“I did it partly to reduce my carbon emissions but also to save money,” says Parker, whose panels were producing about 1kW when the Guardian visited on a sunny February day. Giles Parker spent £9,500 on installing 14 solar panels on his east-west roof and two 8.2kWh solar batteries in his garage. The fact that most of us are now paying about 35p a kWh for each unit of electricity – almost three times as much as a few years ago, with prices about to go up again in April – has left householders looking for ways to save money on electricity bills that now average £1,200 a year. Last week the body that accredits installers, MCS, said solar panel installations have doubled this year and are running at the highest level since 2015.
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While solar panel installation has been around for years, the arrival of reasonably priced home energy batteries capable of storing a home’s daily electricity consumption – plus the big increase in prices because of the Russia-Ukraine war – has helped revitalise a sector that was left on its knees when the government stopped paying feed-in tariffs. MCS said solar panel installations have doubled this year and are running at the highest level since 2015 However, with careful management of the system – which sometimes leads to him dialling in to set the home batteries to charge up at night using super-cheap electricity – he says he has slashed his outgoings, as well as his home’s carbon emissions. Parker, who runs his own digital signage business, is relatively unusual in that he and his son run electric cars, meaning his electricity consumption is significantly higher than most households. As things stand, consumers face an increase in their bills from April, despite Monday’s announcement that the industry price cap will fall by almost £1,000. Energy bills, and what can be done to reduce them, were yet again front-page news this week as pressure mounted on the government to postpone a looming cut in support for households.
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