Economy 7 smart meter. Solar panels SEG. British gas.

Purpleboots

Hi. I'm on e7 and am with British gas unfortunately. We are getting solar panels this year and I would like to have the option of the seg income as I suspect we will end up exporting back to the grid in the summer. I want to keep e7 for various reasons but apparently I need a smart meter to get seg payments. But apparently british gas don't supply e7 smart meters. Argh!!! Any ideas? I'm stuck with bg the thr moment. 

Purpleboots

*for the moment 

QrizB

Yes, there have been several reports of people being unable to get smart meters with BG, and of people with working E7 smart meters being moved to BG as SoLR and finding their E7 no longer works.

It a bit disappointing that a Big 6 supplier is in this position.

ProDave

My 2 pence worth is solar PV is only worth it if you can self use almost all that you generate.  And even then the install needs to be as cheap as possible.  Forget MCS installers who charge a premium, and forget the SEG which pays a pittance for any that you do export.

I installed my PV myself, self use almost all of it and it will have repaid it's cost in 5 years.

Go and do the sums on a MCS installed system, and the actual payments you are really likely to get from the SEG and you will see on that basis the payback time is impossibly long.  It really is only worth it for self use and you will need to change a few things to optimise self use.

Purpleboots

ProDave said:

My 2 pence worth is solar PV is only worth it if you can self use almost all that you generate.  And even then the install needs to be as cheap as possible.  Forget MCS installers who charge a premium, and forget the SEG which pays a pittance for any that you do export.

I installed my PV myself, self use almost all of it and it will have repaid it's cost in 5 years.

Go and do the sums on a MCS installed system, and the actual payments you are really likely to get from the SEG and you will see on that basis the payback time is impossibly long.  It really is only worth it for self use and you will need to change a few things to optimise self use.

Yes understood entirely. We aim to use as much as possible. It's just annoying that we will end up exporting back to the grid in the height of summer and won't even get the pittance offered, which would be better than zero. Ho hum. Perhaps a smart e7 meter will be an option in the future with bg. 

QrizB

ProDave said:

I installed my PV myself, self use almost all of it and it will have repaid it's cost in 5 years.

Depending where you are in the UK and exactly how you've installed it, that is likely to be illegal. Just FYI and for the benefit of other readers.

QrizB

Purpleboots said:

Yes understood entirely. We aim to use as much as possible. It's just annoying that we will end up exporting back to the grid in the height of summer and won't even get the pittance offered, which would be better than zero. Ho hum. Perhaps a smart e7 meter will be an option in the future with bg. 

If you were to switch to Octopus you'd benefit from their 7.5p Outgoing Octopus tariff, or you can take a punt with the Agile version that tracks the wholesale price.

Octopus do support E7 smart meters although there's a bit of a delay in fitting them at present.

(If you've got a great legacy E7 tariff with BG, you'll probably be better off staying where you are.)

ProDave

QrizB said:

ProDave said:

I installed my PV myself, self use almost all of it and it will have repaid it's cost in 5 years.

Depending where you are in the UK and exactly how you've installed it, that is likely to be illegal. Just FYI and for the benefit of other readers.

No it is not.  It will need to be connected by a qualified electrician, which I am, and it will need to be notified to the DNO, which it was, and it will need to use approved kit which it was. It only needs to be installed by an MCS company if you were previously claiming the old FIT and now to claim the SEG payment.

The easiest way to self use as much as possible is to fit one of the many solar PV diverter devices that automatically sends surplus to your immersion heater to heat hot water.  I find the only times I export anything at all is in the height of the summer if nothing else is on in the house, the PV can generate more than the immersion heater can use, so a little gets exported.  Currently running at about £5 worth each year if I was eligible for the SEG payment.  Work out how long it would take to pay back the "MCS premium" at £5 per year.

Most of our self use is just running the big aplliances (washing machine etc) in the daytime, about 1/3 of what the panels generate goes to the immersion heater.

QrizB

ProDave said:

QrizB said:

ProDave said:

I installed my PV myself, self use almost all of it and it will have repaid it's cost in 5 years.

Depending where you are in the UK and exactly how you've installed it, that is likely to be illegal. Just FYI and for the benefit of other readers.

No it is not.  It will need to be connected by a qualified electrician, which I am, and it will need to be notified to the DNO, which it was, and it will need to use approved kit which it was.

Relatively few MSE forum users are qualified electricians. I stand by my comment.

ProDave said:

The easiest way to self use as much as possible is to fit one of the many solar PV diverter devices that automatically sends surplus to your immersion heater to heat hot water.

Using electricity that you could sell for 10p/kWh to heat water that you could heat with gas for 4p/kWh doesn't sound very money-saving to me.

Let's say that you divert 1000kWh/yr that way. You'll have saved £40 on your gas bill but will have lost £100 of export in doing so.

ProDave

QrizB said:

ProDave said:

QrizB said:

ProDave said:

I installed my PV myself, self use almost all of it and it will have repaid it's cost in 5 years.

Depending where you are in the UK and exactly how you've installed it, that is likely to be illegal. Just FYI and for the benefit of other readers.

No it is not.  It will need to be connected by a qualified electrician, which I am, and it will need to be notified to the DNO, which it was, and it will need to use approved kit which it was.

Relatively few MSE forum users are qualified electricians. I stand by my comment.

ProDave said:

The easiest way to self use as much as possible is to fit one of the many solar PV diverter devices that automatically sends surplus to your immersion heater to heat hot water.

Using electricity that you could sell for 10p/kWh to heat water that you could heat with gas for 4p/kWh doesn't sound very money-saving to me.

Let's say that you divert 1000kWh/yr that way. You'll have saved £40 on your gas bill but will have lost £100 of export in doing so.

Best of luck getting gas at 4p/kWh after April, do let us know how that goes.

Oh and no gas here, all electric.

MWT

QrizB said:

Using electricity that you could sell for 10p/kWh to heat water that you could heat with gas for 4p/kWh doesn't sound very money-saving to me.

Let's say that you divert 1000kWh/yr that way. You'll have saved £40 on your gas bill but will have lost £100 of export in doing so.

... and paid £3-400 for the diverter in the first place...