How One Homeowner Took Back Control of His EV Charging Costs with CATCH Power
- CATCH Power
- Jun 24, 2025
- 2 min read
Meet Dan.
Like many smart energy users, Dan had already made the leap to a solar and battery system — and was reaping the rewards. His daytime usage was covered by solar, his battery picked up the slack in the evenings, and he was seeing big savings on his power bill.
But then… he bought an electric vehicle.
The EV Plan That Didn’t Quite Work
At first, it made perfect sense. Dan signed up for OVO Energy’s EV plan, which offered:
Free charging between 11am and 2pm
Cheap overnight charging (8c/kWh) from midnight to 6am
On paper? A brilliant deal but in practice? It wasn’t working.
“Why is my battery draining into my EV during the middle of the day?”
Despite plugging his EV in during the free daytime window, Dan noticed something odd:
His battery was discharging into the EV — wasting valuable stored energy.
“It made zero sense. I was using up my stored solar to charge the car — even when grid energy was free. Then, after 2pm, I’d get slammed with a $0.51/kWh peak charges because my battery was already flat.”
It wasn’t just inefficient — it was costing him money and worse, it was wasting battery cycles, shortening his system’s lifespan.
Enter: Easy Energy Solutions + CATCH Control
Frustrated, Dan contacted his installer, Easy Energy Solutions, who quickly diagnosed the issue:
✅ Batteries can’t identify loads — they simply discharge to meet demand
✅ His system didn’t recognise that grid energy was free during those hours
✅ The solution required smart control, not just passive energy monitoring
The Fix? Smarter Automation with CATCH Control
Easy Energy Solutions installed a 6-Channel CATCH Control device, then set up:
Exclusion Zones — to stop the battery discharging into the EV
Smart charging logic — to charge the EV from solar surplus and from the grid only when it’s cheap or free
Intelligent Battery Controls - Top the battery up when energy is Free or really cheap. ($0.08/kWh)
The Result? Total Control. Real Savings.
Dan’s system was transformed. With CATCH Control:
His EV now only charges from solar when there’s excess generation During the 11am–2pm free window, the car draws directly from the grid — not the battery The battery is excluded from powering the car The battery and the car now both charge overnight at $0.08/kWh His house now runs on truly free power during the day Reliance on expensive peak-period energy is dramatically reduced
“This one upgrade made my system work like it was supposed to. Without it, the energy plan made no sense — but now, I’m in full control.”
Energy Plans Are Changing — Your System Should Too
The way we use and pay for energy is evolving. Whether you're:
Adding a battery
Purchasing an EV
Switching energy plans
Or just trying to get more from your solar setup...
Smart control is the key.
Batteries aren’t smart — but CATCH Control unlocks intelligent energy management.
Thinking of adding a Battery or EV?
Make sure your system is ready to adapt. Talk to the team at CATCH Power to learn more about smarter energy control for the all-electric home.
A practical and insightful case — it clearly shows how adding an EV can unexpectedly change the way a home energy system behaves, especially when solar and battery setups aren’t optimised to work together, leading to inefficiencies like stored energy being used at the wrong time or higher peak costs than expected. In this situation, smarter control made a real difference by ensuring energy was used more strategically, reducing waste and improving overall efficiency, and that sense of optimisation and control, sometimes loosely described in different contexts with phrases like wild casino, reflects how small system changes can lead to much better long-term outcomes.