Something is not adding up...

r8chill91

Pro Dave - I have sent you a PM for the Dropbox image,.

House Martin - I can’t send it to you because I’m a new member and it’ll only allow me to send 1 message every hour!

zeupater

Hi

Combining disconnected solar PV & solar thermal with power-of-attorney, is this simply a case of the previous owner being elderly and not knowing/understanding what to do when confronted by maintenance issues and concerns related to correspondence related to meter readings ??

If the PV is disconnected then both AC & DC isolation switches as well as the circuit breaker should have been switched off ... this is pretty easy to check and should be the first place to start ... if it is definitely off, then it looks like there's a meter, supply, or wiring issue ...

HTH
Z

ProDave

This should be a link to the picture of the meter https://www.dropbox.com/s/2amt7oqmf2jtc24/Photo%2014-03-2018%2C%2010%2052%2050%20am.jpg?dl=0

That should not go backwards under any circumstances so it must be a faulty meter.

r8chill91

Thank you all, I!!!8217;ll get in touch with the supplier and see if they can replace the meter to see where that takes us. Pro Dave, I will PM you regarding the panels too!

Carrot007

You are on E7, are you sure you are always giving the same readings. There will be at least rate 1, rate 2 (or 4) and a total.

r8chill91

Yes, I’ve got 2 readings and the daytime reading is the one going backwards (which would make sense if it was the solar panels doing it but the solar panels are disconnected)

zeupater

r8chill91 wrote: »

Thank you all, I!!!8217;ll get in touch with the supplier and see if they can replace the meter to see where that takes us. Pro Dave, I will PM you regarding the panels too!

Hi

Before you make a decision you need to check some things out and then have a think.

As has been mentioned earlier in the thread, you may own the panels - but they could also be owned by someone else on a roof-lease arrangement ... it doesn't matter what the estate agent told you, it should have been covered in the conveyancing process when contracts were signed ... you must ensure that you own the panels, else it could cost you £tens-of-thousands to compensate a rent-a-roof organisation for lost income!

If you do own the panels you must check whether they have been issued an MCS certificate and qualify for FiT payments ... simply making a rash decision based on a gut feeling that the inverter doesn't work could mean that you're not only not receiving the benefit of self-generation (thus reducing your energy bills) but potentially depriving yourselves of £tens-of-thousands of feed-in-tariff and export payments ...

Considering the size of the potential financial implications, it would be wise to take a while and do some research before going any further.

Regarding decommissioning ... If the property was sold using power-of-attorney, is it possible that it was unoccupied for a while? - if so the Solar PV system could simply have been 'decommissioned' by someone simply on safety grounds because the power to the property had been switched off ?

What make inverter is it? ... what cables are disconnected? ... are there rotary isolation switches ? ... has the inverter circuit breaker been switched off? ... when was the system installed? ... how many panels ? .... do you have an MCS certificate ? ... if not have you checked whether it's on the MCS database ? ... Just a few questions, but the few minutes it would take to look into these may save you £thousands ...

HTH
Z

House_Martin

r8chill91 wrote: »

Yes, I!!!8217;ve got 2 readings and the daytime reading is the one going backwards (which would make sense if it was the solar panels doing it but the solar panels are disconnected)

You have a standard Ampy type meter, with R1 (day), R2 night and a small t which= total.
They do not go backwards at any time with solar panels.
Some of the early ones in my area ( S. Yorks ) are set at R1=night rate ) . The rate which advances in the daytime is the day rate.

r8chill91

Hi House Martin- yes thats correct its an R1 and R2 - 1 is nighttime and 2 is daytime. I have absolutely no idea whats going on then, either the previous owner has been fiddling with it or its broken (they had fiddled with the water meter - its an internal meter and they had a pipe coming off below the meter which you could switch over to for ‘ free ‘ water - naughty!) so its quite possible theyve rigged the electric meter too!

Hi Zeupater - I havent got the foggiest idea where to start in finding out about the panels.

All we know is its a sunny boy inverter and all the cables look to be disconnected outside and there is no display on the inverter. The panels will have to come off over the next couple of years anyway as were doing a 2 storey extension once weve saved the pennies - if it was a simple job to get them up and running for the time being I would give it a go but by the looks of things we re going to end up with someone having to come round and fix it all up and the start up costs probably wo;t be worth while if we re only going to get rid.

I presume the panels are ours. There was absolutely nothing mentioned by the vendor/estate agents/solicitors about any sort of rent a roof scheme, it was purely sold as ‘ solar panels on the roof but not in operation ‘

r8chill91

Scratch that, in the depths of the paperwork it does state that we own the panels outright however it is not known when they were installed.