Powering change: The case for investing in battery solutions for those most in need
As a leading energy supplier, we're committed to finding effective, sustainable solutions to support our most vulnerable customers – and we believe battery storage is a key part of that mission.
At E.ON we’re proud to work with all kinds of customers. Wherever they are, and whether financially secure or in need of help, every UK customer deserves affordable, sustainable energy to keep their homes warm and devices on.
With this important point made, it’s also worth acknowledging that some customers can require more care, thought, and innovation to help. It’s proved a challenge historically for energy companies to find sustainable ways of supporting those customers who are most in need financially, and though schemes like the Warm Home Discount and Priority Services Register are a positive and vital resource, there is still work to be done.
We’re up to the task, and always seeking new and innovative ways to help customers whether through changes in policy, financial support, or even new and effective uses of technology like our domestic battery pilot in Coventry.
Installing batteries to support customers
In 2023, we launched a 15-year partnership with Coventry City Council aimed at helping to decarbonise all aspects of the city. As part of the project we’ve installed new EV chargers across the city center, paved the way for solar panels on schools, helped decarbonise a number of community buildings, and organised renewable energy sector work experience for local care leavers. One of the projects we’re most excited about, though, is our pilot programme to put batteries in people’s homes at no upfront cost as a novel solution for bringing down bills.
A standard domestic battery costs roughly £3,000 to install and comes with an expected lifespan of around 20 years, during which time it could save the average UK household up to £6,000 by allowing them to interact more flexibly with the energy system. Not only does this mean that, in the long term, each battery has the potential to pay for itself, but the savings generated could also provide more financial relief to vulnerable customers than schemes such as the Warm Home Discount, which offers eligible consumers a discount of £150 a year.
This ultimately means that there may be a long-term, technology-driven solution for supporting financially vulnerable customers that is not only cost-effective for the supplier working to support them, but also helps drive the energy transition by bringing more flexibility into the retail energy market.
We’ve already installed more than fifteen batteries in Coventry at no upfront cost to the end user, and are confident that this will eventually become both an important tool for helping those in need and a significant component of the UK’s journey to net zero.
As we continue to learn and develop our approach from the pilot data gathered in Coventry, we hope that stakeholders in government will note the potential of putting more sustainable technology in UK homes and help us do even more in future by enabling future green grants and financing to make new energy work for everyone.
To find out more about our partnership with Coventry, click here.