Energy Prices - are they taking the piss???

I would get a battery, what is capacity of solar pv? You get next to nothing exporting to grid and will be months before you get paid anything. We now heat water by solar, past 3 months my gas is basically standing charge only and electricity from grid about 0.5 kWh a day.
We’ve got a solar thermal for our water too. Switched the hot water off about two months ago and haven’t had it on at all. Basically only using gas for the hob.

Also got my FIT payment for May to July today: £586.
 


Bird protection was included included in the quote.

I was thinking we would get the panels installed and if it's working out like we think it should get a battery added in after
Sounds like a plan. I think there is a shortage of batteries at present, it was inverters 3 months ago. Once installed you should be able to see what system is doing via an app and online on computer.
 
Sounds like a plan. I think there is a shortage of batteries at present, it was inverters 3 months ago. Once installed you should be able to see what system is doing via an app and online on computer.
Thanks for your help, starting to feel like even more of a no-brainer to get them installed
 
We’ve got a solar thermal for our water too. Switched the hot water off about two months ago and haven’t had it on at all. Basically only using gas for the hob.

Also got my FIT payment for May to July today: £586.
I don’t qualify for fit, waiting for seg to start but Octopus are slow. I wish I’d had solar fitted years ago. I’m thinking of getting an Eddi fitted for water instead of switching immersion on. Same as you gas for hobs only at present.
 
Been quoted 5700 for a 12 panel PV system that according to the documents will mean they will cover 36% of my electricity costs for the year, surprised how much would go back to the grid, but a battery would up the price by 3k.

Seriously tempted to take them upon this

I have 16 panels, 4kW, no battery, installed 8 years ago.
Total generation is around 3800 units/year.

My consumption dropped from around 2000units/year to around 1200, a saving of about 40%.
I reckon if I had a 6kWh battery then I'd save another 700 units, for a total reduction of about 75%.
Your circumstances will be different.
 
Always thought our electric use was high, despite being sensible and doing all the usual stuff. Got my bill today which included 15 days when nobody was in the house, so I've been doing some sums.

By my calculations, I'm using 4 kwh per day on things that need to be kept on. The things that were left on while I was away were: American fridge freezer, digital clock on oven, cordless phone base with answerphone, router and 2 digital alarm clocks. I turned off the sockets for things like the tele, my PC and office stuff, chargers etc.

Does that usage seem high for the regular stuff that you need to keep turned on?
 
I would get a battery, what is capacity of solar pv? You get next to nothing exporting to grid and will be months before you get paid anything. We now heat water by solar, past 3 months my gas is basically standing charge only and electricity from grid about 0.5 kWh a day.
How big are the batteries?
 
We’ve got a solar thermal for our water too. Switched the hot water off about two months ago and haven’t had it on at all. Basically only using gas for the hob.

Also got my FIT payment for May to July today: £586.
Fantastic that mind. What was the total outlay, if you dont mind me asking?
I have 16 panels, 4kW, no battery, installed 8 years ago.
Total generation is around 3800 units/year.

My consumption dropped from around 2000units/year to around 1200, a saving of about 40%.
I reckon if I had a 6kWh battery then I'd save another 700 units, for a total reduction of about 75%.
Your circumstances will be different.
The government should be going hell for leather to help get a solar panel set up on everyone’s roof.
 
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Fantastic that mind. What was the total outlay, if you dont mind me asking?

The government should be going hell for leather to help get a solar panel set up on everyone’s roof.

If there was too much solar flowing into the grid it’d overwhelm the system as it currently stands, iirc.
 
Always thought our electric use was high, despite being sensible and doing all the usual stuff. Got my bill today which included 15 days when nobody was in the house, so I've been doing some sums.

By my calculations, I'm using 4 kwh per day on things that need to be kept on. The things that were left on while I was away were: American fridge freezer, digital clock on oven, cordless phone base with answerphone, router and 2 digital alarm clocks. I turned off the sockets for things like the tele, my PC and office stuff, chargers etc.

Does that usage seem high for the regular stuff that you need to keep turned on?
You need to get a power monitor and find how much power is really being used by which device.

My big-ish fridge/freezer uses about 1 unit/day.
Most other stuff is trivial.
WiFi hub 0.25 units/day.
Clocks, phone chargers, oven clock, things on standby, all combined, less than 0.1 units per day.
It's a myth that equipment on standby uses lots of power.
They are required by law to consume under 0.5Watts of power on standby. That's 4 units per year.

If you have something on standby consuming lots of power then it's faulty and needs to be replaced.
 
I'm guessing that was at least 3 or 4 years ago given your Fits payment. Did/do you not have a gas combi boiler, is your heating electric?

I ask only because we have so much that uses gas and therefore solar doesnt add up for us.
They were installed in 2011 and we’re getting 60p pkwh on FIT. They’re only 2.5kW capacity but I’m on an old fit rate.

We don’t have a combi boiler, and our heating is gas, but the solar thermal makes a big difference to the water, and I obviously haven’t had the heating in in about five months. We got radiator valves fitted in January which has also made a difference to the heating bill. Big initial outlay but I’ll make the cost back this year.
 
Fantastic that mind. What was the total outlay, if you dont mind me asking?

The government should be going hell for leather to help get a solar panel set up on everyone’s roof.
I agree the government should be doing so much more to help.

Out of interest does anyone know why the FIT was stopped and replaced with the new thing that reduced the payment to a token amount?
 
They were installed in 2011 and we’re getting 60p pkwh on FIT. They’re only 2.5kW capacity but I’m on an old fit rate.

We don’t have a combi boiler, and our heating is gas, but the solar thermal makes a big difference to the water, and I obviously haven’t had the heating in in about five months. We got radiator valves fitted in January which has also made a difference to the heating bill. Big initial outlay but I’ll make the cost back this year.

What is that heats the radiators?

We've got a combi boiler that heats the water/radiators, gas power shower, gas cooker, gas hob, gas fire. Fortunately we have a multi fuel stove too (wood or solid fuel).

Probably get a 4kw system on our south facing roof but can't see the point financially at this juncture
I agree the government should be doing so much more to help.

Out of interest does anyone know why the FIT was stopped and replaced with the new thing that reduced the payment to a token amount?
Guessing it was simply too costly. The goldilocks zone was circa 2010/11 when fits was 60p it was then reduced massively around 2012/13 I think to around 25p and steadily down thereafter to effectively nil after March 2019.
 
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What is that heats the radiators?

We've got a combi boiler that heats the water/radiators, gas power shower, gas cooker, gas hob, gas fire. Fortunately we have a multi fuel stove too (wood or solid fuel).

Probably get a 4kw system on our south facing roof but can't see the point financially at this juncture
I assume it’s the boiler that heats the radiators (rather than the hot water tank). It fires when I turn the heating on anyway, even if the hot water tank is already hot from the solar thermals.

I agree if most of your house is gas then solar panels probably won’t make a dent.
 

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