Help needed- import/export meters etc

[Cliff top]

Hi all,

My small Hydro has been connected to our (normal old rotary) garage meter for 10 months now, winding back as I generate and winding forward as we use power. I have to balance one against the other- so I use the extra power on a cable up to the shed/house etc. Its a bit of a ball to be honest.

Anyway Eon have now sent letters stating they want to change both the garage & house meters (maybe because the overall usage has gone down etc ) The garage meter is very old, the house has a newer Integra type rotary.

So now seems to be perhaps the right time to 'legitimise' my generation scheme and a bit of advice would be appreciated.

Can/should I ask Eon to supply a single import/export meter now for the garage so that I can hook up the G83 Soladin to it? (Perhaps without needing to pay the £79 quoted for the extra meter)
Do I tell Eon now that ' er I have just within the last 28 days got a G83 device'?
Do Eon actually have a renewables option- I seem to remember reading here that not all companies offer the buy back tariff .....which do?  (NW England)

What are the mechanics of the system now?   

I am not sure if this info is still current?
http://www.ecocentre.org.uk/selling-electricity-back-to-the-grid.html
The prices per unit don't seem very generous  (3 - 4p /kwh) Elsewhere on this forum I have seen 15p mentioned
Can I swap to a supplier with a renewables buy back option, pay ~11p/unit for import and receive ~15p/unit on export?
What about standing charges?- Is a dual meter any different?
What about ROCS's?  I would have perhaps barely the 500kwh needed from generation for the year...not a lot

Sorry for all the questions, but I need all the current facts to work out whats best

cheers Cliff

[Justme]

[whisper mode] Change supplier & keep the meter a bit longer?[/whisper mode]

Might take the new supplier a few years to choose to up grade the meter as they wont see any change in use.

[Cliff top]

mmmm  good point

I know Eon aren't the best price up here, (original monopoly company- Were Norweb, then Powergen, then Eon) but never bothered changing.

You reckon changing now will nullify the Eon request to change meters?

[Justme]

What have you got to loose?
You should get a better rate with a new supplier any way.
Also when they come to do the meter just ask who ordered it & then say I am not with them & turn em away.

[knighty]

also... use more power on the garage meter.... can you put a permanent cable up to the house ? you could plug the fridge into it ?

[Cliff top]

I have an armacore up to the house and occasionally run the kitchen ring on it- balancing it out at 0 units usage. Since the meter won't go back 10's of units, I have to work within a 9.9 unit window- a bit of a ball ache- when it rains I get a weeks good gen, then maybe 2 weeks dry....

[guydewdney]

we have a fully legit system comprising of a normal incoming meter, which cannot go 'backwards'. Then there is a total generation meter - for which we are paid 15p a unit. We pay full whack for the incoming though.

total gen meter was 7 quid iirc from www.universalmeterservices.co.uk

sign up to goodenergy and off you go....

[northern installer]

two things occur to me here:1/ there is a 'statutory meter change ' period in law,but a lot of area boards were a long way behind with this before the monopoly was broken by 'privatisation'(spoken with fingers crossed behind back of course!)
2/ potential 'meter fiddling' is flagged up by comparing average consumption figures from the past,adjusted by various factors like the weather;first move if a suspect is flagged up,is not (surprisingly in browns britain!!) the filth opening your front door with the big red key;more a 'its the meter man come to change your meter missus' approach,he then swaps the meter while keeping an experienced eye out for any hanky panky with his equipment(oo er missus)so really,your old windy back meter days are well and truly stuffed! 

[Cliff top]

Thanks for the input chaps.

Guy,
  Good Energy....looking at their contact details etc, I can't find a rate that normal usage is at... What is ' full whack?' around 10-11p/unit?
And what metering would I need? I suppose the new 'non reversing' meter is wired as normal. The total gen meter runs after that? measuring net in/out, so that there is a figure to subtract from the main meter?

cheers
Cliff

[Outtasight]

I thought this thread might help lift some o' the fog in my brain about how grid tie works (the tedious administrative side, not the electro-toys part)... Now I'm just going to give up on the notion of having anything to do with these grid people and bury my head in my batteries.

 

[guydewdney]

Nope - s'easy....

Generator----totalgen-----T-----fusebox
                                     I
                                     I----normal meter

TOTAL gen meter measures total generation - if you use it - you still get paid for it. Normal import price is 15-odd p - a little more than most, but they also pay the best.

So you make 1kwh - use 2kwh - you get paid 15p for the one you made, but you pay for the extra one you imported at 15.xp - so you end up paying 0.Xp for that 1 extra unit.

Make 1kwh, use 5kwh - get paid 15p, import 4kwh@15,xp you pay 60.Xp

etc.

[CeeBee]

If I might pinch Guy's diagram and add an export meter to it:

Generator----totalgen-----T-----fusebox-->house
                                     I
                                     I----normal (import) meter--export meter-->grid

It's probably possible to get an combined import/export meter, but don't know if any of the electricity companies actually fit such a thing. In my case - export meter fitted free by Southern Electric after signing up for their microgeneration deal - both import and export meters are fairly typical modern "won't go backwards" meters, but the export one is simply fitted the "wrong way round".

[Ted]

I have a single meter that measures both import and export.  Ampy 5254E

[Cliff top]

Interesting....Thats just a standard modern meter like we had at our old house- but one thats set to measure reverse flows when detected onto a second reading?
Makes sense, they only need to measure the net positive/negative current flow across the 1 shunt inside. If I generate exactly the same amount as I was using, then net net no current flow, so neither meter moves.
I presume it just flashes 2 readings- 1 import- 1 export?

I might try insisting Eon fit such a device, then any future supply company I choose can use the readings. I hope they can .

[brackwell]

Surly with the impending feed in tariff we should be talking generation meters not export meters and to complicate there is night tariff .

Ken