bobmac
Major Champion
How much are you saving on your monthly energy bill?
Solar panels , would you ?
- Thread starter spongebob59
- Start date
How much are you saving on your monthly energy bill?
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
It varies , this month was £194 as per above
It's been high as £278
This month only didn't break £200 because I went away so didn't use other than base load so use less save less
bobmac
Major Champion
Must be nice to know you have that extra cash in the bank.
Do you treat yourself/family or do you save it to pay off the panels?
cliveb
Head Pro
Does anyone know why the standing charge went up massively at the same time as the unit rate price cap went up? The SC is there to pay for the maintenance of the infrastructure. Surely that didn't increase so much?
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps Ofgem put up the SC cap so much to avoid an even bigger increase in the unit rate. If that's what happened, then they are penalising low usage customers to subsidize high usage customers, and that just seems wrong on both moral and environmental grounds.
bobmac
Major Champion
Or just pure greed
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
It was to cover the costs to the energy companies who had to take on the extra customers of the failed energy firms etc
Price cap protects us slightly so until the gov stepped in the energy companies were selling at a loss for the old fixed rates , they had to take on new customers and sell at the price cap that was below the whole sale
But it is a con yes as they got the money in the end anyways
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
I have a 10 year mortgage covering the costs of it so technically all the savings cover the monthly on it
I pay £200 to my energy to cover any bills and in April I remove the excess (was £1300 this year) and put in the house savings
Once the mortgage is paid off in 8.5 years then the money will just go to whatever we need at the time , I predict with rate rises it will just use to cover the increase mortgage which is 7 years time when my fix on the house ends and it will no doubt rise
Nice to have the buffer
Otherwise will go into savings until we decide what next is needed to do to the house
cliveb
Head Pro
OK, so it was to cover the losses that had been and were still being made.
But I still don't see why it was whacked onto the standing charge instead of the unit rate.
As I said earlier, it means that low usage customers end up subsidising high usage customers.
And given that one goal must surely be to encourage people to reduce their usage, it seems utterly the wrong way to go about it.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
its always been the way tho
back when fixes were low you could get really high standing charge but a much lower unit rate and you could get the lower standing charge with a higher rate.. the former aimed at higher users that would save more with a lower unit rate
also standing charges vary by region , mines 42p however some are 60p
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
Very happy with octopus this week.
They doubled my export to 8p . (Could get 15p if I could get on a diff tariff but my charger and car aren't compatible oh well) however they just made the cheap rate 9p instead of 9.5p ..
Buy 95% of my electric in that rate so £45 save and £60 made on the export over a year
Least it's basically same in as out again so any export isn't wasted now
They doubled my export to 8p . (Could get 15p if I could get on a diff tariff but my charger and car aren't compatible oh well) however they just made the cheap rate 9p instead of 9.5p ..
Buy 95% of my electric in that rate so £45 save and £60 made on the export over a year
Least it's basically same in as out again so any export isn't wasted now
Rlburnside
Challenge Tour Pro
Had 8 panels fitted yesterday just waiting for batteries and inverter now , spoke to a pal and his electric bill is £10-£20 pm.
It’s the way to go
It’s the way to go
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
Yeah mines about £50-60 bill most months ATM but for what it's worth without it I'd be paying £300. I use a lot of energy
larmen
Head Pro
We pulled the trigger a couple of weeks ago as well. 8 panels is what we should get. I am still a little sceptical that they can fit more than 7, I guess they know more than I do, so I hope they are right.
Had the DNO in last week to upgrade the fuse to 100A. They couldn’t do it until we had the meter tails upgraded to 25mm. Had an electrician in yesterday to change the tails, they are 25mm ones. DNO back next week.
We are still waiting for a date for scaffolding and installation. Scaffolding is the delay because it is above a conservatory. But once they are up we have a heating engineer coming to fix the flu pipes. Double value.
