If the power goes out or your electric bill rises, a backup battery system be a lifesaver. Here's how to know if one is right for your home.
Do You Need a Home Battery Backup System?
Updated on Nov. 21, 2023
When the electricity goes out, it can be costly if you have to replace spoiled food, and dangerous if a member of your household relies on medical equipment.
Those concerns, coupled with rising energy costs and improvements in battery storage technology, have led to the emerging trend of home battery backup systems.
“Anyone who wants to be in control of their power should consider a backup power source,” says Carson Toews, general manager of Solarset in Center, Colorado. “Grid power is quite reliable, but it is a growing concern as power grids get stressed by increasing power demands.”
We talked with Toews and Vinnie Campo, CEO and co-founder of Haven Energy in Los Angeles, to find out what’s important to know about home battery backup systems. Here’s what they had to say.
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What Is a Home Backup Battery/Solar System?
It’s a system that stores energy so you can use it later — say, during a blackout, or times when electricity rates are more expensive.
If you add solar panels to the system, you can generate your own energy to recharge the battery vs. recharging it from the grid. In some locations you can also feed energy back into the grid, with a grid-tie solar system.
“A battery backup system is like a backup generator, but with no moving parts,” says Toews. “They are very reliable and offer clean backup power without the noise and maintenance of a generator.”
How Do Home Battery Backup Systems Work?
“A home battery acts like a buffer between your home and the power grid,” says Campo. “During a power outage, your battery instantly disconnects from your main distribution panel and the power grid, and creates a personal mini-grid, powering whichever appliances you’ve chosen to back up, like your refrigerator or stove.”
Systems consist of:
- An automated transfer switch to activate the battery when the power goes out. This also ensures no power goes back into the grid, which can harm utility linemen.
- An AC to DC inverter.
- Batteries.
- Solar panels (optional).
Who Can Benefit From Home Battery Backup System?
People most commonly opt for home battery systems to address these circumstances:
- Power outages:Â “They allow you to live life without interruption and make you less dependent on your utility company,” says Campo.
- Increasing utility bills:Â You can reduce monthly bills by using stored electricity during peak hours.
- Climate change: Powering your house off batteries reduces greenhouse gas emissions by direct charging through solar. It can also take stress off the grid during periods of peak demand.
How Much Does a Home Battery Backup System Cost?
It depends on the size and complexity of the system.
On the low end, portable systems like Anker’s Solix F3800 are easy to set up for emergency situations, like a power outage. They’re capable of running the refrigerator, medical equipment and lights for a few hours, or much longer when coupled with expansion batteries.
These can plug directly into fixed or portable solar panels. Some can also be wired into a home by a professional electrician to come on automatically. They start at around $4,000, not including solar panels and expansion batteries.
On the larger scale, permanently installed whole- and partial-house systems, like those made by Franklin, start between $10,000 and $20,000. Costs can rise depending on the size of the battery bank and scope of solar panels.
Rebates and other incentive programs, many found in the Inflation Reduction Act, can significantly help with the cost. Depending on where you live, there may be other state and local incentives, like California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program and similar programs in Colorado and the Northeast.
How To Choose a Home Battery Backup System
The number and type of appliances you want to run, and for how long, will determine the size of your system.
“Electrical loads, such as refrigerators and freezers, are quite easy to size for, because these appliances don’t take much power and run on a consistent basis,” says Toews. “Adding in a heating appliance, such as an electric furnace or an electric water heater, can increase the size of a backup power system sometimes by five times or more.”
Toews also emphasizes the need for splitting the power loads (essentially breaker boxes) into separate centers, one for essential items like fridges and well pumps (a critical load panel), and one for less important items like toasters and dishwashers (a regular load panel).
This will reduce the size of the power supply you need to install, plus prevent damage to the system. But it must be done by a licensed electrician.
“A critical load panel is an often overlooked detail of backup power systems, but building a system without taking the effort to split the loads results in an unreliable backup power system,” says Toews.
About the Experts
Carson Toews is the founder and CEO of SolarSet, which specializes in pre-assembled solar systems, including grid-tie, off-grid, battery backup and hybrid.
Vinnie Campo is the CEO and co-founder of Haven Energy, which guides homeowners through the home battery backup system process. Campo started his career in energy trading and seeks to use technology to drive environmental change.
