What is automated energy trading? A beginner's guide to Next Optimise.

If you've got solar panels and a home battery, you've already done something most people haven't. You've taken control of where your energy comes from. But here's the thing, most households with that setup are still leaving money on the table every single day.

Not because they're doing anything wrong. Just because the energy market moves faster than any human can keep up with.

That's where automated energy trading comes in. And it's the beating heart of Next Optimise.

First, a quick word about how energy prices actually work.

We already offer tariffs designed to help customers get more from the way they use energy. Next Drive gives EV owners cheaper electricity overnight for charging. Next Pumped rewards customers who can shift their usage away from the peak evening window. These tariffs work because they're built around a simple truth: Electricity isn't the same price all day.

Behind the scenes, electricity is bought and sold on a wholesale market, where prices shift every 30 minutes based on supply and demand. When it's windy and the turbines are spinning hard, prices drop. When everyone gets home from work and switches the kettle on, prices spike.

On a particularly sunny afternoon in spring, prices can fall so low they actually go negative. That means there's more electricity being generated than the grid knows what to do with.

Next Optimise takes this idea further. Rather than a few set price windows, it connects your home to real-time wholesale prices and acts on them automatically, every half hour, all day long.

So what is automated energy trading?

Automated energy trading is exactly what it sounds like, software that watches the market, spots the opportunities, and acts on them. Automatically, in real time, without you having to do a thing.

Think of it like having a very tiny, very attentive stockbroker living inside your battery. Except instead of shares, they're trading sunshine. And instead of keeping a cut, they're putting the savings directly back into your account.

When wholesale prices are low, they fill your battery with cheap electricity. When prices rise, they use or sell what's stored. Every 30 minutes, a new set of prices, a new decision. Hundreds of micro-decisions a day, all made faster and more accurately than any person could manage.

How does Next Optimise do this?

Here's what's happening behind the scenes every time Next Optimise gets to work on your behalf.

Step 1: It reads the market.

Next Optimise connects your home to real-time wholesale electricity prices. Every half hour, the algorithm receives fresh price data and forecasts for the 24 hours ahead, factoring in things like weather patterns, grid demand, and upcoming peaks.

Step 2: It builds a plan for your home.

No two households are the same. The algorithm takes into account your specific setup:

• A forecast of your solar generation.

• Your battery capacity.

• Your typical energy usage patterns.

• The time of year.

Using all of this, it builds a personalised 24-hour energy plan, refreshed throughout the day as conditions change.

Step 3: It charges at the right moment.

When prices are low (say, late at night, or on a blustery afternoon when wind power is flooding the grid), Next Optimise charges your battery from the grid or captures excess solar generation. It's filling up the tank when fuel is cheap.

Step 4: It decides when to use and when to sell.

When prices rise, the algorithm knows. It tells your battery to discharge to power your home during expensive peak periods, typically the 4pm to 7pm evening window when everyone's home and demand surges.

If prices are particularly high and your battery is well-stocked, it may also choose to export energy back to the grid and earn you money in return.

Step 5: It does it again tomorrow.

And the day after. And the day after that. Every single day, quietly working in the background while you get on with your life.

Why can't I just do this myself?

Technically, you could try. But consider what it would actually involve.

You'd need to check wholesale prices every 30 minutes, around the clock. You'd need to manually set your battery to charge and discharge exactly the right moments. You'd need to forecast weather, anticipate demand peaks, and factor in your own energy usage, all at the same time. And you'd need to do all of that without ever getting tired, distracted, or going on holiday.

The energy market doesn't take weekends off. The algorithm doesn’t either.

That's not a knock on anyone who's tried to manage this manually. It's genuinely a near-impossible task for a human being. The whole point of automated energy trading is that it operates at a speed and consistency that people simply can't match.

Where does the technology behind Next Optimise come from?

The technology powering Next Optimise was built by Amber Electric, the leaders in battery automation software, and it's already running in over 80,000 homes across Australia. For years, Amber has been refining this system in the Australian market — a market that, like the UK, is increasingly powered by renewables and therefore increasingly volatile.

When we partnered with Amber to bring this to the UK, they didn't just take the concept and start from scratch. They brought a platform that had already been tested, improved, and proven at scale. The UK pilot results have backed that up, with the majority of participating households seeing a genuine reduction in their bills.

What does this mean in real money?

During our early pilot, customers saved an average of around £18 a month compared to a modelled baseline of similar homes on the Solar Export Guarantee. Based on the pilot data, some households could potentially save in the region of £678 over a full year.

Savings aren't guaranteed and will vary depending on your setup, usage patterns, and what the market does. But the principle is sound: the bigger the price swings, the more opportunity the algorithm has to find value.

Do I need to understand any of this to use it?

No. That's the whole idea.

You don't need to know what a half hourly settlement period is. You don't need to track wholesale prices or worry about when to charge your battery. You sign up, your home connects, and Next Optimise gets to work. The app gives you a clear view of what it's doing and what you're saving.

But beyond that, there's nothing to manage and nothing to learn. The system is designed so that the most complicated part, the actual trading, is entirely invisible to you.

Ready to find out more?

Next Optimise is available to E.ON Next customers with solar panels and a home battery already installed. See if your home is eligible.

Please note: 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.