So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

jackieblack

Ragged_Trousers wrote: »

Hi Free Juice
Thanks for your quick reply, Phoned S/Electric mid March, they said 'by the end of the month' no news so phoned today they said it was offgen keeping us waiting!!
Hope we get paid for all the units on our meter

Regards Geoff

I believe you'll receive payments from the date your FIT plan starts. You'll be asked for a meter reading no more than 5 days prior.

Ragged_Trousers

Thanks Jackieblack, I,ll just have to be patient (no sun today!!}

Regards Geoff

jackieblack

New high yesterday, 14kWh :j

How about you teachergirl?

free_juice?

Nearly 20 here, but my system is almost a third bigger than yours. Exactly 100 so far this month.

carolinabirichina

Hi – please may I join in?
I wish that I’d found this thread a lot sooner – I had no idea about the increase in FIT payments from the 1st April. I’m with British Gas for mine and they never mentioned anything about this when I gave them my last meter reading in February. However, sad person that I am, I usually note down my meter readings every day or so, so I am able to give them a reading to 31 March if they ask for it. My next reading isn’t due until May (I have to either phone or email them the details).
My readings so far have been;
End Oct 2010 to 22 Feb 2011 118
23 Feb to date now standing at 290
So in approx 7 weeks it has produced 172 units
I would like to make the best of my energy usage as well – I had 8 solar panels installed (I think a 1.3Kw system?) at the end of October 2010 on a south-east facing roof. We are on the south-east Kent coast and the panels catch the strongest sun from first thing in the morning to just after midday. (Mind you, the sun went MIA as soon as I had the panels installed and has only just returned in the last 2 to 3 weeks!)
I have a gas combi boiler for hot water and CH and I cook with gas as well. No immersion heater or water tanks.
I have 2 electric meters – a daytime one and a night time or "Economy 7" one. The Economy 7 one was installed over 20 years ago, and when it was first in it ran from midnight to 6.00am (and we used time switches to run stuff during the night). Over the years the Economy 7 clock has crept forward due to having power cuts and so now it runs from 4.00pm to 10.pm in the summer and 3.00pm to 9.00pm in the winter. I wait until the afternoon to run all the machines – washing, dishwasher and tumble drier – to take advantage of the lower rate. Is this still the best thing to do or should I use more in the morning on a sunny day to take advantage of the solar units being produced?
Thanks for reading!

teachergirl

Morning everyone:wave:
A new high for me yesterday as well Jackieblack about 25.35kWh. In fact it has been a fabulous week or so. There was one day last week when I think I only made 2kWh but the rest have been in the 20's.:j
Eon sent me a statement of my FIT payments yesterday as well. My reading was due on the 6th of April and I gave them a reading on the 31st March. They estimated my reading from 1st-6th as 33kWh which was way under still I guess I will get it in the next quarters payment. They have said it will take 11 days to pay:(, the lady on the phone said 7 anyway I will let you know when it actually hits my account. About £250 not bad for starters given how awful January and February was.
Welcome carolinabirichina. I confess I don't know much about the economy 7 are you still on this tariff??? We have economy 7 meters but long since left that tariff but Eon did not change the meter back again I am just charged the same price for whatever I use. So I think you need to check that first, I expect someone more knowledgeable will come along soon.
On these very productive days I am struggling big time to use all the electricity I make . We too have a gas boiler but we still have an immersion as well. We have turned off the gas heater and are using the immersion twice a day. This is taking a little getting used to but as we are now (Thankfully) on holiday for two weeks we will have a chance to play around with our timings etc.

carolinabirichina

teachergirl wrote: »

Morning everyone:wave:
A new high for me yesterday as well Jackieblack about 25.35kWh. In fact it has been a fabulous week or so. There was one day last week when I think I only made 2kWh but the rest have been in the 20's.:j
Eon sent me a statement of my FIT payments yesterday as well. My reading was due on the 6th of April and I gave them a reading on the 31st March. They estimated my reading from 1st-6th as 33kWh which was way under still I guess I will get it in the next quarters payment. They have said it will take 11 days to pay:(, the lady on the phone said 7 anyway I will let you know when it actually hits my account. About £250 not bad for starters given how awful January and February was.
Welcome carolinabirichina. I confess I don't know much about the economy 7 are you still on this tariff??? We have economy 7 meters but long since left that tariff but Eon did not change the meter back again I am just charged the same price for whatever I use. So I think you need to check that first, I expect someone more knowledgeable will come along soon.
On these very productive days I am struggling big time to use all the electricity I make . We too have a gas boiler but we still have an immersion as well. We have turned off the gas heater and are using the immersion twice a day. This is taking a little getting used to but as we are now (Thankfully) on holiday for two weeks we will have a chance to play around with our timings etc.

Thanks for your reply!
Yes, I'm still on what I call the "Economy 7" rate - I pay a higher amount for my daytime units than my night time aka Economy 7 units. I don't have the figures to hand but from memory the E7 units are about 4p each? So it's a considerable saving using everything for the 6 hour period that it's on. I'm lucky that the clock has crept forward to such an extent that it comes on during the afternoon/evening. I remember back in the good old days of Seeboard whenever there was a power cut they used to send an engineer round to all the homes with E7 meters to reset them all back to midnight! Those days are long gone!

teachergirl

Even better day today:j:j:j.26.25kWh so far. It is still producing but only just. I am just loving these sunny days. How did everyone else do today. At one point I noticed that I was at 3615KW I think this is the highest I have seen.

free_juice?

Proportionate to your system size - pretty much the same, 19.9 and probably won't reach 20. Highest ever for me, installed January.

mysterons

3.96kwp system a mile or so inland from the coast near Skegness Lincolnshire. Approx facing 20 degrees West of due South & 35 degree pitch to the roof.
Produced 26.88kwh today probably the best my system could do at this time of year as it's been wall to wall sunshine all day long. No sign of the early mist or cloud the weathermen were convinced yesterday that we'd be suffering on the east coast today.
Took a peek at the sb3300 inverter in the loft a few times between 1 and 2pm and was hovering around 3560w output so pretty much maxed out.