FIT meter gives strange readings; installer gone bust!

Qyburn

Reed_Richards said:

@Qyburn, I've been searching for this Ofgem statement you refer to in the document you referenced and I haven't found it.  Can you please tell me which paragraph I have to look at?

Page 32 3.27

"3.27. FIT installation owners considering installing a “bi-directional meter(s)” should 

note that FIT meter readings taken using such meters will be calculated by the 

meter on the difference between each month’s import and export readings. This 

differs from the meter readings taken by standard meters, which measure and 

record the generation and/or export of the FIT installation on a cumulative basis. 

If the difference between import and export in one month is negative, zero FITs 

payments could be claimed. "

Reed_Richards

Qyburn said:

Reed_Richards said:

@Qyburn, I've been searching for this Ofgem statement you refer to in the document you referenced and I haven't found it.  Can you please tell me which paragraph I have to look at?

Page 32 3.27

"3.27. FIT installation owners considering installing a “bi-directional meter(s)” should 

note that FIT meter readings taken using such meters will be calculated by the 

meter on the difference between each month’s import and export readings. This 

differs from the meter readings taken by standard meters, which measure and 

record the generation and/or export of the FIT installation on a cumulative basis. 

If the difference between import and export in one month is negative, zero FITs 

payments could be claimed. "

In my opinion that says nothing about which way round the meter should be fitted, provided that you can identify which reading is import and which is export (which is trivially easy to do).  But I think we may have to agree to differ on this point.

Edit: In fact the conventional meaning of "the difference between a and b" is a - b?  So that would be import minus export which you would expect to be negative.    

In practical terms it is usually very difficult to achieve a nett negative reading, even during a single day.  If you charge and discharge the battery through a bidirectional meter then battery losses will cause the export to be slightly less than the import.  But on even the darkest day in winter it is almost certain that the export from the solar panels will exceed any battery losses so the nett of export minus import will be positive.  For this to happen over a month is well nigh impossible and I have never encountered a FIT scheme that asks for readings more frequently than once per quarter.