Solar use vs export

debitcardmayhem

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972542#Comment_81972542

Surely Sam will know what is export is monthly from his bill, or the Octopus app from the time he moved tp SEG.

Reed_Richards

My house is all-electric; I have an EV and a heat pump. My figures are from 31/12/24 to 2/1/26 (so two days longer than a year).

• Import: 22885 - 13038 = 9847
• Generation: 25205 - 21584 = 3621
• Export: 3662 - 1402 = 2660

So my household usage in that year-and-a-bit was 9847 + 3621 - 2660 = 10808 kWh.

As it happens, my heat pump has its own electricity meter so I know that used 27770 - 22791 = 4979 kWh out of the 10808 kWh total. Most of the rest would have been used charging my EV.

Note that my import and export readings start in August 2023 when my smart meter was fitted, but the generation meter records the total since March 2019.

Note also that at that time I could export electricity for more money than it cost me to import electricity at night so my self-consumption (Generation minus Export) is quite a low percentage of my Generation.

Telegraph_Sam

I faithfully report my Total Active Import and Export figures to Octopus every month - still without really knowing how the latter are arrived at.

Generation FIT is reported to Scot Power who originally gave me a better rate than Octopus' 15 p. The latest payment from SP was £0.2453.

All in all a reasonable set up with the drawback of having to get out a wet towel to remember the details.

Reed_Richards

I faithfully report my Total Active Import and Export figures to Octopus every month - still without really knowing how the latter are arrived at.

 

So you must have a dumb smart electricity meter, one that can measure import and export but which, for some reason, cannot be read remotely by Octopus. Is that correct? The meter measures the amount of electricity flowing into your house, import, and flowing out of your house, export.

Telegraph_Sam

I have always uploaded manually to the Octopus website the Import and Export figures as displayed on my smart meter. In fairness though this is a step I took deliberately in the beginning because I wanted to keep a handle on the facts rather than rely on black box technology whenever there is a glitch. I have not regretted this.

Reed_Richards

And do Octopus use your meter readings or their own, read remotely? I rather surprised that they give you the opportunity to submit your own readings; my supplier would not allow this (or would ignore the readings I gave).

Telegraph_Sam

My diplomatic powers of persuasion … They seemed to come round to me doing it manually without too much fuss

MWT

I faithfully report my Total Active Import and Export figures to Octopus every month - still without really knowing how the latter are arrived at.

The latter (Export) is measured by your meter as it leaves your home on its way to the grid.

Telegraph_Sam

Sorry to be thick, but what determines what / how much goes through my meter labelled export? It is not the same as my solar generation?

You can abort this if it is getting tiresome.

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81972685#Comment_81972685

what determines what / how much goes through my meter labelled export?

Voltage. When you're generating more than you're using the voltage on the house electrical system rises, rises above the voltage at your grid connection causing current to flow out rather than in.