From Down Under to your doorstep: How the tech behind Next Optimise is already revolutionising home energy.

If you have solar panels and a home battery, you already know the incredible benefits of generating your own renewable energy. But what if your battery could do more than just store power? What if it could actually make the wholesale market work for you, automatically buying when it's cheap and selling when prices peak?

Enter Next Optimise, our brand new smart energy tariff.

As a UK first, Next Optimise combines half hourly dynamic electricity prices with intelligent, automated battery control. It requires no guesswork and no constant monitoring,.

While smart tariffs are a fresh conversation in the UK, the logic powering Next Optimise has already spent years battle-testing itself in the world's most advanced solar market. By bringing Australian-born intelligence to UK doorsteps, we aren't just changing how you charge your battery - we're revolutionising how your home interacts with the grid.

The Australian success story.

Australia is a world leader in home solar and battery adoption, making it the perfect proving ground for smart energy technology. Amber Electric developed the intelligent automation software that now powers Next Optimise. In Australia, it goes by the name SmartShift™, and it’s currently optimising over 80,000 homes.

By hooking home batteries up to wholesale energy prices, Amber customers can store cheap energy to use when prices spike, slash their bills, and even get paid for sharing energy back to the grid when it's needed most.

Here is a look at how this exact technology has worked for real households in the Australian market:

Calvin: Wiping out bills and saving $12,000.

Calvin, a homeowner in Australia, was tired of falling Feed-in Tariffs and rising energy costs. After installing solar and a home battery, he connected his system to Amber’s smart automation. The result? Every bill since May 2023 has come back in credit.

By allowing the technology to automatically charge his battery during the cheapest hours and export his excess energy when the grid needed it most, Calvin generated over $3,000 in cash-out credits in a single year. Over two years, the smart tech has saved him approximately $12,000, paying off 30% of his entire system investment. 

As Calvin puts it: "Amber gives you 80% of the benefits with none of the hassle... It just works."

Martin: Earning while you sleep.

Martin, a customer in Queensland, felt the same way. "When we got the solar, battery, and smart automation, I almost thought it was too good to be true. I was checking the app a lot during the day. Then I realised it just works; the smarts are in the tech, so you can be quite carefree about it."

Not only did his solar and battery cover all of his household's energy consumption, but Martin actually accumulated hundreds of dollars in credit, which he cashed out to buy plane tickets for a family holiday.

Gary: Making money on holiday.

Because the system is completely automated, it works for you even when you aren't home. Gary from New South Wales went on a six-week overseas trip. While he was away, wholesale prices spiked back home. The intelligent software noticed the trend and automatically exported his stored energy into the grid during the peak price windows. 

Gary returned home from his holiday to find his system had been busy generating revenue for him the entire time.

Bringing the magic to the UK: Meet Next Optimise.

We’ve partnered with Amber Electric to bring this exact, world-class technology to UK shores through Next Optimise.

Instead of settling for a flat export rate or trying to manually guess when to charge your battery, Next Optimise does the heavy lifting for you. It tracks the UK's half hourly wholesale energy market and looks ahead at the weather for the following day. 

If the wind is blowing, or the sun’s out, and energy is cheap, it fills your battery up. If demand surges in the evening and prices peak, it automatically sells your excess stored energy back to the grid for maximum profit.

Does it work in the UK? Absolutely.

Before launching, we piloted Next Optimise (under the name Next Solar Max) right here in the UK. The early findings were incredible. Every single participating household saw a reduction in their bills, with average customers saving around £18 a month, and some regularly achieved savings close to £100 per month. One household saved £27 in just one week during a period of sharp wholesale price swings!

Modelling shows that the average UK household using Next Optimise could save close to £300 per year compared to similar households relying solely on standard variable tariffs and traditional Solar Export Guarantees (SEG).

Ready to maximise your solar and battery?

We believe in giving you greater confidence in a changing energy market. With intelligent automation and clear, market-linked pricing, we can help you cut your bills while building a more resilient, greener UK energy system.

If you have a solar and battery setup and are ready to take control of your energy like Calvin, Martin, and Gary, it’s time to let your battery do the hard work.

Get a quote for Next Optimise today and join the smart energy revolution.

Savings figures are based on data from our early pilot and modelled projections. Actual savings will vary depending on your energy usage, equipment, tariff, and market conditions. Past performance is not a guarantee of future savings.