Naturgy continues to grow in the field of energy self-consumption with the launch of its Virtual Battery, a new product that adds to its solar proposal to offer its customers greater control over their consumption and help them save. With this new offer, Naturgy allows customers who have a photovoltaic installation at home to accumulate the amount corresponding to the energy surpluses not compensated in the bill as a balance in the Virtual Battery and use it to reduce the cost of their energy bills.
This service offers an additional advantage over simplified surplus compensation, which only deducts the amount of energy fed into the grid up to the limit of the cost of the energy consumed in the same month. However, with the launch of the Virtual Battery, Naturgy introduces an innovative solution, since the customer can accumulate the uncompensated amount to use it at other times of the year in the same home in which the balance has been generated or even in other properties in which they have an energy contract with Naturgy.
This method allows the economic value of surplus energy to be optimised, with the potential to reduce future energy bills – both electricity and gas – to €0, provided the customer has sufficient balance in the virtual battery. The final savings will depend in each case on the correlation between the amount of energy fed into the grid and the consumption made by the supply point.
To benefit from this new Naturgy Virtual Battery service, the customer must have an electricity supply contract with Naturgy’s free market supplier or, alternatively, register as a new customer with Naturgy’s free market supplier and have, in any event, a self-consumption mode with simplified compensation of surpluses. This service is designed to be accessible and useful both for customers who have an individual self-consumption system and for those who are part of a collective self-consumption community. In addition, any unused balance accumulated in the Virtual Battery will remain valid for a period of 5 years, thus ensuring greater flexibility and efficiency in its use.
To celebrate its launch, Naturgy is offering a promotion whereby the Virtual Battery service will be completely free of charge until the last day of 2023. The energy group has already registered more than 5,000 Virtual Battery contracts in the first weeks of marketing the product, which illustrates the consumer interest in this initiative to promote self-consumption.
Naturgy’s self-consumption
Naturgy experienced a significant growth in photovoltaic self-consumption capacity during the year 2022, reaching a nine-fold increase compared to previous years. The company focused its attention on the sector of single-family homes, homeowners’ associations and companies. Although the Group is present throughout Spain, the regions of Madrid and Catalonia stood out for the highest number of contracts registered. In addition, Naturgy collaborates with 120 installation companies specialised in the sector.
The company’s added value lies in its ability to comprehensively manage the entire photovoltaic self-consumption project. This involves installation design, equipment procurement, legalisation, commissioning, Next Generation Fund subsidy management, financing and the option to incorporate batteries, as well as maintenance services associated with the installation.
The promotion of self-consumption forms part of Naturgy’s commitment to the energy transition, alongside its strategy to develop an international renewable portfolio and its commitment to the development of renewable gases.