{"id":77272,"date":"2023-08-23T11:07:05","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T01:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=77272"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:24:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T03:54:14","slug":"home-battery-without-solar-wa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/home-battery-without-solar-wa\/","title":{"rendered":"A Battery Without Solar Can Be Worth It in WA, But Only Just"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Installing<\/p>\r\n

Basking in sunlight from dawn to dusk, Western Australia is a great place for solar panels. But not everyone can install solar, which got me thinking. Is WA a great place for batteries without<\/em> solar panels?<\/p>\r\n

Local electricity retailer Synergy has capitalised on WA’s sunshine by launching the Midday Saver electricity tariff in the state’s southwest. Offering households grid electricity for only 8.2 cents per kilowatt-hour between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. It’s a practical, cost-effective way to encourage homes to shift their consumption to the daytime.<\/p>\r\n

An easy but expensive way to do this is with a home battery.<\/p>\r\n

I recently looked into whether the Midday Saver tariff makes batteries worthwhile for solar homes<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

But in this post, I’ll investigate if cheap daytime electricity makes solar batteries worthwhile for homes without solar panels.<\/p>\r\n

TL:DR;<\/strong> The answer is “yes” — under the right conditions:<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. The home must regularly discharge most of the battery between 3:00 pm and 9:00 pm when grid electricity is 51.25 cents\/kWh.<\/li>\r\n
  2. The household can’t be significantly better off on the flat Home Saver A1 tariff than the Midday Saver plan.<\/li>\r\n
  3. The cost of capital needs to be low.\u00a0 If money has to be borrowed to buy a home battery, it’s unlikely to pay for itself.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    Another factor that can help batteries pay is if a high value is placed on backup power.<\/p>\r\n

    And even if the dollar returns are not amazing, some will want a battery to help the environment or simply because it’s a cool piece of technology.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

    I’ll go into details below to help you decide if installing a solar-less battery will save you money in the Synergy area of WA.<\/p>\r\n

    \"A

    WA’s Synergy area in burnt orange.\u00a0 A lot of Western Australia really is this colour.\u00a0 (Image: Western Power)<\/p><\/div>\r\n

    Solar-Without-Battery Is Better Than Battery-Without-Solar<\/h2>\r\n

    Just because a battery without solar can save money doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.\u00a0 Solar power without a battery will save far more than a battery without solar.\u00a0 But there are a number of reasons why solar panels may not be an option.\u00a0 A common one is the home is on a lower level of a block of strata units and doesn’t have a roof.\u00a0 Other possibilities are:<\/span><\/p>\r\n