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Solar and Storage – May 2026 Energy Usage

May Electricity:

I managed to maintain a 1.64% Peak/Off-Peak ratio, compared to 6.11% in 2025.

A pretty sunny month, but not quite as sunny as last year, more sun for the second half of the month than the first.

Electricity costs for the month of May: £107.14 for 2026, £104.83 for 2025.

Electricity demand for the month of May: 1572kWh for 2026, 1764kWh for 2025 (2026 does not include EcoFlow figure – see below).

The off-peak/peak/SC values for May were £0.069/0.30269/0.53892 for 2026 vs £0.07/£0.28959/0.47606 for 2025, peak is down, off-peak about the same, but the standing charge is up.

This can also be seen in the month on month usage vs cost graphs where my usage is about the same, however my costs have gone down each year:

Ecoflow batteries:

The graphs show a total of 433kWh (313 + 121) of usage, 184kWh (138 +46) of which came from the batteries and 249kWh (185 + 74) came from the ‘grid’ after the batteries were exhausted.

This means that I have moved an additional 184kWh of usage from peak to off-peak or £43.00 (184 * (0.30269 – 0.069)) of additional savings not captured elsewhere, this should be added to the demand figure above, taking it to from 1572kWh to 1756kWh

May Solar:

Actual production for May significantly exceeded the forecast.

The various arrays produced the following levels of energy: Garage 329.97kWh, Office 252.59kWh, East 231.07kWh, West 271.80kWh for a total of 1085kWh, this compares to 1152kWh for May 2025, so slightly down on last year once again.

Whilst I produced less than last year, I managed to export 731kWh compared to 437kWh in 2025, for a total saving of £87.81, around 50% more than last year’s figure of £65.59.

This is largely due to the extra batteries, allowing me to make it through most days without drawing any peak electricity and thereby allowing me to export more solar and also empty my Enphase batteries at the end of the day.

The import costs of £107.14 less the export savings of £87.81 means my net cost for May was £19.33 for 1756kWh of demand making my average rate £0.011/kWh.

May Gas:

Heating was turned off for the entirety of this month.

Quite a warm May my cost was slightly up on last year, £33.87 vs £31.66, despite my usage being down, 364kWh vs 475kWh, the average cost per kWh was up at 0.0651 as compared to 0.0474 in 2025, war in the Middle East, is still having an adverse effect on the gas prices.

Gas costs: