2026-05-08 · Battery · 14 min
A year with a 5 kWh battery on a small solar array
A look at the meter data after twelve months. Payback came in a couple of years earlier than the original spreadsheet expected, mostly because of the tariff.
Solar, batteries, EV chargers and heat pumps. Guides for the bit before you sign anything, write-ups of installs that have actually happened, and calculators that give you a real number.
Topics
Panels, inverters, mounting and what the install day looks like.
Whether one is worth getting, what size to look at, rough costs.
Picking a home charger, choosing a smart tariff, getting it fitted.
How they work, what a sensible install looks like, the BUS grant.
Calculators
Built for the questions that crop up while reading a quote. Type your numbers in, see what comes out.
Articles
2026-05-08 · Battery · 14 min
A look at the meter data after twelve months. Payback came in a couple of years earlier than the original spreadsheet expected, mostly because of the tariff.
2026-05-01 · Solar · 9 min
South-east at the front, north-west at the back. The decision came down to one specific bit of hardware.
2026-04-23 · EV · 11 min
A few months on the tariff. Bills before and after, what stopped being a hassle, what started being one.
2026-04-12 · Heat · 17 min
Survey, radiator changes, the BUS grant. The bit that took longest was not what we had expected.