A COUPLE make £3,200 a year selling their energy back to the grid after they installed money-saving home improvements.
John Rodge, 70, and wife Jacky spent nearly £10k installing solar panels on the roof of their five-bed Pembrokeshire home.
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After the sustainable decision was made in 2012, the Rodges were instantly generating more power than they were able to use.
And in the last 12 months especially, the pensioners earned £270 per month by selling back to their supplier.
Despite having to still pay to use power when the sun isn’t shining, the panels have decreased their annual bill to just £609.
According to British Gas, the average annual energy bill for a five-bedroom house in the UK is £2,596.
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John, a musician, said: “I’d been interested in them for many years and been of the opinion that micro-generation is the way to go.
“When we looked at the figures that were available to us at the time, the array cost us about £9.5k to have it installed and the company that did the installation estimated that it’d be paying for itself in 10 years.
“We’re 11 years in now and it had actually paid for itself within the first seven years.
“It’s been clear profit – the smallest cheque I’ve had is about £300 back from the grid – which comes in every few months, but it’s usually around a £1000.
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“On an average day we’ll run a TV, an iMac, at least two guitar amplifiers, dishwasher, washing machine, electric kettle and an espresso machine which is on for most of the day.”
John, who claims he would be paying 80 per cent more if it wasn’t for the solar panels, said they are a good long-term investment.
He tracks the output of the panels using an app, and recently had an extra battery installed, which John estimates will increase efficiency by 46 per cent within 18 months.
The dad-of-one added: “During the day, at the moment it’s generating 224kw and the battery is supplying 330w to the system.
“We have a dishwasher on, lots of electrical things on in the studio and the house is consuming 5438w at the moment.
“We’re only withdrawing 83w from the grid and I’ve exported 972.5kw hours to the grid.
“So thanks to the array my electricity bill has been reduced over the course of a year by roughly a little under 80 percent.
“You don’t install solar panels and expect to get massive savings immediately, you need to know what you’re getting long term.
“So if I last another 10 years I’ll take that!”
From September 2022 to September 2023, the panels earned John and Jacky £3,230.01 back from the grid – an average of £269.17 per month.
They paid £3,840 for their additional energy tariff – meaning the couple paid just £609.00 for their yearly energy usage.
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You can sell solar power back to the grid through a two-way electricity meter which measures the amount drawn out.
The electricity company keeps track of the measurements and makes calculations before issuing a statement.
