Backup by Biolite Review: A Cool Idea

As with all home batteries, there’s some bonus value in Backup to be found in running the battery when there’s not a power outage. That’s because you can take advantage of Time of Use (TOU) rate billing from your utility, running off of battery power during peak times when rates are high (usually the afternoon and evening), and drawing from the grid and recharging the batteries when rates are low. I had to do some research to find out if my utility provider even offered TOU billing, as I’ve had a conventional, static rate plan since we moved into this house four years ago. Turns out they did, and I promptly switched over to the new one to give this a try.