Real home battery savings: How Dave is making the most of Next Optimise.

When Dave Spooner installed solar panels and a home battery at his Peterborough home, he wanted to take more control of his electricity costs. As an accountant, he was already used to looking closely at the numbers. But getting the most from his setup meant thinking carefully about when he used electricity.

Now, thanks to Next Optimise, he's spending less time managing his energy. And over his first three months using the service, from April to June, his electricity bills totalled a net credit of £39, helped by strong solar generation during some of the sunniest months of the year.

The team from Everything Electric recently visited Dave to find out how it's working in practice. While he admits he was initially sceptical about handing control to the technology, he's since become a convert.

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From off-peak planning to automatic battery optimisation.

Dave has spent several years investing in technology to make his home more energy efficient. Today, his setup includes 16 solar panels, a 10.4 kWh home battery system and an electric car.

His motivation was partly financial, but he was also thinking about the future.

"I'm an accountant by trade, so I wanted to make sure that what I was spending for my electricity was the right level," he explained.

Before joining Next Optimise, Dave was on a dual rate electricity tariff. That meant cheaper electricity during certain off-peak hours, so he'd make an effort to shift as much of his household's electricity use into those periods as possible.

It worked, but it also meant planning his electricity use around the tariff.

Next Optimise takes a different approach.

Rather than relying on fixed off-peak hours, it uses intelligent automation to manage when Dave's battery charges, powers his home and exports electricity to the grid. It considers changing wholesale electricity prices, local weather forecasts and his household's typical energy use to work out when electricity is likely to be cheapest to buy and most valuable to export.

For Dave, the biggest difference is that he no longer needs to think as much about timing his electricity use.

"With this optimisation, it does allow me to think less about having to move it and letting the AI look at what my usage profile has been and might be in order to minimise the cost," he said.

How SmartShift earned Dave's trust.

Of course, handing over control of your home battery to an automated system takes a little getting used to. Next Optimise is powered by SmartShift, the technology that automatically manages when a battery charges and discharges based on changing electricity prices, weather forecasts and household energy use.

But Dave was initially sceptical about letting the technology make those decisions for him.

"When I first signed up, would I trust the AI on it? No," he admitted.

He spent time checking what the system was doing, asking questions and getting to grips with how it made its decisions.

He discovered that Next Optimise wasn't simply following a fixed schedule. It was responding to changing conditions, including weather forecasts specific to his location.

And being an accountant, he couldn't resist putting it to the test.

"I try and break it if I can, but I've not managed to do that yet."

These days, Dave checks the app less frequently. Not because he's lost interest, but because he's more comfortable letting the technology get on with the job.

"Do I now trust it? Yes, I do."

How much has Dave saved with his home battery?

Dave might have stopped checking his energy app quite so often, but as an accountant, he's still interested in the results.

Since joining Next Optimise in April 2026, Dave's electricity costs have been close to zero over his first three months, with the money earned from exporting electricity helping to offset what he pays to import it.

During spring, he saved an average of £25 a month compared with a standard variable tariff benchmark. Adjusted for seasonal differences, that's an estimated £339 in annual savings.

Much of this comes down to how his battery uses electricity throughout the day. When his solar panels are generating plenty of energy, the battery can store it for later. Then, when electricity prices rise, Next Optimise can use that stored energy to power his home or export it to the grid.

It can also charge from the grid when prices are low, if it forecasts an opportunity to make better use of that electricity later.

For Dave, his battery isn't just storing electricity. It's making decisions about when that electricity is most valuable, without him having to manage it himself.

How does Next Optimise work?

One of the biggest differences between Next Optimise and a traditional time of use tariff is that the price of electricity isn't simply divided into fixed peak and off-peak periods.

Wholesale electricity prices change throughout the day depending on supply and demand. When there's plenty of renewable electricity available, prices can fall. When demand is high and supply is tighter, prices can rise.

Next Optimise uses those changing prices to help customers get more value from their home batteries.

For example, if electricity is cheap overnight, the system might charge the battery from the grid. If prices rise later, it can use that stored electricity to power the home or export it back to the grid when it's more valuable.

It also considers how much electricity the household is likely to need.

During the Everything Electric visit, the team spotted a good example of this in action. Dave's system was exporting electricity because the forecast showed sunnier weather later in the afternoon. It anticipated that his solar panels would generate more electricity, leaving enough stored energy to help power his home that evening.

And all of this happened without Dave having to make the decision himself.

That's not to say he's given up control.

"It does it for me. If I want to override it, I can do, but I don't think I've overridden it more than once just to test that I could do it."

Is automated battery management worth it?

For Dave, one of the biggest benefits of Next Optimise has been not having to plan his household's electricity use around cheaper periods.

Previously, he'd deliberately shift activities into off-peak hours to keep costs down. Now, the system considers his household's typical energy use and manages his battery accordingly.

That doesn't mean his electricity use has to follow a rigid schedule. Next Optimise continuously updates its decisions based on changing prices, weather forecasts and what his household needs.

Dave can still check the app and override the automation whenever he wants. But after spending time testing how it works, he's found he rarely needs to.

It's a change from having to manage his energy system himself to having one that responds automatically.

Next up: Dave's electric car.

Dave's home energy setup is still evolving.

Alongside his solar panels and battery, he also drives an Audi EV. And when Everything Electric visited, he'd just become one of the first customers to test smart charging for his car through the technology behind Next Optimise.

It's still early days, but Dave is already taking a keen interest in how the system manages his EV charging alongside the rest of his household's energy needs.

The idea is similar to how his home battery works: Using intelligent automation to help charge the car at more cost-effective times, without Dave having to constantly monitor electricity prices himself.

For someone who once spent time organising his electricity use around off-peak hours, it's another opportunity to make life a little simpler.

Would Dave recommend Next Optimise?

For Dave, investing in solar, batteries and smarter energy technology has always been about more than finding the cheapest electricity tariff.

He wants greater control over his household's energy costs, generating his own renewable electricity through solar panels and storing it in his battery to reduce his reliance on the grid and exposure to fluctuations in energy prices.

"I don't think I'll ever say I'm going to be a completely off-grid user," he explained. "But the more I can decouple it and minimise my exposure to the global problems that are around at this moment in time, the better."

And when asked whether he'd recommend the technology to other households with solar panels and batteries, his answer was simple.

"Yes, I think I would."

Dave's experience shows what's possible when a home battery does more than simply store solar energy. With the right technology, it can respond to changing electricity prices, make decisions based on what a household needs and take much of the day-to-day work out of managing energy.

And as Dave has discovered, sometimes the best part of having a smarter home is not having to think about it quite so much.

Want to see what Next Optimise could do for your home?

Check if your battery is compatible and whether you meet the eligibility criteria to start making more of your energy.

Savings methodology: Dave's average monthly saving of £25 is based on April to June 2026 performance compared with an Ofgem standard variable tariff benchmark of 25.10p/kWh import and an assumed export rate of 13p/kWh. The £339 annual saving is an estimate adjusted for seasonality, not an observed 12-month result. Actual savings vary depending on household electricity use, battery configuration, generation and market conditions.