[Help] Solar panels, have you got some ?

[happypig]

I have got eight of them on the place we just moved in to (installed in 2011).
I've been given conflicting information about the electric though, so....

Do I get paid for the electricity I actually put into the grid or do I get paid a flat rate regardless of whether I use the electricity or not ?

Also, is there a way of monitoring, in real time, how much they are producing.

I couldn't ask the previous occupant as she went into a home and a solicitor dealt with all the legal stuff.

 

[drew]

You'll need to find out to whom she has been submitting readings. Likely to be whichever energy company she was with when they were installed.

As to what you get, that will depend on whether you own the panels. Some people effectively rented out their roof space so a company can put the panels in and they get the Feed In Tariff payments whilst you get the free electricity. If the panels were fitted in 2011 (same year we had ours done) and you do own them then you'll get sizeable payments every qtr.

Pretty certain that the feed in tariff does transfer to a new owner.

EDIT: If you do own them you get a flat rate for everything you produce (possible about 50p per Kw) plus about 3.5p for 50% of everything you produce which goes into the grid. May vary slightly depending on the original agreement.

 

[redoubtable seagull]

You need to establish who owns the panels and if they’ve been transferred into your name.

We have them on our house. They were included in the sale and ownership was transferred to us on completion of the house sale. There were forms to fill out in order to notify the energy company.

We pay out electricity bills as per normal and I just submit a generation meter reading once a year to the energy company and we receive our payment (we could submit quarterly, if we wanted to). The previous owner had them installed at the outset so the rate is generous.

 

[Raphael Meade]

Monitoring depends on your inverter. We have a fairly old one so I can't monitor on the app that the manufacturer uses - will have to replace in next couple of years and then can get one that wirelessly connects and I can monitor on my phone (aside from being able to tell on your bill how much you're sending out to the grid, of course)

 

[happypig]

The panels are owned. I got my solicitor to explicitly confirm that they were owned and that the right to the feed in tariff was included in the sale.
I've downloaded the form from the EDF site (the own the license according to my supplier, Octopus) and am just getting the info together that they need.

 

[OzMike]

I got 24 on my roof though still think my winter bills are high.

 

[drew]

We've got a Fronius inverter but it is 9 years old. No realtime data to an app but there is a memory stick which collects the data and when I submit a quarterly reading I download it to my laptop so I can see info.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Had mine put up about 2 years ago - 4 Kw array, 6 panels on the East facing roof and 8 on the West - google Feed In Tariff [FIT] for pricing info

Your energy provider does not have to be the same as your FIT provider - I use Scottish power for supply and Good Energy for FIT

For detailed monitoring and metering I have the owl intuition software installed. This has wireless sensors installed in my Solar meter box. It was installed for me when new, no idea if these can be added retrospectively to your installation.

FIT pricing has changed over years - successively becoming less value.
For mine, a meter tracks how much output the panels generate and FIT assumes I consume half and the other half goes back to the grid.
I submit meter readings and get paid quarterly.
I get paid 4.13 pence per Kw generated and a further 5.5 pence per Kw I push out into the grid [deemed at 50% of generated].

I find they do encourage you do things differently, e.g. washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher, ironing now always done in daylight hours [when possible / practicable].
Kettle / toaster / microwave [during daylight hours] always used sequentially, not all on at the same time to flatten the current draw and thus maximise using the Kw I'm generating on the roof.

Defo adds up over time and also gives a good-chap green-contribution feeling.