Autopilot
Distinguished Member
Hi. We live in a new build and have Solar and ASHP power DHW and under floor heating. It’s larg-ish 5 bed house with annex, occupied 24/7. We moved in in sept 2019
Our bills are extremely high, or at least they are going to be judging by our meter readings. We seem to be using £200-£250 a month in the winter, but assume this will drop down considerably in summer months. Anyway, this got me looking in more detail into how much our solar helps.
Now I was under the impression that the way it worked was that we draw power from the solar panels whenever they are active. When that isn’t enough (when the ASHP kicks in, night time etc) it takes for the grid also. Sometimes we are using solar only, but in reality we take some from the grid most of the time when the house is occupied. Obviously at night it’s all of the grid.
Now... I’v been told that actually we never directly use any of our solar power. The PV inverter puts it all on the grid. We take 100% of our power from the grid all the time. But we get paid for what we generate and export to the grid by the power company.
The thing is that we are still, after months of moving in, in dispute with British Gas about the feed in tariff and still don’t get anything. It’s long story, but down to the installer not sending the required documents to them.
So if we are currently not on the feed-in tariff, just taking power and paying for it like normal (non-solar) house, then that surely means we are not benefiting from our solar panels at all. Basically we are dumping all the power they generate onto the grid, with zero pay back. A complete waste of time and money having them installed, so far.
Or am I getting this all wrong?
Our bills are extremely high, or at least they are going to be judging by our meter readings. We seem to be using £200-£250 a month in the winter, but assume this will drop down considerably in summer months. Anyway, this got me looking in more detail into how much our solar helps.
Now I was under the impression that the way it worked was that we draw power from the solar panels whenever they are active. When that isn’t enough (when the ASHP kicks in, night time etc) it takes for the grid also. Sometimes we are using solar only, but in reality we take some from the grid most of the time when the house is occupied. Obviously at night it’s all of the grid.
Now... I’v been told that actually we never directly use any of our solar power. The PV inverter puts it all on the grid. We take 100% of our power from the grid all the time. But we get paid for what we generate and export to the grid by the power company.
The thing is that we are still, after months of moving in, in dispute with British Gas about the feed in tariff and still don’t get anything. It’s long story, but down to the installer not sending the required documents to them.
So if we are currently not on the feed-in tariff, just taking power and paying for it like normal (non-solar) house, then that surely means we are not benefiting from our solar panels at all. Basically we are dumping all the power they generate onto the grid, with zero pay back. A complete waste of time and money having them installed, so far.
Or am I getting this all wrong?
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