The Magnerholt family stores their energy with Homevolt

In Grödinge, just outside southern Stockholm, we find Christoffer Magnerholt, one of the smart Tibber customers who has taken his home to the next level. In his newly renovated house, which was once a summer cottage of 80 square meters, Christoffer lives with his wife and their two children. Together, they have created a modern and space-efficient home, equipped with solar panels, a charging box – and the latest addition: a Homevolt battery.

Christoffer had previously jumped between different electricity contracts in search of the cheapest option on the market. But in 2019, things took a turn. Since then, Tibber has been the family’s electricity provider, and in 2022, he went all-in and became part of the team at the company.

In the driveway at the Magnerholt home stands the family’s electric car, a Cupra Born – and since they are part of Grid Rewards, the charging cable from their Easee Charge Lite is, of course, plugged into the car. But today, we’re not here to talk about electric cars and charging boxes. We’re here for something bigger – Homevolt.

A Homevolt in place!
On the storage room wall hangs the white 6.6 kWh battery. It was during the summer of 2024 that Christoffer first saw it being installed – and got to experience the feeling of storing his self-produced electricity. As one of Tibber’s test customers, he has helped make the integration between Homevolt and the Tibber app smoother. And the installation? It was quite familiar:

“It was like installing a very large electric car charger. An incredibly smooth process. The battery came on a pallet, the installer showed up as planned, connected it, and then it takes care of itself,” says Christoffer with a smile.

Since 2018, the Magnerholt family has had solar panels on the roof, and that was a major reason why they didn’t hesitate to hit the order button when Tibber launched their home battery.

“I already had solar panels, so buying a Homevolt was an easy decision. During summer, you produce the most, but since electricity prices are often lower during the summer, you don’t always get much money back for your self-produced electricity. Instead, being able to store it and use it or sell it later when the electricity price is higher is, in my opinion, much smarter,” explains Christoffer.

Store your produced electricity and sell it smartly
When you sell your stored electricity to the grid, with Tibber’s hourly rate agreement, you get paid as much as the spot price on the electricity market. Buying, storing, and then selling your electricity is called electricity price arbitrage, meaning you produce your own electricity or buy cheap electricity and sell it back to the grid when the electricity price is higher. And Christoffer thinks this is pretty clever:

“Today, the electricity price was quite high in the morning, so the battery automatically discharged itself – completely on its own. This made the day cost-neutral. And it’s thanks to Homevolt being smart and discharging at just the right hour in the morning,” he says.

“Just this month, from September 1st to 20th, I’ve sold back 120 kWh to the grid – and have been more or less cost-neutral most days,” he adds.

Everything in the app – and a friend to boot
In the Tibber app, Christoffer has full control over his battery, how charged it is, and what it’s doing right now – yes, it’s almost like having a new friend constantly sending you messages about what it’s having for breakfast, what it’s wearing, or how it’s feeling.

“The battery is very transparent. It constantly tells you what it’s doing and why. If the battery is discharging, it says in the app why it’s doing so, and it could, for example, be because electricity prices are higher at that time. It’s pretty much just like smart electric car charging. You always know what it’s up to,” says Christoffer, laughing.

How Smart Charging communicates with you as a Tibber customer and how Homevolt does it, is actually the same. You always know what’s happening and the reason behind it. So, whether you check the app at the breakfast table in the morning or sneak into the app during Friday night downtime, you can always see what your “little” friend is up to right now.

“I don’t really need to do anything. The battery works together with the rest of the devices at home, and I simply think that’s the absolute best thing about the app,” he adds.

Smart – smarter – the Magnerholt family
In addition to solar panels on the roof, an electric car charger, and now a home battery, Christoffer and his family have made their home a lot smarter than that old summer cottage was before the renovation. It all started with a Sensibo to control the heat pump and manage heating in the entire home to ensure it was always heated at the lowest possible price. Then, they continued upgrading their home with Mill heaters and underfloor heating in the bathroom – all easily and smoothly controlled via the Tibber app.

The Magnerholt family has made it a habit to keep an eye on their electricity consumption at home – and it’s more of a fun thing for the whole family than a chore. Christoffer also thinks it’s a great way to teach his children how electricity and energy work, and this is what it sounded like on a Tuesday night when it was time to brush their teeth:

“Our electric toothbrushes run on electricity, kind of like your electric car, dad. Or like Homevolt!”

– Dorothée Magnerholt, 5.5 years old.

Christoffer’s best Homevolt tips:

-Review your routines: If you’re truly a morning or evening shower person, it’s not necessarily something you need to change. But knowing when you consume electricity is key.

-Help Homevolt help your home, and it will become even cheaper. It’s not a plug-it-in-and-everything-is-solved solution – you need to be a little smart yourself. If there are only 20 minutes left until a new and lower electricity price, maybe the laundry (and dryer) can wait 20 minutes?

-Automate your home. Connect smart devices and set up smart controls in the Tibber app. No one in the Magnerholt household needs to heat an empty room – as long as it’s warm when you get home, of course.

Read more about Homevolt