The payback period is too long, how can I fix this?

There are a few things that can help with the payback period. The payback period is calculated by weighing up the cumulative benefits of the system against the cumulative costs. Therefore, to improve the payback period, you either need to reduce costs or increase the benefits,

In general, how to improve the payback period is very case dependent but below are some generic suggestions and key areas to check:

• Add batteries: this will increase the initial investment required but will allow the customer to store energy produced from peak times in the day to be used later which will reduce their grid dependence and reduce their cumulative costs. 
• Check tariffs are correct: tariffs are input into Easy PV in p/kWh, not £/kWh, so make sure your tariffs are in the correct units. This will ensure the savings and benefits are calculated accurately. 
• Add export tariff: if an export tariff is not configured, any benefits from exporting excess energy that cannot be used directly or to charge a battery will not be modelled. Including an export tariff will appropriately model these potential benefits.
• Factor in forced charging and discharging: if your system has a battery, you can estimate the benefits of forced charging and discharging the battery at different periods, in line with a variable tariff. Read more about that in our Consumption task guide. 
• Configure tariff switch: this is an option when using the Easy PV self-consumption method. If you are assuming a tariff switch, it's important to account for this in the Consumption task. When calculating the payback, their bill savings need to be calculated in terms of their current tariff.

Further information on tariffs can be found in our tariffs guide.