Smart battery control · Berkshire and nearby
Digging out every penny your solar and battery can save.
We fit a small box that decides — every half hour — when to charge your battery, when to use it, when to charge your car and when to sell power back. You don't lift a finger; you just watch the savings.
The short answer
Most batteries run on a simple timer or “self-use” mode. That leaves money on the table every single day, because electricity prices on modern tariffs change every half hour.
We set up Predbat, the clever planning software thousands of UK homes use, on a small box in your home — and make it simple: one beautiful dashboard, voice control, and us looking after it.
HOW IT WORKS
Three steps. Then it just quietly works.
No new panels, no rewiring. We make the kit you already have much smarter.
- 1
Tell us about your home
Two minutes online: your battery, panels, car and tariff. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit.
- 2
We set up your Mole Box
We prepare it before we arrive, so the visit is about an hour. We connect it to your battery, tariff, solar forecast and car charger.
- 3
It saves you money, every half hour
It plans 48 hours ahead using prices, weather and how your home uses power — and re-plans every few minutes as things change.
For the techies 🤓
The Mole Box is a Home Assistant Green running Home Assistant and the Predbat add-on, configured for your inverter (local Modbus/API where possible), Octopus tariff data, a solar forecast for your array, and your EV charger. Remote access and voice assistants go through Home Assistant Cloud; Siri via HomeKit. Everything runs locally in your home.
A NORMAL DAY
Buy low. Use smart. Sell high.
Here's what a typical day looks like. The purple line is your battery; the orange line is the price of electricity.
Illustrative day on a half-hourly tariff. Your real plan is recalculated every few minutes.
SEE EVERY PENNY
A dashboard you'll actually want to look at.
Your savings, today's costs, the battery plan and live prices — on your phone, tablet or TV. Or just ask.
SAVED WITH SOLAR + BATTERY
£412.60
Smart scheduling added £138.20
⚡ Now
7.2p🔋 Battery
86%☀️ Solar today
14.3💷 Today
-£1.84Plan · next 48h
SAVED WITH SOLAR + BATTERY
£412.60
Smart scheduling added £138.20
⚡ Now
7.2p🔋 Battery
86%☀️ Solar today
14.3💷 Today
-£1.84Plan · next 48h
SAVINGS
What could smart scheduling add?
Move the sliders to match your home. This is the extra on top of what your solar and battery already save.
EXTRA SAVING A YEAR
£290–540
about £35 a month, on top of what your kit already saves
See if we can help →A cautious estimate of the extra saving from smart scheduling compared with your battery's standard mode. Real results depend on your usage, weather and prices.
WHY URBAN MOLE
Your options, honestly compared
| Battery maker's app | PredBat Cloud | Urban Mole | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans around half-hourly prices | Basic timers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Uses solar forecast and your habits | Limited | ✓ | ✓ |
| Works with any inverter brand | Own brand only | 4 brands so far | Most major brands |
| Switches your EV charger at the best times | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tracks your car's battery automatically | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Your own dashboard, voice and smart displays | ✗ | Their app | ✓ |
| Heat pump / air-con scheduling | ✗ | Accounts for it | ✓ |
| Keeps working if the internet drops | Varies | Cloud-based | ✓ runs at home |
| Someone local to set it up and look after it | ✗ | Self-serve | ✓ |
Got a GivEnergy, Fox ESS, SolaX or Solis battery and no car to manage? PredBat Cloud may suit you better — our 30-second checker will tell you, and we'll send you there.
IS IT FOR ME?
Who we're for — and who we're not
Great fit
- ✓ You have a home battery (with or without solar)
- ✓ You're on — or happy to move to — a half-hourly or time-of-use tariff
- ✓ Your inverter isn't supported by PredBat Cloud (e.g. SolarEdge, Sunsynk, Sungrow, Growatt)
- ✓ You have an EV and want it charged in the cheapest slots automatically
- ✓ You want to see your savings without learning anything new
Probably not for you (yet)
- ✗ No battery — solar alone has little to schedule (a battery changes that)
- ✗ You're staying on a flat-rate tariff
- ✗ Your battery is very small (under ~3 kWh)
- ✗ Your kit is supported by PredBat Cloud and you don't need car control — go there instead
What you'll need
🔋 A home battery and inverter
📶 Home broadband, with a spare router port or good Wi-Fi
💷 A smart meter and a time-of-use tariff (we can advise)
📱 A smartphone to see your dashboard
PRICING
Clear prices. No surprise quotes.
