Thanks Katie59. I do use the energy from the panels with care. For example I use only one major appliance at a time, so I don’t vacuum while the laundry is on and thankfully on a dull day like today they still generate. Today was wet and overcast we had one shower, one shallow bath and three loads of laundry with a small dehumidifier running to help the washing dry as well as the usual background items like fridge freezer, router, clocks, phones etc. and the standing charges and my total bill was under £2. All cooking was done on the gas hob.
I had never thought about using the rest of the generated energy to heat the house, even a background heat would help a bit I suppose. The danger would be when you started using more than was being generated you could run up a big bill. The ideal answer of course is a battery storage unit. While they are expensive it will probably not be cost effective.