solar pv

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I find this very odd. And wonder if anyone else has had this happen.

After our panels have been in for three and a half years I have had a letter from British Gas (our electricty supplier) this morning saying our electricity meter has not been working properly since we have started generating our own power!! So we may be paying more or less than we should have been for electricty consumed. At no cost they (BG) want to change our meter. There is a number to ring and G4S (heavens above) will come and change the meter!!

Has anyone had similar happen to them after solar panels have been installed. The only fault I see with our meter is the delight of it going backwards when the sun is out and beaming.

Thanks in advance.

CHEERS
 
I think that's the problem with it, it shouldn't go backwards!!!
 
Rats, but thank you. Talked to a guy who has the same installation as me by the same company and his meter does not go backwards when the sun is out. So you are possibly right.
 
Yep meter def should not go backwards! Looks like might be a bit of an underpayment issue if they decide to try and pursue you for the difference, good luck :)
 
Thanks nictry.

Quote from the letter says "As this problem was not caused by you, we wont charge you for any electricity not previously registered on your supply meter that you've used. But you do need to pay any electricity bills we've sent you"

I will be hanging on to this letter. I can see this growing legs.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the bills once the meter is changed. At the moment (springish) we use on average 6 to 8 KWs per day. In days of high sunshine around 5KWs.
 
kWh not kW......

k is kilo, meaning thousand, and is lower case as it's not a name
W is Watt after James. Definer of said energy unit
h is hour, as in time, again not a name, so lower case.


/pedant mode


get an immersun or similar device. Sends unused energy into your immersion in your tank or even your swimming pool.

I have 10kW of PV on three phase and a 160 quid a year leccy bill at last count with 4 adults and one sprog.
 
I find this very odd. And wonder if anyone else has had this happen.

After our panels have been in for three and a half years I have had a letter from British Gas (our electricty supplier) this morning saying our electricity meter has not been working properly since we have started generating our own power!! So we may be paying more or less than we should have been for electricty consumed. At no cost they (BG) want to change our meter. There is a number to ring and G4S (heavens above) will come and change the meter!!

Has anyone had similar happen to them after solar panels have been installed. The only fault I see with our meter is the delight of it going backwards when the sun is out and beaming.

Thanks in advance.

CHEERS

When we bought our house, electric supply was on an old chimney which we needed to pull down. New chimney was built in a different position approx 3 - 4m away & electric metres moved from inside to external cabinet.
Arranging the work with UK Power Networks was a comedy. One of the visits we had advised us that we would have to have the meter changed to a new digital one as the old one would not fit in the new external cabinet.
So we arranged to have the meter changed, which again carries it's own story.
When the overhead line people came I said I got the meter changed as requested. They said I shouldn't have done that as the old meter would have fitted OK in the new cabinet and with the digital meter I had lost the benefit of the old one running backwards.
 
Double rats. Looks like I dont have an option though. I suppose I could always be on holiday for a while?
 
To change meter, phone supply company (e-on) if I remember correctly. The say I need to phone Siemens. Phone Siemens, the say they don't do e-on meters & I need to phone e-on. Phone e-on again & get passed around until I get someone who knows that they arrange their own meter changes.
They advised that it will cost £70, which will be refunded if, when they test the old meter it is found the be faulty. I advise that it must be a new digital meter to fit the new meter cabinet, they say they can't guarantee the meter type, it may be digital or mechanical. I can't get person to understand the whole point of the change is for a digital meter, if the replacement is mechanical I might as well keep the one I've got and save £70. Still can't guarantee the type I will get. My head is getting sore & I give in & pay up.
On the day of the change, man arrives & says I can't change your meter as the house wiring is unsafe. Try to explain that the house is being renovated (he is standing in a room on a heap of rubble from the demolished rear wall, adjacent to the part built new chimney) and whether he fits a new meter or leaves the old one, neither will change the old wiring which is still protected by the same fuses & wiil soon be replaced by new wiring. He gets a sulk on and says he can't fit the new meter unless I fit a new distribution board now. I phone my electrician & get him to down tools where he is & drive over. E-on man phones his boss who says he can visit in an hour.
E-on boss arrives just after my electrician and agrees to connect the new meter to the old electrics. My electrician goes back to his original job, 2 hours wasted.
A week later I've not heard the result of the test to see if I get my £70 back so I phone e-on. Tested? What do you mean mate, the old meters all get chucked in a skip!!!

