Home Electric Bills and how they will look in the future

You may have wondered what your utility bill is going to look like in 2030 if our climate targets are met. The answer is, it’s going to be huge – several multiples of what you are paying now.

For example – if your current household usage is around 6,000 units per annum … you may expect to be using more than 17,000 units per annum by 2030. It’s only seven years away, but you may rightly ask “how is that going to happen”?

Solar Now, Solar PV the power in your hands

ESB Networks Inform-and-Fit process

Ireland’s DSO, ESB Networks, has recently launched a new pilot scheme for minigeneration under something we refer to as “inform and fit”.

In this pilot scheme the ESB have increased the power limits for domestic prosumers from 6 kVA single-phase to 17 kVA single-phase, and from 11 kVA three-phase to 50 kVA three-phase.

The inference here is that ESB Networks has an expectation that domestic customers could (or will) in the future consume something in excess of 17,000 kWhrs of electricity per annum. Likewise on average, small commercial customers, eg. farms, could have a future electricity requirement in excess of 50,000 kWhrs per annum.

We happen to agree with ESB’s sentiments as indicated.

A Summary of Future Domestic Electricity Use

Let’s revert to your current electricity bill. It’s around 6,000 kWhrs per annum.

One mid-sized EV, doing average mileage, is going to add 3,000 to 4,000 units to your annual bill.

Two electric vehicles could add 6,000 to 8,000 kWhrs, and your bill will be in the region of 14,000 units p.a.

Now switch your home heating to electric panel heaters, or an air-to-water heating system, you could easily add another 4,000 units over the Winter months.

Now your bill is 18,000 kWhrs per annum, even without any incidental and unforeseen extras.

Your children want e-scooters, e-bikes and e-quads. Your parents need e-mobility. Add some electricity usage.

Change your power tools from petrol to electric. Add some electricity usage.

You want more time to spend relaxing, add a self-charging robotic lawnmower and some robotic vacuum cleaners. Add some more kilowatthours to your bill.

Add a few more tech items to your home and it’s easy to see how your future utility bill is heading for 20,000+ kWhrs per annum. Granted you will save a bundle on all the oil & gas products you don’t want anymore, but your utility bill looks like being your largest item of expenditure after your mortgage.

Future Price of Electricity

Now that your electricity consumption has gone through the roof … who is going to produce all of this extra energy? And at what cost?

The national grid has to multiply in size and scale and complexity. The grid has to transition from a distribution system to a distributed system. It has to transition from a broadcast model to a flexible bi-directional model.

It’s a new era for electricity production

Given that the price of electricity is already at around 33 cents/unit in Germany, and that Ireland is usually among the most expensive countries, we can foresee electricity prices here moving from 25 cents/unit to 35 cents/unit in a short space of time.

Install a solar PV system

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the best way to protect yourself as we transition to a zero carbon economy is to install your own solar PV system.

Any size system is better than none at all.

Even a 3 kilowattpeak system will go a long way towards covering your future motoring expenses.

A 6 kWp solar PV system will certainly insulate you from the inevitable increased usage with increased prices.

Under todays rules, we could easily install 9 kWp solar PV panels on a domestic single-phase supply.

Once the planning laws are eased and the current network limitations are increased, complete energy independence is possible.

Feel free to contact us today if you want to optimise your future electricity consumption to your own advantage.