WARNING SOLAR PANELS & some Siemens S2AS-100/ Siemens S1AS-100 Meters

dunloadin

Been catching up on this thread and there are some interesting points being raised between the wee spats.

As I said in an earlier post read the gen on the power reversal. The reason why the meter will have been set up to read reversal will be as an anti-tamper precaution to stop folk from trying to ‘clock’ the meter. The older ‘spinning wheel’ meters will go backwards, in both instances the suppliers will be more inclined to suspect tampering rather than there being cells on the roof.

The export meter fitted by ASG will show how much has been generated, your meter will tell you how much has been consumed, unless the supplier has the software and connections to get access to the actual amount your meter has recorded in reverse there is no way you will be able to know how much electricity you have actually consumed. Also if you don’t have the read of both meters from the time that the export meter first went live you won’t even have a starting point to begin the reckoning! If you have changed suppliers in the last 9 months since the problems began then the chances of getting this resolved will be slim.

If your supplier is Atlantic then their parent company is SSE/Hydro…NOT Scottish Power.

It IS the suppliers responsibility to sort out any metering issues; however they don’t have crystal balls and probably were not aware that the solar panels had been fitted. That said you’d think that ASG have informed them and made sure there were no issues prior to installation (particularly if it has happened at other installations in the past).

I suspect that the export meter that ASG will have fitted is a private meter that isn’t owned by anyone but them (if it was fitted by the DNO for your area it will have ‘property of ‘whoever it is). To get their FiT money it must be registered and have its own MPAN, otherwise how are they going to get their 41p per KWh. Might be an idea to mention this to Atlantic and give them the serial number of the meter so they can check it out on ECOES. Or if anyone reading this thread with access to it is willing to look it up PM them the serial number (don’t post it on here though!)

Might be an idea to get Watchdog involved....they like this sort of thing.

furndire

Sorry just got to make sure people understand that its PaulReed who is involved with ASG not me

Mine have been bought from another installer.


Every time I have rung suppliers re my electric I have made it absolutely clear that we have solar panels.

I'm pretty sure that Atlantic will have a meter reading for me around the date we had panels installed.
They are coming to check my meter on 10th May, I don't want to them to just change it, I want the data reading if possible - I'll be phoning again on Monday am to make sure they understand that they need to send a technical engineer.

dunloadin

Thanks for that, from the sounds of things the installer name is irrelevant as many people seem to be having the same problems.

I notice on the ASG website that they are warning people about negative posts on the internet and denying any problems, no links mind; so someone, somewhere is rattling their cage.

furndire

Thats the reason I haven't named my installers on this posting. The more people are aware of what could happen, the more they can act and do something about it - & actively check their electricity comsumption more acurately.

Why the heck can't companies be more open & honest it there have been problems, bring them out in the open - its not their fault - its new technology - there are bound to be problems. They would be much more highly thought of in the end.

John_Pierpoint

furndire wrote: »

I do wish I could explain this better.

I understand your situation perfectly.

You have a clever meter, manufactured by the German firm Siemens.
Germany is a country that has had subsidised PV panels for many a year.

Inside the meter has readings of what you have imported and what you have exported.

Hopefully the export reading must have been reading zero before your panels were installed.

This meter is currently set to display both these readings added together.

What ever else would someone expect it to do in the UK?

A meter reader is coming on Monday.

If he comes, unable to read both internal readings on your meter, you are going to send him away again, to learn how to read "your" meter before he comes back.

When he complains, you are going to give him a print out of Expresso's entry showing the link to the Siemens manual.

John.

Espresso explained a simple "snip" manoeuvre on this forum so folks could get faster broadband. I read those postings debating the idea and now I have a faster internet connection.
Trust Espresso's postings, they make sense.

dunloadin

This thread has opened a can of worms for the suppliers and installers, not to mention the customers.

John_Pierpoint, milking the information from the meter will not give a correct reading of the consumption used. The meter has only one recording element, it also only has one live in and out, and all it can do is detect the flow through the meter.

If, for instance, the customer has used 3 units in an hour, but the cells have generated 2 units, then the meter will advance by only 1 unit. If in the next hour the cells generate 3 units but the customer only uses 2 then the meter will advance by 1 unit and record this in its little chip as 1 unit of reversed flow. So, in the two hour period the meter has only recorded 2 of the 5 units the customer has actually used and generated.

Using the same figures on an older type meter will see the meter advancing one unit in the first hour, then reversing for one unit in the second hour giving a total used as zero in the two hour period.

Other meters just stop and display ReD on the screen, so you can’t get a read at all.

The only way to correctly record the electricity used by the customer and the generated electricity is to have two separate meters NOT wired in series.

If you are the owner of the system then you would be able to be billed accordingly i.e. you pay the supplier at the appropriate rate for what you have used, based on the import meter reads, and receive your FIT payments based on the export meter reads.

However, to get a true rebate for the electricity you have used under the ‘rent a roof’ type operation would require them to know your consumption so they can reimburse you any difference up to the max on the suppliers bill. At least that’s my take on it.

furndire

Thanks to both of you. Roll on Tuesday, I'll be using your instructions John. I've waited 9 mths, another few weeks isn't going to make any difference. I will also be ringing them again on Monday, and repeating my request from last week to make sure they send the correct people to read the meter. I will also tell them I am recording the conversation, as someone was supposed to ring me back last week to confirm that they will send a technical engineer out, and he didn't get back to me - so Monday conversation will be recorded by me.


Thanks also Dunloadin - you must have been writing your post as I was trying to tell my oh re meters wired together (in series?). They should still be able to take one lot of data from the other to tell how much I have exported - will that be how much they owe me???

I feel like granny teaching the kids to suck eggs, (but what are eggs )- at last getting somewhere. I just knew there is something wrong.

furndire

[STRIKE]And this has just put the icing on the cake for me .- Atlantic know that we have panels. Not seen this before - don't know when it was put on their site. God not another thing to check out. My poor old brain is totally mushed. Are they saying this is instead of FiT payments.??? can't be as well as - can it?

https://www.atlanticeg.co.uk/BeingGreen/Microrenewables/SolarPVTariff/[/STRIKE]

grahamc2003

furndire wrote: »

And this has just put the icing on the cake for me .- Atlantic know that we have panels. Not seen this before - don't know when it was put on their site. God not another thing to check out. My poor old brain is totally mushed. Are they saying this is instead of FiT payments.??? can't be as well as - can it?

https://www.atlanticeg.co.uk/BeingGreen/Microrenewables/SolarPVTariff/

On first reading, it looks like they pay 28p for each exported kwh (instead of about 3p) and I read it as in addition to the fit.

Looks like everyone now should do an about turn and use none of the generated solar power and export the lot! Time all appliances to come on when the sun ISN'T shining!

furndire

Ooops Me thinks they haven't thought this one through!!! or other scenario they are going to rocket their prices.:eek: