15kWh Home Battery for £3,000? | Matt Stockdale

15kWh Home Battery for £3,000? | Matt Stockdale

In this episode of Energy Unwrapped, I’m joined by Matt Stockdale, founder of 22:23 Community Interest Company (CIC), an organisation trying to make home battery storage more affordable by supplying battery systems at cost.

Matt has an unusual background. He’s the man behind Oven Pride, the oven cleaning product that went from a simple idea to appearing on QVC and supermarket shelves.

So how did he go from cleaning ovens to home battery storage?

It started when Matt received a quote of around £12,000 for a battery system for his own home. He couldn’t make the numbers work, so he started looking for an alternative.

That search eventually took him to China, where he worked with battery manufacturer GeePower to develop a modular home battery system designed for the UK market.

The result is a 15kWh battery system costing around £3,000 before installation, with the option to expand to 30kWh.

But there’s more to this story than the price.

We discuss how the community interest company works, battery safety and G99 compliance, installation, software, smart electricity tariffs and how home batteries can help reduce demand on the grid during peak periods.

And, importantly, we talk about the economics. Because buying a home battery doesn’t automatically mean you’ll save money. You need to consider how you’re going to charge it, what electricity tariff you’re on and how much energy your household actually uses.

It’s an interesting conversation about someone trying to make battery storage more accessible, without following the usual commercial sales model.

The prices and product details discussed are those quoted at the time of recording. Actual prices, availability and installation costs may differ.

What we cover in this episode

• How Matt invented Oven Pride and built a successful consumer product
• Why a £12,000 home battery quote started a new business idea
• How 22:23 Community Interest Company was established
• Working directly with Chinese battery manufacturer GeePower
• A modular 15kWh battery system costing around £3,000 before installation
• Expanding battery storage capacity from 15kWh to 30kWh
• G99 compliance and battery safety
• Installation requirements and electrical certification
• Battery inverter power and whole-house electricity demand
• Using the Solarman app to control battery charging
• Charging batteries on cheap overnight electricity tariffs
• Why EV tariffs can make such a difference to battery savings
• Why home batteries don’t automatically save everyone money
• Reducing peak-time electricity demand through battery storage
• How the 22:23 group-buying model works
• Battery sizing, household consumption and avoiding unnecessary capacity
• Matt’s own electricity bills and experience using battery storage

Watch or Listen

Find all platform links via Podlink: Energy Unwrapped with Mick Wall

Watch on YouTube

Full Transcript

Below is the full transcript for this episode, lightly edited for readability.

Meet Matt Stockdale: From Oven Pride to Home Batteries

Matt starts by explaining his rather unusual career journey.

After being made redundant from a telecommunications company, he developed Oven Pride, the oven cleaning product that eventually found its way onto QVC and into major supermarkets.

He shares the story of how the product came about, including the challenges of getting a new business off the ground.

It’s a background that helps explain why Matt approached the home battery market from a consumer and business perspective rather than an engineering one.

Why a £12,000 Battery Quote Started Everything

During the energy crisis of 2022 and 2023, Matt began looking at installing battery storage in his own home.

But when he received a quote of around £12,000, he struggled to justify the investment.

Rather than accepting the price, he started investigating whether he could source a suitable battery system more cheaply.

That eventually led him to manufacturers in China and the beginning of what would become 22:23 CIC.

Working With GeePower to Develop a UK Battery System

Matt explains how he travelled to China and began working directly with GeePower.

The aim wasn’t to build the most expensive or technically advanced system possible.

Instead, Matt wanted to find a sensible balance between cost, capacity and performance, giving homeowners the features they were most likely to use without paying for unnecessary extras.

We discuss how the product specification developed and the process of getting it ready for the UK market.

Why 22:23 Became a Community Interest Company

Matt originally considered establishing a charity but eventually decided that a community interest company would be a more practical way to get started.

The organisation operates on a not-for-profit basis, with the aim of helping homeowners access battery storage at cost.

We discuss why Matt chose this approach, how the organisation was established and his motivation for helping other households reduce their electricity bills.

Battery Safety and G99 Compliance

Before a grid-connected battery system can be installed in the UK, it needs to meet the relevant technical and safety requirements.

Matt describes the process of obtaining G99 compliance for the GeePower system and the testing involved.

We also discuss battery safety, fire suppression, installation locations and why Matt chose a system intended for indoor installation, ideally in a suitable garage or outbuilding.

A 15kWh Home Battery for Around £3,000

One of the main attractions of the 22:23 system is its price.

At the time of recording, Matt explains that a 15kWh system costs around £3,000 before installation, with prices affected by exchange rates and other costs.

