FITS payments when meter isn’t working 19 August 2022 at 3:58PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 13 replies 202 views

janeward2442

Hi. Like many of the previous posts, I’ve just realised that my ELSTER meter isn’t working. When I contacted SSE the guy on the ‘helpline’ offered no help at all in getting the meter replaced … when I asked about my payments… I realised there was an issue when my latest cheque arrived for £10 after the sunniest and dries summer on record… he laughed and said ‘tough’ I’ve put this in Twitter and SSE have said they’d look into it… but wondered if anyone else has had this issue and managed to get an estimated payment? Sounds like meter’s failing is a regular occurrence and so are they just getting away with not paying for what could be a huge amount of generated power? I’ve also found that it’s tough to get info about replacement meters… one company are trying to convince me that my sunny boy inverter needs to be replaced too.. at a cost of over £2500!!

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

This is your generation meter that has failed? Has it simply stopped counting up?

Any MCS-accredited solar installer can replace your generation meter. (You could even get it done by an electrician but there's a fisk you'll lose your FIT since you're meant to use a MCS-accredited installer for any work on a FIT system.) The meter itself is cheap and the labour involved is minimal.

You won't get any payment for the unmetered generation.

Ectophile

The generation meter belongs to you. So if it fails, then it's up to you to find an installer to replace it.

gefnew

You could download sunny explorer from sma site they make your inverter.it connects via Bluetooth from a windows computer.
Downloading and Installing the Software Version of the Sunny Explorer (sma-service.com)
When setup you can see if your system is working correctly and your generation figures can be seen on the app also can be exported as a csv file.

TMS22

gefnew, we have a sunny beam which connects to the inverter and our generation meter has failed. Although we know how much electricity we have generated (via our sunny beam) E.ON will not accept these readings as Ofgem states that for Fit payments readings can only be taken from the generation meter NOT via inverter. It looks like we have lost over £900 for the last 3 months.
It seems unfair as both the generation meter and sunny beam monitor get their information via the inverter.

gefnew

Have you not had the meter changed yet you will lose more fit income, needs to sorted asap.

jimjames

TMS22 said:

It seems unfair as both the generation meter and sunny beam monitor get their information via the inverter.

Unfortunately the inverter isn't calibrated as a meter is so cannot be used to record consumption for payments , ours reads lower than the meter but others can be higher. SunnyBeam is just a display of the inverter so is exactly the same number.

As every day will be costing you it makes sense to get the meter swapped asap.

sevenhills

jimjames said:

Unfortunately the inverter isn't calibrated as a meter is so cannot be used to record consumption for payments , ours reads lower than the meter 

I have always used the readings from the inverter to send to Good Energy, sent photos too.

QrizB

sevenhills said:

jimjames said:

Unfortunately the inverter isn't calibrated as a meter is so cannot be used to record consumption for payments , ours reads lower than the meter 

I have always used the readings from the inverter to send to Good Energy, sent photos too.

Strictly speaking, neither you  nor they are following the rules.

Does the inverter agree exactly with the generation meter, or is it slightly different? I would expect the latter?

sevenhills

QrizB said:

Strictly speaking, neither you  nor they are following the rules.

Does the inverter agree exactly with the generation meter, or is it slightly different? I would expect the latter?

I have never been aware there was another reading, I didn't have a smart meter when I got my panels.
When the guy comes to read my solar meter, he just goes in the loft

gefnew

My inverter reading of generation to the difference from my generation meter is 160Kwh after 11 years