PV solar

[The Natural Philosopher]

If I cant get better than 10% on money invested I shouldn't even be trying.

[Peter Johnson]

+1 I got quite cross with them a few years ago, because they don't allow for people like me who leased the roof and don't own the panels. (I get use of the generated electricity and there's enough on bright days to heat the immersion tank. The first year I had the immersion diverter installed I used no gas for hot water from May until September but there haven't been any summers as good as that since.)

[Fredxx]

The panels also degrade over time.

[Andrew]

Nope. Almost impossible for a 5-star IT to do that. Even Woodford Equity income 'only' lost about 30% (but not for people who invested at the beginning). Equitable Life also never completely failed and the people who think they have been 'hard done by' actually signed up for *Guaranteed* annuity rates (with a capital G) which they will and are getting. And unless you had also reinvested the SMT dividends then you still have the money from those.

When those panels are end-of-life the nasty stuff used to make them may well have been deemed 'toxic waste' by the government of the day and cost £thousands to be removed by a 'licensed' contractor. No-one knows what is in store after 2024 when Starmer is PM.

[Andrew]

And have fun selling the house too.

[Dave Plowman (News]

But is that still the case with electricity prices on the up?

[www.GymRats.uk]

I had 4.62kWp array fitted on the new extension/garage roof November

2015 2 "blocks" one of 8 panels on one roof and the other of 6 panels. At the time the panels were the latest tech offering 330Wp each and significantly more expensive than the normal 220Wp but I wanted the maximum possible output in the space available.

Solar Installer said it was unlikely to recover the additional costs but little did he know that our old mechanical electric meter would very accurately reflect the power flow, The spinning disk slowing down to the point of stalling when production was the same as consumption, and running backwards when consumption was lower than production and power was flowing out to our neighbours.

typically March through to the end of October my electricity meter readings are lower than the previous months as our meter racks up a virtual "credit" a bit like having 100% efficient and constantly adapting battery without either the cost or having to make sure the stored power is used every day.

So far it's generated nearly 28 MegaWatt hours and had completely paid for its self by June last year. Since then it's returned over £1000 over cost. That said, if you were conned into getting a "smart" meter the return on investment will be significantly longer if actually recoverable and the huge cost of limited life, limited capacity battery storage is also unlikely to ever return expenditure.

Most folks without mechanical meters end up dumping excess power via immersion heater into a hot water tank thereby only saving the much lower cost of equivalent gas units.

Logs to date with current, daily, monthly, yearly and total output can be seen on the following page:

[NY]

So can meters with a digital display not decrement the reading if you generate more than you consume?

With a mechanical meter, during a given period of time (eg 1 day):

- if you consume 10 kWhr and generate 5 kWhr, are you charged for 5 kWhr?

- if you consume and generate 5 kWhr, are you charged 0 (meter reading stays constant)?

- if you consume 5 kWhr and generate 10 kWhr, are you credited with 5 kWhr?

Or is a kWhr that you generate "worth" less than a kWhr that you consume from the grid, in terms of offsetting grid consumption and crediting for contributing back to the grid?

When you talk about a smart meter, do you literally mean a smart meter with the ability to communicate the meter readings to the electricity company, or are you including dumb meters that happen to have a digital display rather than a spinning disc and analogue dials?

[alan_m]

I suspect that he received payment at a very favourable rate all solar electricity generated both consumed on the premises and exported back to the grid.

These schemes have since ended.

[Andy Burns]

Generally not, they might flash up "RED" for reverse energy detected, but they're not supposed to deduct it from energy consumed, that would be over-generous as you'd get "paid" about 27p/kWh exported.

You can have a separate export meter that does tally up the exported units, if you installed years ago on FIT they'll pay you ££/kWh, but now you can only go onto SEG at about 3p/kWh, or you might get diddly squat for exports ...

[Chris J Dixon]

Has your supplier not raised a query about this?

The FIT application form I was given included the question "does your meter run backwards". I appreciate that it may not immediately be apparent, but it is then down to the supplier to replace the meter if they see fit.

Most mechanical meters have a little ratchet on the spinning disk. When my installation is exporting you can hear a faint buzz from the meter.

Chris

[www.GymRats.uk]

I was with "Outfox The Market" for the first few years and "So" since then. Never had a query or concern raised, I always submit last moths reading +1kWh to ensure there's always a detectable (billable) charge. No-one knows that I don't have a huge bank of batteries.

Not having the gas boiler working for the last month might raise greater concern though as our gas consumption should be zero!

Presumably my meter pre-dates those with a back-stop. I mentioned in a comment elsewhere and lots of folks came back reporting the same findings.

On the FIT form there was indeed the question, but having installed the panels in November it didn't become apparent for at least 4 months.

Only visits from 3rd parties is for the bi-annual export meter reading and they're only interested in total exported figure and serial number.

It's not "theft" from the power companies because they're not paying me for the energy that I'm returning to the grid but is still being billed to neighbours receiving it.

[www.GymRats.uk]

Didn't see the original poster but for me then yes, only 5 kWh is recorded on the meter.

The FIT export rate for me is (off the top of my head) around 3p per unit but it's then assumed you use 50% of all energy produced so the quarterly payment is 1.5p per unit "produced" whether used or not.

FIT is a stupid idea. For domestic solar it should have been done like America which is exactly how mine works, you don't get paid for exported power you just get credited on a unit basis rather than a financial value. By far the fairest way for everyone and those without panels wouldn't feel like their "green tax" was going into the pockets of micro-generation sites.