Households are set to be given free “plug-in batteries” to allow them to store power to help cut their energy bills, The i Paper can reveal.
About the size of a cabin suitcase, a plug-in battery acts like a power bank to store cheap electricity when demand is low and release it later when energy prices are higher.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have worked up a proposal which would see the Government bulk buy the devices and distribute them to low-income homes, The i Paper has learned.
Plug-in batteries are portable energy storage units that can be plugged into a socket without any household rewiring.
They work by drawing electricity through the socket – typically during the off-peak period of a time-of-use tariff – and then discharging back through the same socket to offset demand at times when electricity is more expensive, cutting a household’s bills.
The batteries come in a range of sizes and costs, retailing from about £500. According to Regen, a not-for-profit company which promotes clean energy, some units can pay back within two-and-a-half-years. They are significantly cheaper than conventional batteries, where the labour costs alone can run to £1,000 or more.
Multiple sources told The i Paper that subsidised plug-in batteries were among a list of proposals worked up earlier this summer during an exercise by DESNZ and the Nesta innovation charity aimed at accelerating the delivery of Ed Miliband’s Warm Homes Plan.
The exercise – dubbed a “sprint” by DESNZ officials – considered a range of options for swiftly cutting energy bills. A sector source said that the process was launched as a response to the spike in energy prices from the war in Iran and a desire within the Government to “piggyback on the massive increase in demand there’s been for things like solar panels and batteries”.
The source said that Miliband “saw a big opportunity” in plug-in batteries. Another industry source said there was “huge appetite” in government for the technology.
A government source confirmed that DESNZ had drawn up the proposal, saying that plug-in batteries were “attractive” because “they’re so easy to deploy”.
It is not clear yet what families would be eligible for the devices, though there has previously been an expectation under the Warm Homes plan that grants would be offered to households with a total income of around £35,000 or less.
Households in England with an income of less than £36,000, living in eligible postcodes, or receiving means-tested benefits are already eligible for home upgrades to help cut energy bills, such as heat pumps and solar panels. There are typically further conditions such as owning your home, renting from a private landlord, or having a specific energy rating.
The i Paper understands that DESNZ has held conversations with the Crown Commercial Agency – the Government’s procurement arm – about the bulk buying idea. GB Energy – the publicly owned energy investment company – has also been discussed as a potential vehicle for rolling out the units.
A decision about whether to press ahead with the idea will now have to be taken by the new Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh.
However, the sector source said that it aligned with Andy Burnham’s cost-of-living focus, which has already seen the Government announce the removal of VAT on household electricity bills and the reinstatement of the £2 cap on bus fares.
“The politics does fit with the Burnham agenda,” they said. “It also fits with the devolution stuff quite nicely because fundamentally it would be local authorities on the hook for delivering it.”
However, as with plug-in solar panels, plug-in batteries are not currently permitted in Great Britain because existing wiring regulations were not designed for appliances to discharge power back into household circuits.
The government source confirmed that as with plug-in solar, DESNZ would have to conduct a safety study and then update the regulations, meaning that it will be some time before the devices could be rolled out.
The Government’s immediate focus is approving plug-in solar, which as The i Paper reported earlier this month is expected to happen in August.
DESNZ told The i Paper that batteries raised further technical and regulatory questions but confirmed that it is building the evidence base around the products.
A DESNZ spokesperson said: “We’ve cut VAT on electricity to give families breathing space. The Energy Secretary’s focus is working to bring bills down for good.
“And we are rolling out plug-in solar, which will be quickest to reach the market – helping to bring bills down for good.”
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