Solar installed and n power says my reading is less than last year??

Toddy

Hi All,

My N Power electric tariff is out of discounted period now so I rang them to get off their standard tarrif. To my amazement they said my meter was going back words and I was generating more than I was using. They went on to say an online tariff wouldn't benefit me at this stage and that I should contact the micro generation team and have a back stop put on my Meyer and only then can they accommodate me yet they took 80 quid off me last month and their online predicted usage charts for me are wide of the mark. Are they stitching me up? What should I do to get a better tariff? Thanks in advance.

Toddy

Meyer is meter

System

Toddy wrote: »

Hi All,

My N Power electric tariff is out of discounted period now so I rang them to get off their standard tarrif. To my amazement they said my meter was going back words and I was generating more than I was using. They went on to say an online tariff wouldn't benefit me at this stage and that I should contact the micro generation team and have a back stop put on my Meyer and only then can they accommodate me yet they took 80 quid off me last month and their online predicted usage charts for me are wide of the mark. Are they stitching me up? What should I do to get a better tariff? Thanks in advance.

Do you have any actual readings to substantiate NPower's claims?

Martyn1981

Hiya Toddy, does your meter go backwards?

If it does then you will need to get this resolved.

There is some info in the PV FAQs section 4, but as advised, a good starting point will probably be your leccy companies micro-gen team.

Mart.

Toddy

N. Power have sparodic meter readings off me and that is because they are also sparodic at saying they are going to read it. I'm not going to stick my head in the sand, I have an old analogue meter plus a digital economy 7 that give you a total a reading!1 and a reading 2 so is it any wonder I was unsure if it was going backwards? We even challenged them last year it was so low and said "are u sure"? And the n power guy said it was my solar and its fine. Well you aren't going to argue with that are you?

Martyn1981

Toddy wrote: »

We even challenged them last year it was so low and said "are u sure"? And the n power guy said it was my solar and its fine. Well you aren't going to argue with that are you?

Hiya Toddy, if you've informed them, or tried to inform them, then it'll be harder for them to try to charge you for any reversed units. It's also very, very difficult to try to work out what the meter reading should be, since you won't know how much of your generation was consumed (lowering import) or exported (lowering the meter).

Don't panic, just suggest there's a problem, that they'll want to get the meter changed, and slip into the conversation that you had tried to sort this before.

Best of luck.

Mart.

chanz4

100% need a backstop meter

misterbarlow

digital meters with LCD display cannot go backwards, so only the analogue one will have done so, and you should have a mtr on the inverter which records the total generated, and also a separate FIT mtr that records what you feed back to the grid, this reading will be the same amount your analogue meter will have gone back by....

Martyn1981

misterbarlow wrote: »

digital meters with LCD display cannot go backwards, so only the analogue one will have done so, and you should have a mtr on the inverter which records the total generated, and also a separate FIT mtr that records what you feed back to the grid, this reading will be the same amount your analogue meter will have gone back by....

Sorry, that's not true.

Most inverters will keep a record of generation, but this is for information purposes only, and may not be very precise.

The TGM (total generation meter) (some times called a FiT meter) records generation, it does not record export. These meters are standard import meter models, and are subject to the same standard of accuracy.

Some people (very few) have added an additional import meter (wired backwards, so to speak) after the import meter, by doing this it will act as an export meter, recording export, but ignoring import.

Whilst the exact requirements of the incoming 'smart' meters hasn't been fully decided yet, there is at the moment, no requirement for them to record export either.

Mart.

Toddy

Hi all, many thanks for the feedback. Just thinking out loud, my system is a 3.5 kW and without doing the sums I don't suppose its possible then to generate more than I use hence a true reading of less than last year? I don't think its that good at generating.

Also, reading the threads on ere, once I have the stop fitted they seem to monitor your ussage over the next 6 weeks and do their calculations. Hardly fair now winter is upon us. Would it be an idea to delay until next summer for example?

Thanks again,

Toddy

Andy_WSM

Toddy wrote: »

Just thinking out loud, my system is a 3.5 kW and without doing the sums I don't suppose its possible then to generate more than I use hence a true reading of less than last year?

What about the power you use when it's not sunny, or it's dark?

Of course the reading shouldn't be less than last year. We don't operate "net metering" in the UK. Your consumption meter should only record incoming power and your generation meter should only record outgoing power. Therefore, there will always be a bill for consumption, but you get paid FIT for your generation.