Currently looking at dozens of videos about octopus tariffs. I think best is to stick to the normal one and work out how the consumption is?
3.2 on the roof, 5 in the battery, we currently use 12 a day. I think the battery will take us through the night so exporting excess at 15p seems fine with no need to charge anything.
Oh, and home assistant. Basically, I live for proper dashboards, so that’s something to tip into I think. I am then also using it for our Drayton Wiser heating. And the Ring doorbell.
Which takes me to Eddie, I saw a video that at 15p export it isn’t worth heating water with excess? But again, this only becomes an option once we get data anyway.
Had the DNO in last week to upgrade the fuse to 100A. They couldn’t do it until we had the meter tails upgraded to 25mm. Had an electrician in yesterday to change the tails, they are 25mm ones. DNO back next week.
We are still waiting for a date for scaffolding and installation. Scaffolding is the delay because it is above a conservatory. But once they are up we have a heating engineer coming to fix the flu pipes. Double value.
Currently looking at dozens of videos about octopus tariffs. I think best is to stick to the normal one and work out how the consumption is?
3.2 on the roof, 5 in the battery, we currently use 12 a day. I think the battery will take us through the night so exporting excess at 15p seems fine with no need to charge anything.
Oh, and home assistant. Basically, I live for proper dashboards, so that’s something to tip into I think. I am then also using it for our Drayton Wiser heating. And the Ring doorbell.
Which takes me to Eddie, I saw a video that at 15p export it isn’t worth heating water with excess? But again, this only becomes an option once we get data anyway.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
Economy 7 if you have a battery .. charge it up during the night at the 15p then in the day use the solar and battery to ride out until the next cheap period
Any excess gets sold at 15p
cliveb
Head Pro
My installation started yesterday. 9 x 415W panels are now on the roof, bird protection in place. Predicted generation is approx 4000 kWh per year. Electrician coming on Monday to install 3.6kW inverter. Don't need a big system, we only use about 7kWh a day. Will be going on Octopus fixed export (15p a unit), and guesstimating will probably export about 60% of generation over the year.
Decided against a battery at this stage. I don't think we use enough energy to make it worthwhile. Can always add one later if needed.
Biggest delay is National Grid who apparently need to install some kind of isolation switch next to the meter, and that's not happening until end of October. I don't understand what this switch is for. The install on my previous house in 2011 didn't require one. Perhaps it's because I have a smart meter? Or maybe the regs have changed?
Decided against a battery at this stage. I don't think we use enough energy to make it worthwhile. Can always add one later if needed.
Biggest delay is National Grid who apparently need to install some kind of isolation switch next to the meter, and that's not happening until end of October. I don't understand what this switch is for. The install on my previous house in 2011 didn't require one. Perhaps it's because I have a smart meter? Or maybe the regs have changed?
larmen
Head Pro
Do you mean a 100A cutout fuse? Maybe your previous property already had one.
cliveb
Head Pro
No, there's already a 100A fuse. (I thought every house has one?)
This is an additional isolation switch which I believe is going between the meter and the CU.
My previous PV system had AC & DC isolation switches - DC between panels & inverter, AC between inverter & house wiring. I'd imagine the new system will have same, so perplexed by the need for this additional one.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
A 100a fuse and a cut out switch are different things
The cut out switch means you can turn the power to your house off without taking the fuse out (they don't like you touching the fuse)
We had one installed by our solar installer
Did your old house already have one?
It may be a legal requirement now.
Not all houses have 100amp fuses either
We have 80 but the house came with 60
Need to remove the loop supply to go to 100
larmen
Head Pro
Do you now have 80 while having solar and battery? I thought 100 is the requirement.
PJ87
Journeyman Pro
I was having solar installed on 60 tbh
It's not a requirement to have 100 amp fuse
Some houses can't even get 100 amp (mine will only approve 80)
I upgraded to 80 to give me more wiggle room for battery charging at same time as car charging