It's the start of our fourth winter solar generation season from our 3.69kWp system.
Our Monthly Solar Performance
December 2025
Generation this month was our highest ever generation in December with 126.9kWh. This was very close to meeting the expected estimated monthly solar generation of 127kWh.
Our self consumption was just 4% (39.5kWh) of total consumption 936.2kWh. Our self consumption was low because December's daytime hours are short and we don't charge the EV's off solar generation.
69% of solar generation (126.9kWh) was exported (87.4kWh) this month. SEG export was a total of £13.11.
Our overall consumption was a 975.7kWh. This was at a cost of just £70.25 at an average unit rate of 7.2p/kWh.
Generation per day over the month of December was very poor. There were only four days over 5kWh. Our highest daily generation was 14th December with 7.7kWh. Our lowest was 0.6kWh, which happened on four occasions.
January 2026
There was initially a great start to January, but ended in our worst generation in January ever with 129kWh. This was the first time January's actual generation was lower than the estimated 137 kWh generation.
Our self consumption this month was again 4% of our overall consumption. We exported 65% (83.9kWh) of the overall solar generation with a revenue of £12.59.
Once again we've not charged the EV from solar because Intelligent Octopus Go lets us charge the EV overnight at a cheaper rate and export at a higher rate.
Generation was very much a mixed bag. It started well, and then was on and off for the rest of the month. We ended up with 4 days over 10kWh generation.
Our consumption from the grid was 936.2kWh with 802.5kWh consumed by our cars..
For the third January in a row we had an issue with our home batteries as the cold weather meant the temperature in our garage dropped. This year wasn't a full battery shutdown as only battery seems to shutdown, the other remained working until the temperature increased allowing the other battery to restart. It would seem we should expect this to happen when the weather gets cold each January.
February 2026
The weather wasn't great at the start of February for solar generation, but it improved towards the end. February's generation (139kWh) was ever slightly better than January's (127kWh), but it was lower than the forecasted 189kWh.
The highest daily generation was 14kWh on 14th February. There were 4 days over 10kWh generation. There were 12 days under 5kWh.
Unfortunately our home internet failed and it took Virgin Media 4 days to resolve. Hence the screenshot for the month generation from our inverter below as our solar app didn't record correct data for 5 days at the start of the month.
Our solar self use consumption was back up to 6% as a percentage of total consumption. We consumed 41.4kWh of solar generation this month, with 83.9kWh exported.
We imported 1001kWh from the grid which was our highest ever import in one month. 234.5kWh charged the home battery whilst the cars consumed 766.9kWh.
Generation Performance
Generation performance in December 2025 was our highest ever December generation with 126.9kWh. This was just 0.1kWh short of the estimated 127kWh generation.
Solar generation in January was 129 kWh was just below the expected estimated generation 137kWh.
A poor February saw actual generation of 139kWh, which was below the estimated 189kWh generation.
For the year so far our actual generation of 394.9kW is behind the estimated generation of 453kWh. It's not surprising when our solar generation in January and February was much lower than expected.
Savings
We exported a total of 262.3kWh back to the national grid during the winter months. Self use consumption accounted for 131.3kWh, the majority (125.9kWh) being consumed by the home.
Our savings this winter was £209.10) was 1.5 times higher than last winter's savings of £135.51. This was mainly due to increasing home use savings.
The savings breakdown is:
* SEG export revenue was £39.54 from the 263.9kWh exported during winter.
* By lowering our average unit rate of imported electricity to circa 7.4p/kWh by charging the home battery overnight saved a total of £133.49 compared to the standard variable electricity unit rate.
* Self use of solar generation by using solar generation whilst it is generated or by storing it in the home battery saved £36.07
* £0 from savings sessions and free electricity reward periods.
Summary
Key Statistics for Winter:
* 394.9kWh generated
* 263.57kWh exported
* 131.3kWh (5% of overall consumption) self sufficiency from solar
* Solar/Home savings of £209.10
Overall quite a similar winter solar season to the previous year.