Avoid them if you can
 
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Generated 1192kWh end Feb to end May. Payment of just over £600 on its way:D
 
Blimey must be sunny down South Piff!!

Anyway. Meter change. Didn't happen. G4S man didn't show at his appointed time. His slot was 3pm to 5pm. Rang the guy I made the appointment with. Long story short - My appointment had not got to the Techs handheld device therefore he didn't turn up.

New appointment made for later this month.

I still expect this to grow even more legs. My experience, not as bad as Piff's yet !!
 
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Generated 1192kWh end Feb to end May. Payment of just over £600 on its way:D

Are you sure? 1192 kWh, is 1192 units...even here the dearest unit is just over 16p...which would be about £191.
 
Are you sure? 1192 kWh, is 1192 units...even here the dearest unit is just over 16p...which would be about £191.

The rate for generating from solar is much higher. You get paid for
a) The amount you generate (at a nice high rate)
b) The amount you feed back (at a low rate)
Given the cost of installing an extra meter to do (b), they just assume you feed half of what you generate back.

Those with very old meters get double bubble when they feed back because they get (b) and the meter goes backwards effectively giving them another x-pence per kwh (where x is whatever you pay when you use it)

The generation rate inflates each year, and started higher for the original installations and then solar panel costs dropped and the government dropped the rate down.

Cheers

Richard
 
hi, just an uptade how my system is performing. so installation on 27/09/14 3kWh system, direct south, no shade, pitch is about 35 deg. first payment till mid dec was £65 - 375kWh, second till mid march was £85 -500kWh. just about to give third reading, expecting to see £200 as 1100kWh to date generated, propably will get 100+ in a week.
 
Are you sure? 1192 kWh, is 1192 units...even here the dearest unit is just over 16p...which would be about £191.

I reckon we're on ~49p/unit generation rate, add to that the assumed 50% feed back at ~4p/unit :thumb:

All those old electricity meters are being replaced. Most were changed when the PV system was installed, some were missed though as trapperjohn knows...
 
Once the meter is changed. I'll let you know how my units "bought" change on a similar day of sunshine - if we ever get in in the North that is.
 
Above should read ...get any in the Frozen North....

Still cakers up here. Meter changed today. Apparently it has a SIM card in it ! Perhaps its a "Smartfangly Thang". When the tech who installed it gets back to base he will wipe the current reading on the meter and Zero it. As a precaution I have taken the reading from the old meter as well as the existing reading from the new meter. And hence forth I have no need to read my meter or send a reading in. I shall however read my meter on a daily basis to see how things go.

He said that the old meter which goes backwards will eventually fail as they are not designed to go backwards. Apparently the spindle in the meter will break.

No complaints about the visit from G4S today. Nice guy, clean worker, punctual, courteous too. He used to work for Scottish Power before he jumped ship to work for G4S.
 
He said that the old meter which goes backwards will eventually fail as they are not designed to go backwards. Apparently the spindle in the meter will break.

Thats even better. Once its broken then no electricity bill at all :)

Richard
 
Are you sure? 1192 kWh, is 1192 units...even here the dearest unit is just over 16p...which would be about £191.

298 units generated 28/2 to 31/3 @ £0.4807 = £143.25
149 units deemed exported @ £0.0339 = £5.05
894 units generated 1/4 to 28/5 @ £0.4884 = £436.63
447 units deemed exported @ £0.0344 = £15.38

Total £600.31:thumb:
 
I have a 5.3KWp system on a SW facing roof with 25% pitch. Produced 7.8MW from March 2014 to today 22nd June.

My monthly gas & electric has gone down from £160 to £55 pcm.

I got about £1200 generating and deemed export.

Power is diverted to the immersion when I have an excess of power. I get over 39KWh on a sunny & windy day in May.

Without the FIT it'll take 9 years for payback time, but then, without the FIT payment, they wouldn't be so popular, so will cost more.

I'll get the north east side done too if the local DNO will let me connect up 10KWp system without paying for 3 phase or upgrade other upgrade.

I reckon I'll break even in 4 years. The system cost me £7700.

 

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