The system is modular, allowing homeowners to add further 5kWh battery modules up to a total of 30kWh.

We discuss the importance of buying the right amount of storage rather than simply choosing the biggest battery available.

How Much Power Does the Inverter Provide?

Battery capacity is only part of the story.

We look at the difference between how much energy a battery can store, measured in kWh, and how much power its inverter can deliver at any one time, measured in kW.

Matt explains that the system has a continuous inverter output of around 6.2kW.

We compare that with the electricity demand of our own homes and discuss why short periods of higher demand don’t necessarily mean you need a much larger inverter.

Installing a Home Battery Safely

Matt explains how the system has been designed to make installation more straightforward.

We discuss the need for a suitable dedicated electrical circuit, isolation, electrical testing and the difference between a properly connected grid-tied battery and products that use an ordinary three-pin socket.

Matt describes his proposed installation arrangement, while we also discuss why electrical safety and the condition of the existing household wiring matter.

A battery installation still needs to meet the applicable electrical and grid-connection requirements, regardless of how simple the equipment is to assemble.

Battery Software and Charging Schedules

The GeePower system uses the third-party Solarman app for monitoring and control.

Matt explains why he wanted the software to be relatively simple, allowing homeowners to set charging schedules and then largely leave the system to run automatically.

We discuss overnight charging windows, particularly tariffs that cross midnight, and why the system needs to handle those schedules correctly.

We also consider whether future software changes could allow more advanced control using dynamic electricity prices.

Why Cheap Electricity Tariffs Matter

This is one of the most important parts of the conversation.

A home battery can shift electricity consumption from expensive periods to cheaper ones, but the savings depend heavily on the tariff available.

We discuss the difference between EV tariffs, battery-specific tariffs and standard electricity prices.

For households without an EV or access to cheap overnight electricity, the financial case for battery storage can be considerably weaker.

Will a Home Battery Actually Save You Money?

Matt shares his experience of using a battery to reduce his household electricity costs.

But we also discuss why those results won’t necessarily apply to everyone.

The amount you save depends on household consumption, the price difference between peak and off-peak electricity, battery losses, installation costs and how effectively you use the available storage.

Small daily savings can add up over time, but it’s important to work through the numbers before buying.

How Home Batteries Can Help the Electricity Grid

Beyond household savings, Matt is interested in how battery storage can reduce demand on the electricity grid during busy periods.

By charging when electricity is cheaper and using that stored energy later, households can reduce the amount they import during peak demand.

We discuss how this relates to demand flexibility and why wider adoption of home batteries could help manage electricity demand.

How the 22:23 Group-Buying Model Works

Matt explains that 22:23 operates much like a buying group.

By combining orders and importing systems together, the organisation aims to reduce costs.

The trade-off is waiting time.

Orders need to be grouped before equipment is shipped, so customers may have to wait longer than they would when buying from a conventional supplier holding UK stock.

Matt compares it to sharing a taxi: everyone benefits from sharing the cost, but the journey can’t begin until enough people are ready.

Choosing the Right Battery Size for Your Home

We discuss why a larger battery isn’t automatically a better investment.

Matt explains that his own 15kWh system often has capacity remaining at the end of the day, despite living in a relatively high-consumption household.

For many homes, it’s worth looking at daily electricity consumption and how much of that usage could realistically be shifted.

A household with a heat pump may have very different requirements from one without electric heating.

The aim is to find the capacity that delivers useful savings without paying for storage that rarely gets used.

Matt’s Own Electricity Bills

Towards the end of the episode, Matt shares some of his electricity bills and explains how he’s changed the way his household uses energy.

By combining battery storage, cheap overnight electricity and shifting appliance usage, he reports that more than 95% of his imported electricity was charged at off-peak rates during his first two full months.

We compare that with my own experience of using solar, batteries, EV charging and a heat pump.

It’s a useful example of what can be achieved with time-of-use tariffs, while recognising that results depend on individual circumstances.

What’s Next for 22:23 CIC?

We finish by discussing the future of the organisation, the first group orders and how people can find out more.

Matt’s ambition is to help more households access affordable battery storage and reduce their dependence on expensive peak-time electricity.

It’s a different approach to selling home energy equipment, and it’ll be interesting to see how the model develops.

About the Energy Unwrapped Podcast

Energy Unwrapped is my podcast about renewables, home electrification and how energy technology works in the real world. You can browse all episodes, platform links and future updates on the main Energy Unwrapped Podcast page.

If you find the episode useful, a like, subscribe or share makes a real difference. It helps the channel grow and helps more people find practical, independent energy content.