Smart meters and solar panels

emmashipway76

We had solar panels fitted a number of years ago .. then few years ago while we were with Scottish power they asked us to install smart meters which we did . Our bills increased to them not being compatible, we received no help from Scottish power so looked into other energy providers. We went to EDF we explained beforehand we had a smart meter from SP and had solar panels .. they told us we could have new smart meter or have them removed so we went with them . Now we are paying over £140 month for gas and electric (3 bed semi house 2 adults 2 children) . We have asked EDF for advice as we have explained the meters don’t take into consideration the export and import of power we generate and have asked for  removal of meters they say can’t remove SP meters and there is nothing wrong with set up we have .. my husband is an electrician and keeps record of our import and export and again EDF says there is nothing we can do ? Please help we can’t afford these outrageous energy bills ..

QrizB

Solar panels *are* compatible with smart meters, there are several people on this forum with both (including me).

If your energy consumption has increased it's nothing to do with your solar panels.

• Was your old meter one of the "spinning disc" ones that would spin backwards when your panels were exporting power?
• Could you share some of these meter readings you've been recording?
• What tariff are you currently on?

Edited for typos, apologies, I'm an awful proof-reader.

QrizB

Here are photos of the display on my smart meter. Two of the options are "total active import" (how much I've used from the grid) and "total active export" (how much surplus I've geenrated and sent out to the grid). Yours should measure the same things although the display may be different.

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:

• Was your old meter one of the "spinnind disc" ones that would spin backwards when your panels were exporting power?

It isn't (and was never) legal to run your meter backwards but if that happened it would have saved you a lot on your electricity bills. 

MWT

emmashipway76 said:

We have asked EDF for advice as we have explained the meters don’t take into consideration the export and import of power we generate and have asked for  removal of meters they say can’t remove SP meters and there is nothing wrong with set up we have .. my husband is an electrician and keeps record of our import and export and again EDF says there is nothing we can do ? Please help we can’t afford these outrageous energy bills ..

Are you receiving FIT payments?

These cover both an amount for the generation of your solar installation and either a deemed export payment, or since you have smart meters a metered export payment.

What you don't get is both these payments and also have the export offset against your import...

Odds are you originally had an old meter that was running backwards which you should have reported as a fault and as a result you were underpaying for your electricity until the smart meters were fitted...

If you do not get FIT payments then you can register for a SEG payment for your metered export, but the payment will be at a much lower rate than your imports...

Similarly if you do get FIT and you are on a deemed export, but you actually export a lot more than the deemed amount you can see if changing to SEG would be more profitable...

The one certainty though is that your smart meters are entirely compatible with solar...

[Deleted User]

There is a degree of confusion in the first post. A meter is meter whether it is smart or not: it just records usage and, in the case of a smart meter, the actual amounts of electricity imported from and exported to the Grid. The meter doesn’t know the source of any electricity exported. It may be solar; it may be from a battery, or it may be from both a battery and solar. I am therefore not sure what the OP means when she suggests that the meter isn’t taking into account import and export. 

As suggested above, the most likely reason for the increase in bills is that when solar was installed, the OP was getting a double benefit; that is, energy from the sun to use in the home plus energy saved on the import bill from a backwards turning meter. This meter should have replaced at the time as, technically, this is energy theft.

Most homeowners will struggle to use more than 50% of the solar power that is generated. It follows that on a 4kWp array, the amount saved on the import bill would be less than 2000kWhs/year. At this point, the OP needs to look back to annual consumption pre solar and consumption now (in kWhs/year not £s).

The supplier is correct when they indicate that they have no interest in the export side of the meter. This is only relevant when the meter index reading is being used to pay for the energy exported. For this to happen, the supplier would have to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN and the OP would have to agree to forgo deemed export payments.

Reed_Richards

[Deleted User] said:

The supplier is correct when they indicate that they have no interest in the export side of the meter. This is only relevant when the meter index reading is being used to pay for the energy exported. For this to happen, the supplier would have to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN and the OP would have to agree to forgo deemed export payments.

Does it have to be the supplier paying for the exported energy?  Can you not buy-in from one company and export to another?  

MWT

Reed_Richards said:

[Deleted User] said:

The supplier is correct when they indicate that they have no interest in the export side of the meter. This is only relevant when the meter index reading is being used to pay for the energy exported. For this to happen, the supplier would have to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN and the OP would have to agree to forgo deemed export payments.

Does it have to be the supplier paying for the exported energy?  Can you not buy-in from one company and export to another?  

Yes you can.

With either FIT of SEG, your export 'supplier' can be different from the import supplier.

[Deleted User]

Reed_Richards said:

[Deleted User] said:

The supplier is correct when they indicate that they have no interest in the export side of the meter. This is only relevant when the meter index reading is being used to pay for the energy exported. For this to happen, the supplier would have to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN and the OP would have to agree to forgo deemed export payments.

Does it have to be the supplier paying for the exported energy?  Can you not buy-in from one company and export to another?  

Some suppliers require an import contract before agreeing to pay SEG. Others offer a reduced SEG for export only contracts. SEG payments vary from Agile, through 5.5p/kWh to not a lot.