Households electricity demand changing during COVID-19

COVID-19 has significantly changed the way we live. Over the last few months, families have been spending more time together at home. The use of household electricity has spiked with more people working from home with their children attending school from home.

But solar households have been touted as the big winners during COVID-19 as they have been able to take full advantage of the energy generated by their home solar systems and stand to save money.

sonnen conducted an analysis of energy data from 600 households in NSW with sonnenBatteries and concluded that families with home energy storage have seen the benefits of being able to use their energy day and night.

During COVID-19, the energy consumption of households with sonnenBatteries increased by 12% on average during daylight hours(1). We have also seen a shift in solar usage and the pattern of surplus energy being fed back into the grid. During this period, solar fed back to the grid decreased by 9% on average for Solar only systems due to the increase in solar self-consumption during peak solar production hours. Solar systems took a back seat while households utilised their rooftop solar production(1).  As self-consumption of solar increased, households with sonnenBatteries began to import energy during off-peak periods due to a reduction in the amount of storable energy being produced.

The easing of restrictions could not have come at a better time as households are already seeing a noticeable increase in their household electricity usage coming into winter. Last year, on average household energy consumption, increased by 30% as households tried to stay warm over the winter months(2).       

Workplaces are unlikely to look the same once COVID-19 ends as working-from-home arrangements becoming more commonplace. Solar and home energy storage is a clear way to help households increase their energy savings.

There are a number of State Governments offering home Battery subsidy schemes to help households gain access to solar and home battery systems sooner. If you are interested in a long-term solution to help reduce your energy bills, join the sonnenCommunity now and start seeing the benefits of home solar storage.

1. Data taken from a sample of 600 sonnenBatterie in NSW from 2019-2020.
2. Data taken from a sample of 600 sonnenBatterie in NSW comparison between July 2019 and April 2020.