Basic/ newby solar panel owner questions!

[stu550]

I am shortly going to be moving into a house that has solar panels installed. The current owners of the house know little about them as they also inherited them and have not set them up.

I have the MCS Certificate advising that the Total Installed Capacity is 3.92KW and an annual estimated generation of 3,300 kw. They were installed in 2011 and the meter reads 37,027 which does break back to around 3,366kw/ year.

There is a FIT with British Gas but I am unsure at what rate. In addition to the main meter, there is a E110 Landis & Gyr generation meter installed.

I believe the previous (not current) owner received quarterly payments from British Gas based on how much will be generated that I will be eligible to transfer to me.

The wiring is shown in the attached photo.

My main question:
Will it benefit me, financially, to use more electricity during sunny days or will the meter show the same consumption regardless or whether it's sunny or not? I.e. will using my washing during a sunny day, cost me less than using it at night?

Bonus question:
Is it possible to find out what my FIT rate should be, knowing it was installed in 2011?

Thanks

Stuart

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

You get paid for generation (regardless of what happens to that electricity). Then most people get paid for deemed export of 50% of what is generated, although some people were able to arrange for the actual export to be metered and get paid for that (fairly rare). So the best time to turn on the washing machine is when you are currently exporting. You would need some kind of add-on indicator to know when this is.

I suspect your rate is somewhere here https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/feed-tariff-fit-tariff-table-1-april-2022

 

[pcaouolte]

Yes it is better to use electricity when the sun is shining. You want to use as much as possible of the energy that you are generating.

 

[stu550]

Thanks - so my main meter will show less consumption when I am using power?

 

[pcaouolte]

Your main meter will show no consumption if you are using only the power that you generate yourself. In practice it is impossible to be exact when trying to match your usage with your generation.

 

[flameport]

I believe the previous (not current) owner received quarterly payments from British Gas based on how much will be generated that I will be eligible to transfer to me.

You need to contact BG as soon as you move in to have those payments transferred to you. If the current owner isn't receiving them, then they are losing out on a substantial sum every year.

Those are just based on what the panels generate, what you use or not doesn't affect those payments at all.

Will it benefit me, financially, to use more electricity during sunny days

Definitely .

Whatever the solar generates will be used in preference to buying it from the grid.
As an example, it the panels were generating 3kW and you were using 2kW in the house, your house use is free, and the remaining 1kW gets shoved into the grid, for which you might receive a couple of pence.
If they were generating 1kW and you use 2kW, then the 1kW is free and you pay for the other 1kW in the usual way.

If you don't use electricity as much as possible when the panels are generating, you are giving that free electricity away for a few pence per kWh, and then buying it back again in the evening/night at 10x the price.
You will find it's actually rather difficult to use substantial amounts of electricity in the summer daytime, which is where having battery storage added might be worthwhile, depending on your particular energy usage.

In terms of maintenance, there basically isn't any other than cleaning the panels once or twice a year to remove surface dirt. If this isn't done, the output from the panels will be reduced.

 

[flameport]

3,366kw/ year.

2011 price should be 60.23p per kWh currently, which would be over £2000 per year for that amount of generation.

 

[stu550]

2011 price should be 60.23p per kWh currently, which would be over £2000 per year for that amount of generation.

Thanks, where did you pick up this figure from?

I could only see figures of between 11.80p and 42.73p?

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Retrofit up to March 2011. Maybe less after this date.

 

[stu550]

Retrofit up to March 2011. Maybe less after this date.

Sorry, what do you mean retrofit?

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

I believe it means it was fitted to the house after the house was built. It's certainly the rate at which I get paid.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Of course, it may be that the original contract owner still collects the payments. Something to ask the solicitors.

 

[pcaouolte]

Of course, it may be that the original contract owner still collects the payments. Something to ask the solicitors.

Agreed, I did have this potential problem during a house purchase. The seller thought that he would be able to keep the FIT payments. I did ask how they expected to be able to do that without being able to reed the feed in meter. Solicitors sorted it out and I get the feed in tariff.

 

[cjcoffin]

Thanks - so my main meter will show less consumption when I am using power?

One of the best ways of using the surplus power that would otherwise be exported and lost is to fit an immersion heater diverter if there isn't one already.

 

[SpecialK]

If you have a hot water tank with an immersion it may be worth considering a unit to divert excess solar power to heat the water.