Net metering ending: is a home battery then the smart choice?

Net metering is the scheme that lets you offset the power your solar panels feed back to the grid against the power you draw from it. If on a sunny afternoon you generate more than you consume, the surplus goes to the grid. When you draw power back in the evening, the energy supplier deducts those generated kilowatt-hours. At the end of the day you only pay for your net consumption, at the same tariff.

That scheme made solar panels attractive for many years: every kilowatt-hour fed back was worth as much as one bought in. The grid worked as a free battery. That is exactly what is now changing. The net-metering scheme is being phased out and is expected to end in 2027 under the adopted plan. Because politics and the energy market keep moving, it is sensible to check the current state of play before making a major decision.

Once net metering is gone, feed-in will still exist, but at a much lower rate: the feed-in rate. That rate is generally considerably below the price you pay for power you draw in. In practice the gap can be large: you buy in at the full tariff including taxes, and you get back only a fraction for feed-in.

On top of that, some suppliers charge feed-in costs: a fixed or variable contribution from customers who feed back a lot, because feed-in puts a load on the grid. The result is that every kilowatt-hour you send uselessly to the grid during the day will soon be worth little or nothing. The gain then no longer lies in feeding back, but in using as much as possible of what you generate yourself.

That is the core of the new calculation. In many households only a part of the generated power goes directly into the home; the rest goes to the grid during the day while consumption actually peaks in the morning and evening. Without net metering, that gap between generation and consumption suddenly has a monetary value.

A home battery stores the power your solar panels generate in excess during the day. Instead of sending that surplus to the grid for a low rate, you keep it in the battery and use it in the evening, when the panels are no longer producing and you would otherwise have to buy in expensive power. That way you raise your self-consumption, and that is exactly where you earn without net metering.

The gain therefore comes from two things at once: you buy in less power in the evening at the full tariff, and you feed back less during the day at a low rate. The larger the gap between the buy-in price and the feed-in rate, the more valuable every kilowatt-hour you use yourself via the battery.

If you have a dynamic energy contract, another option opens up. The power price then varies per hour. A smartly controlled battery can charge when power is cheap and discharge, or refrain from buying in, when power is expensive. That does require the right equipment and settings, and does not pay off equally for everyone. See it as an extra, not the main reason.

A home battery is an investment, and whether it pays back depends on four things. First, your consumption: if you use a lot of power and mainly in the evening, storing makes more sense. Second, your panel output: if you have a sizeable surplus that currently goes to the grid, there is a lot to store. Third, the price of the battery per kilowatt-hour of capacity, plus the installation. And fourth, your energy contract, where a dynamic tariff gives extra scope.

Work it out honestly before you buy. Look at your annual consumption, how much you currently feed back, and what you would save by turning that feed-in into self-consumption. A battery that sits half-empty or half-full all day because it does not suit your situation pays back slowly. We think this through with you with a down-to-earth view, without selling you a bigger system than you need.

Also factor in the lifespan and any potential subsidy. A battery lasts a good number of charge cycles, but not for ever, and the payback time must fit within that lifespan. Whether there is a subsidy and under what conditions changes from year to year; always check the current scheme before you count on it.