Homes · Site note
A home battery for night-shift hours
Updated
If you are asleep in the day and awake at night, solar storage and cheap overnight tariffs swap roles. You may want the battery full for the night and be happy to export more in the afternoon.
On the actual building
The default 'charge at night, empty in the evening' schedule is the wrong way round. The cupboard, the supply and the tariff decide it. A national package price skips all three.
In Leicester, on National Grid Electricity Distribution, 3.6 kW is in the band where G98 connect-and-notify is often enough. Export can still be capped. Agree that before the inverter is ordered. The sketch uses 5 kWh and 0 kWp, which is enough to tell two quotes apart if they assumed something else.
If the house is in Leicester
Leicester is only an example for "A home battery for night-shift hours", not the only place the point applies. National Grid Electricity Distribution would be the network if the survey were there, and the cupboard rules would still win.
A sketch of the money
Take a 5 kWh pack, cycled about 340 times, at 90% round trip. Charge at 7.0p, and value what comes back at 30.8p. Export given up is priced at 12.0p. There are no panels beside this 5 kWh pack, so every unit charged comes off the grid. Delivered energy is about 1530 kWh. After charging cost and lost export, the sketch saves about £352 a year. Set that against £3,687 fitted, which is a September 2026 illustration at the temporary 0% residential rate, not a quote. That is a simple payback of about 10.5 years on these assumptions. Nudge the night rate up by 4p and see if you still like it.
Where the job is a qualifying install in a home, the 0% rate runs to 31 March 2027 and is due to become 5% after that. This sketch prices the work at £3,687 on that basis. It does not apply to a shop, and it does not apply to a battery you buy and fit yourself.
When to stop
I would not sign off a 5 kWh install from a video call. Someone has to open the consumer unit.
If the only place for a 5 kWh cabinet is an escape route, a hot boiler cupboard or an unapproved balcony, stopping is a successful survey.
Before a deposit, I would want usable capacity, the warranty counterparty and a G98 note for this 3.6 kW inverter. The cupboard has to be a place you can stand in, at a temperature the datasheet allows. A five-minute video is not that.
Common questions
Is the price on this page a quote?
No. £3,687 is a September 2026 illustration for a 5 kWh example at the temporary 0% residential rate. Your survey replaces it.
Will it stay on in a power cut?
Only if a gateway or essential-load board was designed and paid for. A standard grid-tied battery turns off with the grid. On this 5 kWh sketch the inverter is 3.6 kW, and backup is still a separate line.
What paperwork should I keep?
Keep the MCS certificate where the job is certified, the electrical certificate, the DNO record, the schematic, the warranty registration and a photo of the schedule. For an illustrated £3,687 job, that folder is part of what you bought.
What if the cheap rate is not 7p?
Then the sketch changes. This page used 7.0p as a charge rate and 30.8p as the rate avoided. A smaller gap means a worse payback. Read the live tariff.
Sources
Want a price for your house?
The figures above are a rough guide. An installer still needs to see your fuse board, where the battery will go, and whether you want power during a blackout.