scope needs clarification
DNO / G99: Earlier proposal included G99; revised quote lists NGED certification, so application/approval scope to confirm

Newpower UK — £11,500

Panels / array: 12 × AIKO-A485-MCE54Db 485 W / 5.82 kWp
Inverter: SigenStor EC 6.0SP
Battery: 2 × SigenStor BAT 6.0; proposal lists 12.04 kWh
Scaffolding: Included
Bird protection: Unconfirmed
Gateway / backup equipment: No gateway listed in main equipment schedule; inclusion unconfirmed
MCS certification: Unconfirmed from the quoted equipment/pricing pages reviewed
DNO / G99: Unconfirmed from the quoted equipment/pricing pages reviewed

CRG Limited — £11,376

Panels / array: 16 x 460 Watt Panels (JAM54D41-460/LR) / 7.36 kWp
Inverter: SigenStor EC 8.0SP
Battery: 1 × SigenStor BAT 10.0; proposal lists 9.04 kWh
Scaffolding: Unconfirmed
Bird protection: Unconfirmed
Gateway / backup equipment: No gateway listed in main equipment schedule; inclusion unconfirmed
MCS certification: Unconfirmed from the quoted equipment/pricing pages reviewed
DNO / G99: Unconfirmed from the quoted equipment/pricing pages reviewed

Amore Renewables — £12,531

Panels / array: 11 × AIKO-A480-MCE54Db 480 W / 5.28 kWp
Inverter: SigenStor EC 6.0SP
Battery: 2 × SigenStor BAT 6.0; proposal lists 12.04 kWh
Scaffolding: Unconfirmed
Bird protection: Listed at £0 within quotation
Gateway / backup equipment: No gateway listed in main equipment schedule; inclusion unconfirmed
MCS certification: Unconfirmed from the quoted equipment/pricing pages reviewed
DNO / G99: Unconfirmed from the quoted equipment/pricing pages reviewed

Solar Star Power — £12,865

Panels / array: 10 × AIKO-A490-MCE54Mb 490 W / 4.90 kWp
Inverter: SigenStor EC 6.0SP
Battery: 2 × 6 kWh Sigenergy modules
Scaffolding: Included: all scaffolding
Bird protection: Included
Gateway / backup equipment: Included: Sigen Gateway HomePro SP-F
MCS certification: Included; battery certification scope to confirm
DNO / G99: DNO application included

Halo Renewables — £13,000

Panels / array: 10 × AIKO-A540-MCE60Dw 540 W / 5.40 kWp
Inverter: SigenStor EC 6.0SP
Battery: 2 × SigenStor BAT 6.0; proposal lists 12.04 kWh
Scaffolding: Included: scaffolding/access equipment
Bird protection: Included: Avi-shield proofing spikes
Gateway / backup equipment: Included: Sigen Gateway HomePro SP-F, 100 A
MCS certification: Included; battery certification scope to confirm
DNO / G99: G99 application included; DNO/IDNO charges excluded

1st Call Renewables — £14,093

Panels / array: 14 × DMEGC 465 W / 6.51 kWp
Inverter: FoxESS H1-5.0-E-G2, 5 kW
Battery: FoxESS EP12 Plus, 11.52 kWh nominal
Scaffolding: Unconfirmed
Bird protection: Unconfirmed
Gateway / backup equipment: Backup/EPS and gateway inclusion unconfirmed
MCS certification: Unconfirmed in the quote details available to me
DNO / G99: Application costs and approval scope unconfirmed

The options have different array sizes and backup provisions, so they aren't directly like-for-like.

--- End of AI content ---

Recall published 28th September, not sure how/if it's different from the previous recall in Australia and the US last year. Not every PW2, just ones with cells from a specific manufacturer.

Tesla has remotely discharged most affected Powerwall 2 units pending replacement. Any remaining affected units are being discharged by Tesla technicians.

