Energy crisis: Solar panel sales double in the UK as homeowners look to cut soaring bills
According to the Office of National Statistics, electricity prices in the UK had increased by 67 per cent in January 2023 compared to January 2022.
Solar power installations doubled in 2022 compared to 2021, according to MCS, the standards organization in charge of solar installations.
The energy crisis encourages more solar in the UK
In January alone, nearly 15,000 domestic solar power installations were added to the British grid, more than any other month since 2016.
Tom Faulkner, head of assets, infrastructure and networks at Cornwall Insight, says the solar energy market has radically changed over the last few years, and rising electricity costs are fuelling the drive for PV installations.
"Historically, you would have seen export rates providing your benefit. So you would have seen that you would be able to export electricity to the grid," says Faulkner.
"Now, a lot of that saving comes from avoided costs, because the cost of energy or electricity is so high from a domestic point of view, and whilst there are schemes in place to protect them from the actual costs, £2,500 (€2,800) a year for an average household is still very high on historical averages."
"And as a result, you're now seeing savings because you're able to avoid those costs. So that shortens the payback period."
In Thiruchelvam's house, the boiler uses gas.
Thanks to an immersion diverter, the surplus of electricity produced by the solar panels is used to heat up the water - another way to soften the blow of the energy crisis.
But selling the - limited - extra surplus energy is low on his priority list.
Ofgem, Great Britain's energy regulator, dropped the minimum export price to £0 in 2019, allowing energy companies to buy electricity at very low prices from solar panel owners.
Prices compiled by Solar Energy UK in January show the highest price for electricity export is £0.15 (€0.17) per kWh, while buying electricity costs three times as much, with electricity rates currently capped at £0.34 (€0.38) per kWh.