Help with reading meter for export

manda1205

Hi all, hoping someone can help as I can't find out much via Google. We had panels installed last Dec, switched to Octopus as British gas wouldn't put in a smart meter, then signed up to octopus export end of Feb, they've finally sorted it but need a manual meter read for the first reading. But our meter isn't on their list of 'how to read' and I can't call them till Tuesday now. 
So does anyone know how we read our meter please?
It is an Emlite, model no ECA 2.nz
There are no buttons to push anywhere. All it does is flick through EXP, IMP and NETkwh.
The EXP can't be the one as it only shows 1.9 and I know we've exported more than that. So I'm guessing it's the IMP one, which is currently showing 944.7 and NET shows 942.8.
Any help much appreciated, thank you ☺️

Ectophile

EXP would be export, IMP would be import, and NET would be (import - export).

Do you have a large battery installed?  If so, that might be where the generated electricity has gone.

manda1205

Ectophile said:

EXP would be export, IMP would be import, and NET would be (import - export).

Do you have a large battery installed?  If so, that might be where the generated electricity has gone.

That does make sense and is what I thought the case may be. But I just cannot believe we have only exported 1.9kw in 4 months. We have a 3.9kw system, no batteries. Since having the smart meter installed on Feb there have been many sunny days where I have looked at our screen and it shows exporting 2-3kw and that can easily have been over an hour. We spend a lot of the day as showing as exporting. 

Reed_Richards

I have a battery on the DC side of the inverter.  Occasionally it gets low and the inverter will charge it from the mains.  Therefore the reading I have to give is the Net reading.  From the figures you quote I imagine you are in the same situation, the 1.9 kW was power used to charge your battery when it became too low for comfort.

My generation meter is also wired as if it was measuring the mains so Export is import and Import is export.  But you almost certainly want the Net figure so you don't have to worry about that.

Ectophile

You almost certainly don't want the NET figure, as we don't use net metering in the UK.  Import and export are billed separately, at different rates.

Reed_Richards

I think we are talking at cross purposes here.  The solar panels will have their own meter to measure their generation.  I think @manda1205 is trying to read this generation meter and I think that because it seems more likely to me that they have generated a net 942.8 kWh since last December than that they exported 1.9 kW hours in 4 months, particularly given that they don't have a battery.

Quite why Octopus need any manual reading is something I don't understand.  If they want to read the export reading on the electricty meter they can presumably do that remotely.  If they want a reading of generation from the generation meter I don't know why.  The only reading I can think of that they might want is the export reading on the electricity meter on the date of sign-up so they can backdate their payments.           

manda1205

Thank you both.
I'm still not entirely sure what reading they want so I will just have to ring them Tuesday. We have definitely exported more than 1.9kw though. Yesterday was sunny all day here. I checked our smart meter display every 10-15mins for nearly 2hrs and we were exporting between 1 and 2kw. The display on the solar panel meter still says exp at 1.9. Didn't move at all. So there's no way it's correct. 
I think I vaguely remember the installers telling me it wouldn't tell us the export but I may be wrong. 
Octopus don't actually state which meter they want read but as you say @Reed_Richards they know the electric meter as they're reading it every 30mins. 

70sbudgie

It sounds like you have more than one meter, perhaps a couple photos will help us identify what you are looking at. (Don't forget to black out identifying info like the MPAn). Is your import meter a smart one?

manda1205 said:

I think I vaguely remember the installers telling me it wouldn't tell us the export but I may be wrong. 

This sounds like the generation meter. When my panels were installed a couple years ago, my installer told me he had to put it in, but because FITs had ended, I would not need to read it and the app for the solar inverter would give me a lot more information.

andrewknox

Did you get to the bottom of this Manda1205 as I am experiencing the same behaviour? 

andrewknox

manda1205 said:

Thank you both.
I'm still not entirely sure what reading they want so I will just have to ring them Tuesday. We have definitely exported more than 1.9kw though. Yesterday was sunny all day here. I checked our smart meter display every 10-15mins for nearly 2hrs and we were exporting between 1 and 2kw. The display on the solar panel meter still says exp at 1.9. Didn't move at all. So there's no way it's correct. 
I think I vaguely remember the installers telling me it wouldn't tell us the export but I may be wrong. 
Octopus don't actually state which meter they want read but as you say @Reed_Richards they know the electric meter as they're reading it every 30mins. 

Did you get to the bottom of this Manda1205 as I am experiencing exactly the same behaviour, with same meter model etc?
 

andrewknox

andrewknox said:

manda1205 said:

Thank you both.
I'm still not entirely sure what reading they want so I will just have to ring them Tuesday. We have definitely exported more than 1.9kw though. Yesterday was sunny all day here. I checked our smart meter display every 10-15mins for nearly 2hrs and we were exporting between 1 and 2kw. The display on the solar panel meter still says exp at 1.9. Didn't move at all. So there's no way it's correct. 
I think I vaguely remember the installers telling me it wouldn't tell us the export but I may be wrong. 
Octopus don't actually state which meter they want read but as you say @Reed_Richards they know the electric meter as they're reading it every 30mins. 

Did you get to the bottom of this Manda1205 as I am experiencing exactly the same behaviour, with same meter model etc?
 

I have been doing some investigation myself and it turns out you read the EXPORT value on your elec smart meter that yous house uses for the incoming supply from the grid, NOT the generation meter that comes part of the solar installation