How to Maximise Your Self-Consumption with a Solar Battery

You’ve done the right thing. You invested in solar panels, expecting to slash your energy bills and gain some freedom from the grid. Yet, every quarter, a frustratingly high bill still lands in your inbox. What’s going on?

The secret is something energy retailers don’t advertise: the power you generate is worth 5 to 7 times more when you use it yourself than when you sell it back to them. Sending your valuable solar energy to the grid for a measly 5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), only to buy it back for 35 cents at dinner time, is a broken model.

This guide is your playbook for fixing it. We’ll show you how to maximise your solar self-consumption with a battery using two simple-but-powerful rules. Forget the jargon; this is a straightforward plan to turn your solar power into your power, day and night.

"The solar power you use yourself is worth 5 to 7 times more than the power you sell to the grid."

The Solar Value Gap: Why Your Power is Worth More at Home

Solar self-consumption is just a technical term for a simple idea: using the power you generate in your own home, the moment it's made. When your solar panels are active, your home automatically uses that free, clean energy first.

The problem is, most homes generate a surplus of solar power between 10 am and 4 pm—precisely when most people are at work or school and energy usage is low. This excess power gets exported to the grid for a pittance.

This creates a massive "value gap." The key to saving money is closing this gap by storing that valuable daytime energy in a SolaX Solar Battery and using it yourself in the evening.

As you can see, the goal is simple: minimise the amount of expensive power you buy from the grid. A solar battery storage system is the ultimate tool for the job.

Rule #1: Use Free Energy First by Shifting Your Loads

Before your battery even kicks in, the smartest and cheapest thing you can do is use your energy when it’s being generated for free. This is called "load shifting"—moving your energy-hungry tasks into the middle of the day.

This reserves your precious battery power for the evening, when you truly need it for lighting, cooking, and entertainment.

Make Your Appliances Work on Solar Time

Many of your home's biggest energy consumers can be easily scheduled to run during your "solar window" (typically 10 am to 4 pm).

1. Pool Pumps & Hot Water: These are perfect candidates. A pool pump can use 6-9 kWh a day.  Instead of running it overnight, set its timer for midday. Do the same for your electric hot water system. They are now powered entirely by the sun.
2. Washers & Dishwashers: Use the "delay start" function. Load them in the morning and set them to run at 11 am.
3. Heating & Cooling: This is a game-changer. Instead of blasting the air-con at 6 pm, use a timer to pre-cool or pre-heat your home at 2:30 pm using free solar. The building's thermal mass will hold that temperature, meaning the unit will only need to tick along on low power during the expensive evening peak.