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Comment by rulesilol | Hacker News Reader

I pay about 38c per kilowatt plus $1.70 per day for the connection fee. So by that maths, you'd save 8×0.38=$3.04 per day. A 10kWh battery is in the ballpark of $4000. So it'll take about 4 years to break even. Then you'd just have to pay the connection fee, which seem to be increasing every year.

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The connection fee would also rise with less energy consumption/free electricity to amortize the fixed costs of the power grid.

Not necessarily. At least in Flanders (northern ~half of Belgium), this was shifted onto consumers by making them pay for peak quarter consumption. Using more than 2.5kW for 15 minutes in a row on average means you pay a lot more for your fixed grid cost.

Australian grids are already talking about removing all per-kWh tariff and shift all the cost to fixed supply fee. The government rejected it probably because it doesn't make them look good, and it makes poor people pay more. But it's probably just time before that comes.

> $1.70 per day for the connection fee

A sneaky tax that keeps rising. In the UK it pays for failed energy companies, people defaulting on their energy bills, energy bill subsidies... and supposedly for grid upgrades lol

It's risen far above inflation (responding to a sibling comment)

This is even worse for gas. Most months I pay more in sales tax on the fees than I do for the gas.

>which seem to be increasing every year.

In general inflation is increasing everywhere so not completely unexpected. Also solar/battery powered networks are shaped differently than ones only powered by prime movers. The edges become thicker as power becomes generated at the edge.

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