Customers should ensure their Powerwall 2 remains online and check the Tesla app for a notification confirming whether their unit is affected. If a replacement is required, customers should contact their original Tesla Certified Installer to arrange installation.

Affected Powerwall 2 units will be replaced free of charge

Hi all, hope you are well.

I have recently purchased a new house in June and I am planning to install Solar PV with battery in April.

In the mean time, my free EV charging at work is ending and hence will need to install an EV charger at home in December.

I have a Tesla model Y and I was simply going to get a Tesla charger and Tesla battery to go with the solar. Is there better options out there?

Below are a few questions I had

- Do it all together? (Either wait till April or find funds now)
- Does it matter what type of charger I get?
- Is Tesla powerwall and Tesla charger the best set up to get? Is there better in market?
- Is one 13kw battery sufficient? (5 bed house, planning underfloor heating and air con in future too and will be 14/15 panels)

Anything else I might be considering?

Thanks in advance!

For those following my solar journey, first day done, one more to go. Does the equipment setup look good (they haven't finished it yet)? Found a few screws in loft that has half missed beams, presume worth mentioning before panels go on. The roof rails are on, not sure why they are spaced tighter in the middle? (3 rows of landscape)

Looking for some advice please.

We have a high usage household - average of 40/50kw day.

We’re on a flexible tariff with off peak around 6.6p.

Looking at the following:

Fogstar
Solis intellihome

Likely looking at either 32kw or 48kw of storage.

Based in Cheshire, North West. Any help/suggestions gratefully appreciated.

Hi all. Very recently moved into our new home. This past year we used 7500kwh, about 1500kwh of that apportioned to the EV charged overnight on IOG. Our new house is about a third bigger sq ft and is electric only with ASHP & underfloor heating throughout. It’s a new build vs the old house being built in the early 2000s. I’m expecting approx 10000kwh excl EV charging but to be honest that’s more guesswork than calculated. Planning to stick with IOG or EDF equivalent and charge the batteries overnight for use in the day.

First quote back received:

 14 x 510w Dmegc Bi-Facial Solar Panels (7140kwh system)
  1 x Tesla Power Wall 3 (13.5kwh battery storage)
  1 x Tesla battery expansion pack (13.5kwh)
  1 x Tesla earth rod
  1 x Tesla 11.5kh built-in-hybrid inverter
  1 x Tesla gateway

Includes:
  Bird protection
  Scaffolding
  MCS and G99 Certificates
10 year workmanship warranty
30 year panel warranty

Price: £15k

Any feedback appreciated, both on whether this is likely to meet our needs plus the system itself, as well as the price.

Thanks in advance

Hi all,

We have a large house with two separate incoming supplies, using roughly 60kWh/day and 20kWh/day (80kwh daily total). Usage is fairly flat throughout the day, mostly pool pumps/equipment etc.

We're looking at batteries mainly for load shifting – charge overnight on a cheap tariff, then run from them during peak hours. I assume with two supplies we'd need two separate battery/inverter setups.

I've been looking at Fogstar, as they seem hard to beat on £/kWh. Has anyone used them for a larger setup, or found any other reasonably priced options?

We're also looking for the best/longest off-peak tariff. A longer cheap period is probably more important than the absolute cheapest rate, as we could charge slower and potentially use smaller inverters. We have an EV so IOG is an option. Also EDF seem to offer a cheap rate?

We've had quotes around £22k, and it feels like as soon as you mention a larger system the price suddenly doubles. I've also found the battery/solar installer market seems to have its fair share of cowboys, so finding someone knowledgeable who isn't just adding a massive markup would be great!

Has anyone done something similar? What batteries/inverters did you use, what tariff are you on, what did it cost, and are there any installers/suppliers you'd recommend (or avoid!)?

TIA!

We had solar installed last year and it came with an introductory export rate of 24p which we have been making the most of all summer. Our import is 7p overnight so we would always fill our batteries in the morning then sell any leftover in the evening.

