Tesla becomes a UK Energy supplier, but how do you get supplied?
Tesla has been at the forefront of changing how the world moves towards a more sustainable future for years now, and personally i’ve enjoyed seeing them create fantastic new sustainable solutions to our daily living needs, that are not only functional but also look good too.
Ok we’ll not mention Cybertruck, but that’s just a personal opinion, i’m sure it’ll be a great vehicle, but I doubt I could ever look longingly at it, if it was sat on my drive.
But getting back on track, Tesla have been a huge driving force, not only changing how the world has taken to electric vehicles, but also bringing renewable technologies to our homes. They’ve created Solar Roof which replaces the need for big panels on your roof, instead making the tiles themselves the solar capturing panels (sadly not available in the UK yet), and they’ve also created Powerwall to store the excess energy produced by home renewables, so it should be no surprise really that they’ve decided to close the circle by creating their own Power Plant of connected users, creating the Tesla Energy Plan.
So how does the Tesla Energy Plan work?
The whole system is based around Tesla’s Powerwall, which is used to create a virtual powerplant of distributed energy storage systems to optimize electricity usage with Tesla’s energy software platform, Autobidder ( Take a look at their video below ). Sadly this means the Energy Plan will only be available to owners of the Tesla Powerwall, but who knows where their future in power will take them…
This optimization allows Tesla to charge a much lower rate for electricity than other providers. According to UK Power, the average cost per kWh for electricity in the UK is £0.144/kWh, or about $0.19 per kWh.
The UK also operates “standing charges”, a fixed daily rate which averages £0.206 per day, or about $0.27 per day.
Tesla’s new energy plan will NOT include a standing charge, and will price electricity at a fixed rate of £0.08/kWh for Tesla vehicle owners or £0.11/kWh for non-owners.
Assuming an average annual consumption of around 8,000 kWh, a homeowner with a Tesla would save around £50 per month. Now some might say that because the plan requires a Tesla Powerwall priced at £8,000, then the payback period would be around 13yrs, but let’s look at this in another way.
Firstly there’s lots of research showing that adding Eco friendly additions to your property actually adds value to your home, so if ROI is part of your decision then there’s more to look at.
Secondly, its more than likely that you are already looking to capture what would normally be lost power from your solar setup, so a Powerwall is actually another investment in your home generation setup and the savings through a connected energy plan are yet another bonus to your forward thinking.
Of course money is a factor, especially when considering the position we find ourselves in with COVID-19, but when investing in your home and the future of the planet this is not such a large sum and you may even find this comes under the current Government funding to add Eco improvements to your property (seek independent advice first).
Tesla’s Energy Plan also allows its users to sell their excess energy, created by their connected solar, back for the same rates shown above, so again if you’re looking at payback periods, they may be shorter for users who generate excess power.
Of course this is just the beginning, it takes companies like Tesla to push these ideas forward, which inevitably forces other providers to play catch-up. In the end, this can only be good for consumers and the planet.
With modern house builders looking to generate and store energy and take advantage new connected EV’s and products like the Powerwall, we’ll be watching this space with interest.
Did you know about these Eco Products? Are you looking to sign up to Tesla’s Energy plan? Do you own a Tesla? Get in touch in the comments below and tell us what you think.
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