Help needed with home energy monitor for electricity and solar panels

UncleJoes

gefnew said:

Can you not use the software that came with inverter, mine connects via bluetooth to my computer and shows the generation figures from the day of installation. SMA sunny explorer is the software from the maker.

There is no software. The previous owners installed the solar panels in 2013. We have nothing except the FIT tariff, we give readings every quarter and get a payment a few days later.  

UncleJoes

Thanks to everyone who posted. Taking the advice of jinjames I did some basic sums on the total amount the panels generated in the last 12 months versus what the leccy provider said we consumed in approx the same time frame, and we have a surplus of solar energy. However, the annual surplus figure at Octopus' rate of 15p/kwh is less than 50% of the total generation amount at the FIT provider's lower export rate. So I guess we'll stay as we are. 

matt_drummer

Comparing what the panels generate and what you use in a period of time will not give you the answer you need.

You use electricity when the sun is not shining, you won't have been using generated power for this consumption.

Comparing what you have been billed for and what you have generated will not tell you what you have exported.

You will never give up the whole FIT payment to move to SEG, only the deemed export part.

I will give you my example (although my numbers have changed significantly in the last two months).

I generate 4000 Kwh per year

I get paid FIT payments of approx 21p per Kwh which is made up of 18p for generation and 6p per Kwh of deemed export.

My income is £840 per year.

If I give up the 50% deemed export I will only get £720 per year in FIT payments (4,000 x 018p)

But, if I export 2,000 Kwh of my generation I could get £300 per year from Octopus @ 15p per Kwh.

I would be £180 per year better off

In fact I would only need to export 800 Kwh per year to be no worse off under SEG with Octopus (£120/15p)

You will need a smart meter to go onto SEG and by the sounds of it it is the easiest way to work out your export.

I am sure you will only get 15p from Octopus if you are actually their customer? Otherwise I think you only get 4.5p and you would be better sticking with your FIT deemed export.

You don't need to move your FIT payments from you current provider, you just give up the deemed export and you cant go back onto it for 12 months.

You need metered CT clamps to measure your electricity import and export, these would be fitted to the cables between your electricity meter and your consumer unit.

As you are at work most of the time it is fairly likely that you will export enough to make switching to SEG @ 15p advantageous

These clamps and meters have specific roles and come pre-configured to measure certain things, they are named ID01 to ID05.

I have just had them fitted as part of my extra panels and batteries.

Before this, I could see what I generated each day from my panel software and I could see when I was exporting on my IHD, but I don't know what I was exporting each day, I would have had to look at my smart meter.

Now my ac coupled battery inverter tells me all this information that it gathers from the CT clamps I mentioned.


There is no reason not to get a smart meter fitted, just reasons why it would be foolish not to.


Maybe you could tell us about your system, size, panels, inverter etc?

UncleJoes

Thank you matt_drummer, that is very helpful. I checked today with the FIT provider and the solar panels are 3kwh apparently. I have no idea about the inverter. The total annual generation in the last 12 months was 3097 kwh. The generation payment rate is 19.86p/kwh and the export one is 5.99p. Our total payments in the last 12 months for the panels was £702. Our electricity costs for broadly the same period were around £942.

I am not keen on a smart meter for privacy reasons - I work in data protection and am not comfortable with the data collection and low-level surveillance they create and the fact the energy provider has a lot more control over what tariffs it can switch you to. That's why my original post was asking for energy monitor recommendations. 

matt_drummer

I understand about data privacy, but they already know how much electricity you use, I cant see what more information they get other than a more detailed view of when you use it, they don't know what you are using it for!

A smart meter is the best way to monitor your import and export, and it's free, you'll need to pay somebody for any other solution by the sounds of it.

In any case, you would have to have a smart meter to go on SEG.

The energy supplier has no control over what tariffs you can switch to if you get a smart meter, the opposite is true, there are so many potentially beneficial tariffs that you have blocked yourself from accessing by not having a smart meter.

If you are that anti smart meters then your potential loss on FIT versus SEG will probably be a small price to pay to protect your privacy.

chris_n

If you desperately want data you could use a Shelly EM with 2 ct clamps. The app is free and would give you the data you want. The devices cost £69.99.
https://shellystore.co.uk/product/shelly-em-50a-and-120a/
Note this is not an off the shelf solution and will require installation in a suitable enclosure and some configuration of the app. 
As things like Owl Intuition (which I currently use) don't seem to be available at the moment this would be the solution I would use if I had to replace the Owl now.

ispookie666

Can I suggest using https://geotogether.com/product/minim-led/   This is an led sensor type meter, it counts the number of pulses rather than using a Ct clamp.  

I initially bought this to monitor our energy consumption when the Owl intuition was painful and loosing signal(due to the distance).   After fitting a smart meter, I moved this to the solar generation meter and got real-time solar generation. 

Owl does show you how much is being used/exported - but does not show if it was consumption or export - as in all the values were positive! We got the hang of it after a bit of time. 

If you are after Owl, I do have spare CT clamps; the transmitter box has perished, and I did not want to spend £ 

UncleJoes

ispookie666 said:

Can I suggest using https://geotogether.com/product/minim-led/   This is an led sensor type meter, it counts the number of pulses rather than using a Ct clamp. 

Thanks, I had come across that but it states: "not designed for homes with solar PV installed".

UncleJoes

matt_drummer said:

The energy supplier has no control over what tariffs you can switch to if you get a smart meter, the opposite is true, there are so many potentially beneficial tariffs that you have blocked yourself from accessing by not having a smart meter.

It was this that I meant: "The biggest downside to a smart meter is that your energy supplier could move you into a prepayment meter without your knowledge. This is happening despite rules by Ofgem that require suppliers to discuss plans with customers before they are switched onto a different meter."

 https://moneyweek.com/personal-finance/605564/smart-meters-vs-regular-meters

matt_drummer

No supplier is going to move you onto prepayment if you pay your bills.

If you don't pay your bills then any supplier can move you to prepayment even if you don't have a smart meter, not having a smart meter does not prevent you from being put on a prepayment meter if the circumstances that require it prevail.

I can't imagine that you would be moved to prepayment without your knowledge, I'm sure you would notice! 

They might be able to move you to prepayment without your permission and without entering your property, but if you are required to move to prepayment they will eventually do it whatever meter you have.

Having a smart meter makes that process simpler for you and the supplier if you have a smart meter.

Hopefully you won't find yourself in a position where you are required to have a prepayment meter fitted.

You said that you were against a smart meter because of privacy issues, I can't see any privacy issues as all they will ever know is how much electricity you have used, just as they do now.