One-off setup, including the Mole Box. Optional care plan afterwards.
Molehill
Smart battery and solar control
£249
- ✓ The Mole Box, set up and delivered
- ✓ Battery plans every half hour to your tariff
- ✓ Solar forecast for your roof
- ✓ Savings dashboard on your phone
- ✓ First month's tune-up
Burrow
Everything in Molehill, plus your car
£349
- ✓ EV charger switched on in the cheapest slots
- ✓ Car battery % tracked automatically
- ✓ Alexa, Google or Siri: “how much have we saved?”
- ✓ Dashboard on tablets and smart displays
- ✓ Three months of Mole Care included
Warren
The whole-home setup
£449+
- ✓ Everything in Burrow
- ✓ Heat pump or air-con scheduled around cheap power
- ✓ Wall tablet or smart display set up for you
- ✓ Extra devices and custom automations
- ✓ Six months of Mole Care included
Mole Care
£4.99/month
We keep an eye on it for you: monitoring, updates and backups, fixes if anything breaks, tariff changes handled, and a monthly savings email.
Mole Care+
£9.99/month
Everything in Mole Care, plus remote access and voice assistants included, a quarterly tune-up and a yearly tariff review.
Friends, neighbours and early customers: ask about our founding-customer discount. Cancel care plans any time.
AFTER SETUP
We don't disappear after the install
🛠️
We look after it
With Mole Care we watch for problems, install updates safely and keep backups, so it keeps working year after year.
📞
Real person, local
Questions? Message or call us. We're in Wokingham, not a call centre.
🛟
Safe if anything fails
If the Mole Box ever stops, your battery just carries on in its normal mode. Nothing to reset, nothing unsafe.
MYTH-BUSTING
Common misconceptions
“My battery already does this.”
Most run a fixed timer or simply store spare solar. They don't look at tomorrow's prices, the weather or your car — which is where the extra savings are.
“It'll wear my battery out.”
Plans take battery wear into account and won't cycle it for a trivial gain.
“I'll need to fiddle with it.”
It's set-and-forget. The dashboard is there to enjoy, not to operate.
“It only helps in summer.”
Winter is often where smart charging earns the most, because cheap overnight power replaces expensive daytime power.
REAL HOMES
Starting with our own
WOKINGHAM · FOUNDER'S HOME
SolarEdge 9.7 kWh · 7.3 kWp · Hypervolt · Nissan Leaf
Not supported by PredBat Cloud — exactly the kind of home we built Urban Mole for. The car's battery level is picked up automatically from the car, and charging happens in the cheapest slots.
Real savings figures coming soon
Your home could be next
Early customers get a founding discount in return for sharing their (anonymous) savings.
Check my homeFAQ
Questions people ask
Do I need to be techy?+
Not at all. After setup there's nothing to do — you just watch the savings on your phone, or ask your smart speaker. If something needs attention, we'll usually spot it before you do.
Will it affect my battery or inverter warranty?+
It uses the same control settings your inverter already offers and stays inside the manufacturer's limits. We'll look at your specific warranty terms before we start and tell you if there's anything to be aware of.
What if the internet goes down?+
The Mole Box lives in your home and talks to your kit directly, so it keeps working. It needs the internet to fetch new prices and weather, and if it ever stops completely, your battery simply carries on in its normal everyday mode.
Does it work without solar panels?+
Yes. With a battery and a half-hourly tariff you can still fill up when power is cheap and use it when it's expensive.
Which tariffs work best?+
Half-hourly or time-of-use tariffs such as Octopus Agile, Flux, Go, Intelligent Go and Cosy. On a flat-rate tariff there's much less to gain — we'll tell you honestly if a tariff switch would help more.
Why not just use PredBat Cloud?+
If you have a GivEnergy, Fox ESS, SolaX or Solis inverter and don't need your car charger controlled, PredBat Cloud may be all you need — our checker will tell you, and we'll point you there. We're for homes it doesn't cover yet.
Who installed my panels doesn't matter?+
Correct. We work with systems fitted by anyone — we don't touch the wiring, we just make the kit you already have much smarter.
Can I cancel Mole Care?+
Any time, with no fees. The Mole Box keeps working without it; you just lose our monitoring, updates and support.
Let the Mole do the digging.
Thirty seconds to find out if we can help — and if PredBat Cloud suits you better, we'll say so.