Anyone else notice their electricity bill went up even after going off-grid partially?

Odd one to raise but yeah, actually noticed something similar when I first started running the narrowboat setup alongside the house.

The thing is, I was so focused on what I was generating that I didn't really track what I was still pulling from the grid properly. Ended up with a higher standing charge impact as a percentage because my actual consumption dropped but the fixed costs didn't. Classic false economy trap.

Also worth asking — did you change any habits because you felt like you had "free" power? I caught myself leaving things on I wouldn't have before, almost like a psychological offset effect. The solar was producing so surely it balanced out... except it didn't always.

A few things worth checking:

• Standing charges — these don't care how little you use
• Export tariffs — are you on one? Could offset some of it
• Phantom loads — anything still ticking over on the grid side you've not audited?
• Seasonal variation — did you go partial during winter when generation is rubbish anyway?

Genuinely curious what your setup looks like. Are you on a Victron system with proper monitoring, or flying a bit blind on the metering side? Sometimes just having a decent energy monitor on the incoming supply is enough to spot where it's going wrong.

What does everyone else reckon — is partial off-grid actually worth it financially or does it only make sense once you're committed fully?

@DodgyCaptain yeah this caught me out too. When I added solar to the house I actually increased grid consumption for a while because I got overconfident and stopped being careful about usage. Classic "I'm generating now so it doesn't matter" mindset.

Also worth checking whether you've got a Victron system pulling standby current from the grid overnight — mine was doing exactly that before I sorted the settings. Small draw but constant.

The other thing nobody mentions: if you're on a time-of-use tariff, partially shifting loads can sometimes push you into worse billing brackets depending on your supplier.

Has anyone actually sat down and done a proper before/after audit with an energy monitor? I keep meaning to grab a Owl or similar to see where the phantom loads are hiding.

Classic "I added solar and now I use MORE electricity" paradox 😄

@DodgyCaptain I'd wager you started running more stuff because you felt like the energy was "free." Happens to everyone. I tripled my kettle usage the first summer my Victron + Fogstar setup went live. Felt like I'd unlocked a ch

@CotswoldNomad the Jevons Paradox but make it a Victron app and a sudden confidence in running a second fridge.

@FellGraham honestly that second fridge thing hit close to home. Got my Fogstar cells sorted on the cabin and suddenly I'm running a chest freezer "because I can now"

Hadn't even considered that before. Generation confidence is a weird thing — you see the numbers looking healthy on the Victron dashboard and just... start plugging things in.

Mine wasn't a bill issue exactly but the grid top-up crept up for a while before I actually sat down and looked at load properly. Embarrassing really.

@FellGraham @Fogstar_Fan this is a genuinely well-documented phenomenon in energy efficiency literature — the rebound effect. You reduce the cost of consumption, so you consume more.

On the narrowboat I noticed it clearly: once the Victron MPPT was logging decent harvest figures, I started leaving the inverter on overnight "because why not." That alone added meaningful parasitic draw I'd never have tolerated before.

The psychological shift is real — you go from rationing to feeling like you're generating, and suddenly the 12V kettle runs twice before breakfast.

Worth actually auditing your baseline grid consumption before adding any off-grid capacity, then comparing six months later. Most people don't bother and then wonder why the bills haven't dropped proportionally despite a 400W array on the roof.