Midsummer Energy app helps you make money from solar energy and feel Smug

Midsummer Energy launched Smug this summer, a battery optimisation app aimed at turning solar consumers into active energy producers. Using machine learning and weather forecasts, Smug manages batteries to optimize what users earn from feed-in tariffs when spare solar capacity is available, with the goal of lowering energy bills. The company says the app will later connect to flexibility markets, allowing batteries to earn money by responding to grid demand. Smug is already on the App Store and is being developed by software developer Ahmed Khan, with Michael Barbour handling customer success. The piece also details Midsummer’s background, citing its 2005 origins in Cambridge and earlier products, Easy PV and Heatpunk. Midsummer Energy is a finalist for the Mayor’s Scale-up of the Year at the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2026.