More people are seeking help with energy bills, but energy storage could offer a partial solution
Domestic battery storage could help customers in the face of rising energy prices
Citing data released by Citizens Advice, the Guardian recently reported that the number of people in England and Wales seeking help with their energy bills jumped by 20% last year.
The rise has a number of causes, but adding to them all is the significant surge in energy prices since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and the resulting increase in the energy price cap. According to the Guardian, the cap is now almost £600 a year more than it was before the invasion.
We’re proud to be supporting our most vulnerable customers through these difficult times with measures like the E.ON Next Energy Fund, the Warm Home Discount Scheme, the E.ON Next Priority Register, and wellbeing checks for those who are most at risk. But we are also looking for solutions that focus on helping people with their bills before they need it. One of them, we think, is domestic battery storage.
How domestic storage can keep bills low
On average, a domestic battery system costs roughly £3,000 to install and will last around 20 years but could provide up to £6,000 in savings throughout its lifespan. That’s because combining a battery with a smart meter and Time of Use tariff allows customers to buy electricity when it’s cheap and then store it to use later, which could save up to £300 a year. This takes considerably more off a customer’s bill than other measures such as the £150 warm home discount, and generates enough in savings to potentially cover the initial installation.
Providing domestic battery storage could help us prevent financially vulnerable customers from needing to seek assistance by keeping their bills low to begin with, which is why we’re running a first-of-its-king pilot project in Coventry to put storage devices in people’s homes.
As part of our 15-year partnership with Coventry City council, we’re installing batteries in more than thirty properties to prove this could be an effective approach for reducing fuel poverty. We’ve already installed several devices in households across the city, and hope to complete 36 in total by spring. After that, we’ll use data from participating households to figure out the full benefits of this innovative new approach.
In the meantime, we want to work with government and other stakeholders to make this and similar innovations possible at scale. This could be through increased green financing and guarantees for lenders that will enable more home upgrades, building more city partnerships like the one we have with Coventry, and encouraging more open-minded and investment-driven thinking around the solutions to fuel poverty and the energy transition.
To learn more about our battery pilot in Coventry, take a look at: Helping vulnerable customers in Coventry with home energy upgrades