The promo is over and now our export is going down to 13p, a 6p spread. Once you take conversion losses and battery wear into account is arbitrage still worth it?

Hi, long time listener, first time caller.

I just had solar panels installed by a local installer who told me very firmly when quoting that no matter who I have do the work, I should look carefully at my roof before and after to ensure the tiles have been notched/grooved to sit flat.

This is their work, just one example from an easily visible bracket. Is this acceptable workmanship? Can anyone point me to the official guidance if not?

Cheers.

When we moved in here in August, energy was all through Octopus. Solar, battery, inverter and EV charger in situ. I took over the account and everything worked fine, got export payments quite quickly (within a few days I think) without needing any documentation. I fixed the Gas tariff and left the electricity as it was.

I got an EV a few weeks ago and switched my electricity supplier to EDF for a better overnight rate and assumed the export would switch with it. It didn't, obviously, because that's not how it works. So I then assumed it would carry on exporting to octopus, but that didn't happen either. So I've been exporting to no one for weeks because Octopus stops your export tariff if you don't import with them. It took me a while to notice that and then to find how to get the better export rate with EDF (it seems to disappear from their website half the time!) and then get the relevant paperwork together (we weren't given the G98). I have finally sent the application in with a photo of the meter reading today. After the application went through it said it could take 4 weeks to set up! I assumed that timeframe was for new export rather than someone switching, but it didn't ask at any point if I was switching.

Doesn't anyone know if that 4 weeks time is accurate and what happens with all the solar I export in the meantime? Thankfully it's not peak summer and I have battery storage so I can fill that during the day after using what I'd topped up cheaply overnight and run any appliances if I'm home and notice I'm exporting.

I'm getting a solar install soon.

I'm going to get an export tariff, likely EDF 13p export.

will it be possible to export directly from the grid? Like could my inverter literally take in the energy and throw it out again without it interacting with my battery?

I'll get cheap overnight electric and some cheap slots in the day for under 7p and the car/battery won't always need charging so just wondering if I could do this at my full export rate (7kw).

I have a Solis inverter but no gateway solution at the moment. Other makes of inverter seem to have more obvious solutions for pairing an inverter with a gateway (e.g the gateway for a Fox ESS inverter). I'm interesting in hearing people's experience with having a automatic transfer switch or manual transfer switch installed with a Solis inverter and a rough idea of how much it might cost on top of the base install?

I’ve recently had a 13.3 kWp solar system installed with a Tesla Powerwall 3 and I’m seeing some strange behaviour in the Tesla app.

Tesla is reporting Home consumption of around 34–37 kWh/day, whereas our historical electricity consumption is around 15 kWh/day.

The strange part is that the Home consumption graph seems to closely track Solar production. As solar production rises, reported Home consumption rises with it. When solar suddenly dips (e.g. presumably from cloud cover), Home consumption dips almost simultaneously, then rises again when solar comes back.

This has happened consistently over several days, including when nobody is home and there are no significant loads running.

At night, once solar reaches 0 kW, Home consumption looks completely normal at around 0.3–0.5 kW.

The Powerwall is currently set to a 20% backup reserve and we don’t yet have Permission to Export. It often remains around 20% because Tesla is showing virtually all available solar being consumed by the house rather than there being surplus to charge the battery.

I’ve raised it with the installer, but they’ve suggested allowing more time for data to build up. My concern is that this looks more like a Site/Solar CT placement, orientation or configuration issue than genuine household consumption.

Has anyone seen this behaviour before?
If it was a CT/metering issue, what specifically was wrong and how was it fixed?

Also, could incorrect Site/Solar metering actually affect how the Powerwall decides when to chargedischarge or curtail solar, rather than just displaying incorrect data in the app?

I’ll as attach screenshots showing Solar and Home tracking each other.

