Photo: ingehogenbijl/Shutterstock
The impending phase-out of the net-metering scheme for solar panels has significantly boosted interest in home batteries. New figures now show that this trend is even stronger than previously thought: in 2025 alone, over 167,000 home batteries have been sold, more than double the total for all of 2024. But whether such a battery pays for itself financially remains a difficult question.
How Quickly Does a Home Battery Pay for Itself? #
The payback period differs for each household and depends on factors like energy consumption, the number of solar panels, and the compensation energy suppliers offer for electricity fed back to the grid. This compensation varies widely, from approximately €0.03 to €0.19 per kWh. As a result, the calculation for each household turns out differently.
An example shows how narrow the margins can be. A 6 kWh battery can save more than €1.26 per day at some rates, or €459.90 per year. With a purchase price of €5,000 to €10,000 (excluding installation), the payback period in that scenario comes out to about 15 years. That is virtually equal to the average lifespan of the battery.
Why Are More People Opting for One? #
The appeal lies mainly in a changing energy market. Once the net-metering scheme stops on January 1, 2027, it will become less attractive to supply electricity back to the grid. This makes self-consumption—storing energy and using it later—more important.
Additionally, more and more households are taking out dynamic energy contracts. In these cases, a home battery can help purchase cheap electricity and avoid expensive hours. Nevertheless, experts emphasize that this is only truly profitable if several conditions are met: solar panels, relatively high consumption, the season, and clear price differences between peak and off-peak hours.
The Outcome Remains Hard to Predict #
Because the energy market is changing rapidly with fluctuating feed-in tariffs, installation costs, and potential new regulations, it is difficult to name one clear payback period.
For many households, the home battery seems to be primarily a way to prepare for the time after the net-metering scheme, when self-generated power becomes increasingly valuable.