Does a home battery make sense without solar panels?
Only with a dynamic contract. The battery can then charge when electricity is cheap and discharge when it is expensive. How much that yields depends on the difference between cheap and expensive hours, and that is uncertain.
With a fixed contract, electricity costs the same every hour. A battery without solar panels cannot earn anything then; because of losses when charging and discharging and its own consumption, it costs money.
With a dynamic contract
The market price varies throughout the day: at night and on sunny afternoons electricity is often cheaper than in the early evening. A smartly controlled battery shifts your consumption to those cheap hours. What it earns is the price difference minus the losses.
What makes it uncertain
The price difference changes from year to year. The calculator uses the actual hourly prices of the past year and assumes a perfect forecast; in practice, smart control yields less.
Calculate what a home battery earns you
An estimate, not personal advice. How the calculator works: How does this calculator work?
Other questions
- Does a home battery pay off?
- What changes when net metering ends?
- Do solar panels still pay off without net metering?
- Fixed or dynamic contract: which is cheaper?
- What is a dynamic energy contract?
- Is a dynamic contract smart with solar panels?
- How do I compare dynamic energy contracts?
- What are the risks of a dynamic contract?
- Does a dynamic contract pay off with an electric car?
- What are feed-in costs?
- What will the end of net metering cost me?
- Should I cancel my fixed contract before net metering ends?
- Should I switch off my solar panels when power prices are negative?
- Does it pay to charge the electric car on solar power?
- Does a heat pump suit a dynamic contract?
- How do I read my annual electricity statement?
- What is a feed-in tariff?
- How much of my solar power do I use myself?
- Battery, charger, heat pump or another contract: what first?
- How big should my home battery be?
- Does a home battery make sense with a fixed contract?
- Plug-in battery or fixed home battery?
- How much energy does a home battery lose?
- Is electricity cheap at night with a dynamic contract?
- What does a home battery do in winter?
- How much electricity do I use at night?
- Does a home battery suit a heat pump?
- Which energy comparison site can I trust?
- How do I calculate the payback time of a home battery?
- What do time-dependent network tariffs mean for me?