They had hoped for savings, and now they have to face horrendously high costs - homeowners who decided to install photovoltaics and a heat pump are now paying up to 4 times more for electricity than before the investment. What is the reason? Has the investment in photovoltaics and a heat pump ceased to be profitable? Can the installation of a power bank help in this situation?
Bills up to four times higher
There has been a lot of talk about investing in photovoltaics and heat pumps for a long time. Sellers entice private investors with slogans about low electricity bills. Today, however, the profitability of investing in photovoltaics with a heat pump is questionable. The latest energy bills have really surprised manufacturers. A resident of Rzeszów told us about her experiences. Installing 7 kW photovoltaic panels and a 16 kW heat pump resulted in a significant increase in electricity bills. Previously, she paid around PLN 350 per month for heating her 160-meter house with eco-pea coal. After thermal modernization, the bills first increased to PLN 2,000, and then, for the period from January to June, to almost PLN 9,000, i.e. PLN 1,500 per month. This is over 4 times more than before.
The low profitability of investing in a heat pump is also the result of the new prosumer settlement system and high electricity prices.
The problem is common
As it turns out, this is not the first person to experience horrendously high electricity price increases after installing photovoltaics with a heat pump. The woman's daughter, looking for an explanation of the problem on the Internet, came across people experiencing a similar situation. What is the cause?
Poorly selected installation?
Each house has a specific heating requirement, which depends on, among other things, the surface area and insulation. A modern property built in the spirit of ecology will have a completely different requirement, and a house built using old technology, with old doors and windows, will have a different one.
In order for the investment in photovoltaics with a heat pump to pay off and generate real savings, the installation must be precisely matched to the given household. A heat pump is a low-temperature device that works best in well-insulated homes, which is worth considering when selecting the device. It is necessary to calculate how much heat energy the house uses during the year and only then choose the appropriate pump based on the analysis.
How to really reduce your electricity bills?
First, an energy audit should be conducted to precisely determine the demand for heat and electricity. This will allow you to match installations and devices to the actual needs of the farm, and thus reduce the risk of generating high costs.
It is also worth considering the issue of thermal insulation of the building. Proper insulation of walls or roof and replacement of windows with new ones is a way to maintain heat inside the building and reduce the consumption of energy necessary for heating.
Rational management of the temperature in the home is also crucial. Increasing the temperature by 1 degree translates into an increase in energy consumption by up to 8%.
Last but not least, is the optimal use of energy generated by the photovoltaic installation. Unfortunately, the moment of the highest electricity production does not always coincide with the highest demand. The solution is energy storage.
Energy bank - energy stability and lower electricity bills
Energy storage is an effective way to increase its self-consumption. How does it work? A photovoltaic installation produces energy. Any surplus, i.e. what is not used immediately, goes to the energy bank. The accumulated reserves can be used at a time of increased demand or reduced production, e.g. at night or on a cloudy day.
Increasing self-consumption is an important element in the new prosumer billing system - net-billing. The energy storage improves the efficiency of the entire PV installation. In other words, it limits the energy that the prosumer would have to buy back, which has a positive effect on the budget.
Increasing self-consumption through storage is of particular importance today due to the planned introduction of hourly billing of PV energy next year. The transition to new prices will make it unprofitable for prosumers using net-billing to feed energy into the grid. Energy storage and the associated higher self-consumption are a remedy to this problem.
An energy storage can also act as a back-up for a heat pump. A heat pump needs power to operate. When the energy from photovoltaics is not enough, it draws it from the grid, which generates costs. An energy bank can cover the heat pump's demand for electricity. The key is to choose an energy storage with the right capacity.
Investing in photovoltaics with a heat pump is still a profitable solution. However, one should strive for rational and conscious energy management in the household. In addition to adapting the installation to the house and thermal modernization of the building, the solution is to install an energy bank of appropriate capacity. Energy storage is a way to increase self-consumption and thus reduce electricity bills and ensure energy security.
