Solar does the day.
Battery does the night.

Your bill has two broad parts

Your energy bill is broken down into two categories: supply charge, which is what you pay for being connected to poles and wires, and usage, which is your consumption from the grid.

Solar and battery aim to enable you into self-consumption mode where you are virtually self-sufficient from drawing energy from the grid.

A well sized system will work out your usage correctly and be able to supply your draw.

Solar covers the day and battery now keeps more of that value at home

It is best practice in most cases to generally oversize your system to a degree so that in poor weather you can still meet your needs.

Unless you are planning to go off-grid, occasionally drawing a very small amount of energy from the grid is common.

Solar panels have become more and more efficient although they are still dependent on a degree of light.

With the amount of excess solar produced it used to be that would be sent back out to the grid and you would be well paid for the excess. Now that feed-in rate has crashed, most installs now utilise sending the excess into a battery system as it is regarded as better value.

Then running off those battery stores in the evening rather than paying for expensive grid power becomes the practical play.

Battery is no longer just about the evening

Battery technology has become better and increasingly robust.

Not only do they supply your night demand they will also activate in poor weather during the day. This means you are less dependent on the weather to meet your energy demand.

Also, when configured correctly and depending on the battery installed it can supply backup power to the house when you lose power from the grid.

The simple idea to remember

Solar does the day. Battery does the night. The grid fills the small gaps unless you are deliberately designing around more independence.

• • Supply charge stays, usage drops
• • Self-consumption becomes the goal
• • Battery keeps more of the solar value in the home
• • Backup and poor-weather resilience become realistic benefits