How to use My Energy Planner

The first part of the planner is about your home as it is today. This includes information such as number of bedrooms, number of occupants, current heating and hot water systems, the suitability of your roof for solar panels, home efficiency, and your annual energy usage.

The annual energy usage fields are especially important because they anchor the comparison in real consumption rather than broad assumptions alone. Day electricity, night electricity, and heating fuel usage help the tool build a more realistic picture of the home's current demand. These can usually be found on your bill or through your energy provider app or portal.

You can also overwrite the typical tariff rates if your actual prices are different. That is useful if you are on an unusual tariff, a time-of-use tariff, or a lower-cost overnight plan.

The 'Future setup for comparison' section is where you evaluate the upgrade you are considering. You can change the future heating and hot water systems, add a number of solar panels, and add battery storage.

A useful way to use the tool is to start with a like-for-like comparison, then change just one thing at a time. For example, test solar only first, then solar plus battery, try different sizes of battery, then a heat pump, or a heat pump plus battery. That makes it much easier to see what each change is doing. You can try as many different options as you like.

This is particularly helpful when comparing technologies that interact with each other, such as solar, battery storage, overnight tariffs, and electric heating.

The results section shows the main decision metrics first: upgrade cost, year 1 saving, 10-year position, and break-even. These help you see whether the future setup looks promising and how quickly it may recover its upfront cost.

The monthly figures give a simple short-term view, while the 10-year cumulative cost chart is often the most useful long-term picture. It shows how the current setup and comparison setup diverge over time, including the upfront installation cost.

The 10-year breakdown table gives a year-by-year view, and the assumptions link explains the pricing, performance, and inflation assumptions used in the model.

The planner is most useful when you use it as a decision support tool. It helps you compare directions: solar only versus solar plus battery, direct electric heating versus a heat pump, or battery-only versus no battery.

A sensible approach is to identify two or three realistic future setups, compare them against your current home, and then ask which one offers the best balance of upfront cost, running cost, and long-term value.

It can also help you see where the answer depends heavily on tariffs. For some homes, changing from a standard electricity rate to a cheap overnight tariff can materially change which future setup looks strongest.

If you add your details and request installer quotes, the planner saves your contact information together with the key details of your home and the current versus future setup you are interested in.

That means your name, email address, postcode, the broad current setup, your usage inputs, whether you are planning to get an EV, and the future setup you want to explore can be shared with our preferred trusted installers so they can understand the type of project you are asking about.

This is designed to save time for both you and the installer. Instead of starting from nothing, the installer receives a clear outline of the scenario you want quoted so that you can compare responses more effectively.