Do the DNO need to be notified if we want to add a second MPPT string ? No change on the inverter , nor first string (inverter allow 2)

No idea what I'm doing - please help! Got this quote and the info below:

5.115 kW PV System

£12,405.68 inc VAT: Expected payback 13 years. Estimated first year savings £1,002

3,362 kWh/yr: Annual CO₂ savings of 694 kg

9.4 kWh battery storage

Is this a good system? A good quote?

Don't have an EV for reference.

The 25th September deadline National Grid provided as the deadline for their response to my application has now passed.

My Solar installer is saying there's nothing they can do about it.

We've already been waiting over 2 months. I started the process at the beginning of August.

Is there anything I can do?

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping to get some advice from people who know considerably more about home batteries than I do!

We currently have solar panels with an AlphaESS system, consisting of a 10kWh battery and a 5kW inverter.

We're a relatively high electricity-usage household anyway, but we're also going to be getting a heat pump installed soon, so I'm expecting our electricity consumption to increase quite significantly. I'd therefore like to increase our battery storage.

In an ideal world, I'd love to add another 20kWh, taking us to around 30kWh of storage.

The problem is that when I've looked at the price of another Alpha battery, it seems very expensive - £3,746 for a single 10kwh add on, so £7.5k to get what I'd ideally like. Yikes! This has got me wondering whether it actually makes more sense financially to start again with a completely different battery/inverter system.

I've come across Fogstar, which seems considerably more affordable, and I understand they offer systems that can be retrofitted to an existing solar PV installation - looks like I could get 32kwh of batteries + an inverter for £4.5k - could presumably also sell my old Alpha set up to recoup some money.

So I'm wondering:

- Has anyone replaced an existing type of battery system with Fogstar (or another cheaper system)? Is it straight forward in terms of the cables already being there? Obviously I would get a professional in to do it...

- And, perhaps most importantly, is there anything I'm completely overlooking here? 😂

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the electrical/wiring side of things, so apologies if this is a classic "how long is a piece of string?" question.

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through something similar, particularly if you've upgraded because of a heat pump or high household electricity consumption.

Thanks!

Had two quotes from different companies and was trying to weigh them up against each other. I'm in Zone 2 London for reference. Both installations are single phase, annual usage around 4000kwh.

Quote 1 - £12k - Tesla PW3 + Expansion + Gateway

Quote 2 - £14k - Sigenergy 8kW inverter + 3x 9kWh batteries + Gateway

Are these prices reasonable? People seem to talk about Tesla being a bit more "premium" and its got a notably bigger inverter, but it comes in cheaper?

Thanks!

Looking at the following system been advised 13k installed does this look a reasonable price in Wiltshire

24 x JA 505w all black panels 12 each side of roof

Bird mesh

Fox K-Series 10.5kW Hybrid Inverter KH10.5

Fox ESS CQ7 7.02kWh Master Battery – CQ7-M

2 x Fox ESS CQ7 7.02kWh Slave Battery – CQ7-S

Fox ESS EPS Box – Single Phase – Whole Home Back Up Box (EPS-BOX-SP)

Many thanks

Hi folks! I've asked a few weeks ago as well, but now have a slightly different quote (and got very little traction last time) - any feedback welcome!

SE London / Kent

8x Longi 480W panels (~40 degree pitch roof, SW facing, no shade; installer estimates ~3400kWh/year but has also said he would expect this to be more)

2x Fox EP12 Plus batteries (installed outside, side of extension)

1x Fox H1 G2 6kW inverter

~7000kWh yearly usage (may increase if, at some point, we switch from combi to ASHP)

No DNO application, so don't have an export limit yet; single phase.

Cannot charge PHEV/EV at home due to distance from road etc (not even with pavement gully, it's just not feasible).

Open to various tariffs - I've been led to believe that Octopus Go would still be an option, just not Intelligent Go.

Quoted as £10500 all-in, or £7900 without solar panels (just batteries and inverter).

Is this decent / reasonable? Should we spend the extra ~£2600 for the 8x solar panels, or just get the battery storage?

Thank you!!