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Consumers in the UK could save billions of pounds thanks to major changes in the way electricity is made, used and stored, the government has said.
New rules will make it easier for people to generate their own power with solar panels, store it in batteries and sell it to the National Grid.
If they work, consumers will save £17bn to £40bn by 2050, according to the government and energy regulator Ofgem.
The rules are due to come into effect over the next year.
They will reduce costs for someone who allows their washing machine to be turned on by the internet to maximise use of cheap solar power on a sunny afternoon.
And they will even support people who agree to have their freezers switched off for a few minutes to smooth demand at peak times.
They'll also benefit a business that allows its air-conditioning to be turned down briefly to help balance a spell of peak energy demand on the National Grid.
Among the first to gain from the rule changes will be people with solar panels and battery storage. At the moment they are charged tariffs when they import electricity into their home or export it back to the grid.
It can't be a move welcomed by utilities.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday July 25 2017, @05:56AM (1 child)
Now that NEM2 rules are in place, the direction of your roof matters a lot for payback on solar panels.
With NEM2 rules, you must switch to a time-of-use plan, which means that you need your panels to generate much of their electricity production during the afternoon.
You need a roof that faces somewhere between SW and West.
The solar system on my house is grandfathered into the original NEM plan for 20 years, but the EV plan (which is time-of-use) works best for me.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday July 25 2017, @06:13AM
I have a 45 degrees SW roof and a 45 degrees SE roof. Given morning fog, the second-story SW-facing was gonna get as much as I could physically put on it, for sure. The SE side might have gotten a few panels for winter morning heat pump.
Interestingly, there are so many panels out there that early afternoon spot prices on cool sunny and windy days regularly turn negative. So if you were paid spot price instead of raw net metering, you'd need to store some of your afternoon excess in a battery, and you'd get more money from SE panels for those days.