Solar PV panels tariff help

MrChocolate

Hello people. Looking for some clarification of my PV panel tariffs
I bought a bungalow in November with 8 panels on the south facing roof. The sale was done through a solicitor acting as power of attorney and there was hardly any info supplied (about anything !). The panels were fitted in 2011. It took me a few weeks to sort out getting the payments into my name but I finally got it done.
Anyways...
I got my first payment from EDF in January (after sending them a generation meter reading) and they have paid me for 119 units "Generated" at 55.36p and 59.5 units "deemed" at 3.9p. These units correspond to the readings I took.
My question is, are either of my payments affected by how much electricity I use or it it solely based on how much my panels churn out and therefore effectively free ?
If the latter, what's the best way to monitor the output so I know when to tun stuff on ?
Thanks

Solarchaser

It's based on panel generation only.
So if you use none of it, or all of it, your payment is the same

NibblyPig

Solarchaser said:

It's based on panel generation only.
So if you use none of it, or all of it, your payment is the same

I think that's if it's a FITT payment isn't it? Whereas if you have a smart meter and an export tariff then it measures it? 

Hexane

NibblyPig said:

Solarchaser said:

It's based on panel generation only.
So if you use none of it, or all of it, your payment is the same

I think that's if it's a FITT payment isn't it? Whereas if you have a smart meter and an export tariff then it measures it? 

Correct, but this is a FITT payment not a metered export tariff - which we can be sure of because of the "deemed" export payment.

So the OP should use as much of their generated power as they can (even for resistance heaters) because they still get paid for it whether they use it or not.

ASavvyBuyer

MrChocolate said:

If the latter, what's the best way to monitor the output so I know when to tun stuff on ?
Thanks

Either with a Smart meter, which will show you as negative kW when you are exporting. You don't have to switch to export payments if you get a smart meter, unless you want to.

Alternatively get an energy monitor, via an auction site, for about a tenner, so you can easily see the output. We have one that shows what we are generating and another which shows what we are using.

Solarchaser

NibblyPig said:

Solarchaser said:

It's based on panel generation only.
So if you use none of it, or all of it, your payment is the same

I think that's if it's a FITT payment isn't it? Whereas if you have a smart meter and an export tariff then it measures it? 

Yeah as Hexane said, it's a fit system, I know that only because of the 2011 install date.

Whereas more recent installs don't get fit, they get seg for metered export.

Petriix

You *can* use as much of what you generate as you like. Whether you *should* is an interesting philosophical question; I'd say use it for *useful* purposes without worry, but don't just burn it for the sake of it. Anyway, my system came with a Geo Solo II optical monitor which counts the flashes of the generation meter to give me a live view of the current generation on a display in my kitchen and trackable online. I'd recommend something similar so that you know what's going on.