Choosing the correct tariff when having PV solar

Drdavee

Has any thought been given to the selection of a utility company when a home has solar PV panels? Because I am using a large amount of the power that I am generating, I have signed up for a tariff that charges less for the first 900 kwh and then a higher rate than normal for the remainder. The cross over point is at 3300 kwh. I would be interested to know if a better strategy exists.

victor2

If you've had the panels for at least a year, then you will probably know, or be able to find out, what your annual usage from the grid is in kWh. That's what you need to put into the comparison sites, just like anyone else would, and you should get reasonable results from them. If you are actually using the power from the panels then your usage from the grid could be less than a similar house without panels. It really doesn't matter that you are generating some of your own electricity, you'll just be a lighter than average user and the comparison sites will give you good pointers to the cheapest supplier to use.

Cardew

Whilst I understand what you are trying to achieve, you cannot make a general statement that 'the cut off point is 3,300kWh.'

It is not possible to solve an equation knowing just one variable.

Besides knowing how much of the generated electricity(3,300) you use in the house, you need to know:

1. The price(and allocation) of Tier i units

2. The price of Tier 2 units

3. Your annual consumption over that 3,300kWh

For instance Ebico don't have Tier prices - they charge a flat rate for all electricity(approx 14p/kWh). However their prices are not cheap and they don't give discounts. So if your annual consumption was say 3,500kWh and 3,300 was supplied by the panels you would only have to pay Ebico £28.

However if you used 10,000kWh(6,700 from the grid) you would have to pay Ebico £938. In that case it would be cheaper to pay Tier rates for 900kWh and get 5,800kWh at, say 10p/kWh.

There is also the factor that you generate far more electricity in the summer than winter.

As an aside, how do you know you use 3,300kWh of your Generated electricity? That is about 400% more than the average PV system.