Solar panels housing association

[Deleted-user-3]

hi, out me depth again

Girlfriend has solar panels on the roof in a housing association house.
On looking into the bills she cant find any mention of any credit anywhere. Shes with octopus energy.
Best i can find out is maybe she needs to be on a different tariff? A "feed in tariff"?

she set up has a 2nd gen meter, what looks like a 4mm cable to a 16a breaker in the consumer unit
theres a clamp over one of the tails between the meter and the consumer unit which goes to a little junction box. Its cat 5 cable and dissapears back into the loft from there..
Not been up in the loft yet but i expect to find some sort of meter and i would have expected this to be inline with the feed from the inverter to the consumer unit? according to a simple set up schematic i found anyway
She doesnt have and has never had one of those remote power monitor things..
I would have guessed the cat 5 cable clampy thing was for one of the power monitors?

Question is, if she is on the wrong tariff, what happened to all that power she must have fed back to the grid during the summer?

A friend of mine has a similar set up installed 2007 and what she does is read the solar meter every so often and they credit her for the power fed back in..

I would have expected that if the meter is 2nd gen then octopus must be aware that the system is generating power back to the system then surely they should have credited her?

What i find almost unbelievable is my friend is on a 2007 tariff and gets pretty much whatever she pays per kwh credited back yet apparently octopus can charge over 50p per kwh (limited back down by 17p because government rip off cap) yet will only pay 15p per kwh fed back in?

Anyone shed any light here before i start ranting at some poor sod at octopus?

[big-all]

who put the panels up as in tenant or association??
maybe she get the use off the free energy and the housing association get the financial benefit
is this a house or a flat ??

[Someone-Else]

The Feed In Tariff ended in 2019, as your friend says they get a much higher FIT, they did when it started, but now it is not worth it, and most people with electric solar panels keep the excess electricity. (Yes really) They either use it to charge a battery (No not like a phone battery, a huge 3kw or bigger battery) some also use it for the immersion heater, and others use it to charge their electric car battery.

In the loft will be the inverter (Changes dc to ac) The "clamp" on the cable is a Current Transformer. They are used to tell how much current is flowing through the cable, which is interesting as Inverters can use them when exporting, but also remote displays for smart meters use them. Might be an idea to follow its cable and see where it goes.

never had one of those remote power monitor things.

She wouldn't you only get those with a smart meter. (But you can buy one if you really want one)

[Deleted-user-3]

thanks guys, it is a smart meter, i googled the model number and its a 2nd generation (can read both incoming and outgoing at half hour intervals) so im guessing it was installed with the panels and its got "scottish power" on it so i presume that was the original supplier, now its octopus so by the apparent logic of smart meters it MUST be a 2nd gen as with a 1st gen meter you cant switch suppliers..
hence why im thinking octopus energy must be aware of the current being fed back into the grid.
Apparently octopus energy recommended the tariff shes on now and i did ask whether THEY had asked whether or not she had solar panels if they offer a feed in tariff for that purpose. reply was negative.
I dont believe the housing association are taking any financial benefit from the installation (their bumf from a few years back states their big rollout of solar panel installation should help save the tennants up to 400 quid a year) and anyway that would require some sort of link between housing association and electricity supplier which can change according to the tennants wishes
im guessing if the cat 5 was for a power monitor then it would supply a signal to some sort of transmitter which then sends a wireless signal to the power monitor or possibly down the ringmain a bit like a tp link?
to be honest, the girlfriend seems very vague on the whole thing so its going to take me to speak to octopus on her behalf its just id like to have half an idea what im on about before i start because i havent got a clue about these things bar from pv panel - inverter - isolator - consumer unit - grid? and absolutely none whatsoever about how the tariff/feed in system works?
Im also 99.9% sure theres no battery, ive been in loft a while ago, didnt take much notice but its all fixed to a board/fixed to a truss and nothing at ceiling level which is where i would expect to find a decent sized battery..
housing association is crosss keys btw.. very big

[Someone-Else]

Batteries for solar use are very heavy, around 60kg for a small one, so I doubt it will be high up.

I would still suggest you follow the cable on the CT clamp, if there is a smart meter, I suspect it is to do with the remote display that appears to be lost.

Below is a picture of a typical energy monitor

em.jpg (13.39 KiB) Viewed 954 times

[Deleted-user-3]

yeh im going back over hers tomorrow thanks for the gen its confirming what ive been guessing at

[ericmark]

At one point there was a rent a roof scheme, the company fitting the panels gets the feed in tariff. It caused big problems when selling houses, the person in the house only got free electric as it was made, not allowed to store it.

The early method was to turn excess energy into DHW but the gains from solar panels have been really reduced now.

[Neelix]

If she didn’t pay for the installation it’s highly unlikely that she would receive a fit payment

But she is benefiting from the solar production

[Deleted-user-3]

If she didn’t pay for the installation it’s highly unlikely that she would receive a fit payment

But she is benefiting from the solar production

if this actually is the case, have you any idea who WOULD get the payment and how exactly would they know what supplier is being used and how much is being produced and fed back into the grid to get an accurate figure? without a connection from the meter direct to the housing association i dont see how this is possible given she is at liberty to change suppliers as many times as she wishes without notifying the housing association as to which supplier she chooses to use?

[Deleted-user-3]

At one point there was a rent a roof scheme, the company fitting the panels gets the feed in tariff. It caused big problems when selling houses, the person in the house only got free electric as it was made, not allowed to store it.

The early method was to turn excess energy into DHW but the gains from solar panels have been really reduced now.

im aware that there is a feed in tariff available to her, from octopus energy wheras they pay a measly 15p per kwh for electricity returned to the grid and charge over 50p per kwh for electricity supplied but for some strange reason she isnt on it?

[Deleted-user-3]

i shall report back when ive spoke to the supplier this is looking increasingly complicated

[Deleted-user-3]

quick up date..
god this is complex..
So, cross keys contracted a company known as "solar maintenance services" who installed, maintain and own the solar panels.
cross keys havent a clue who gets any fit payment.
Now, octopus energy do offer a fit tariff but need a "mpan" number (meter id), a letter from the "national operator" known as a dno letter, and an "mcs" certificate which states the installation is all above board and correct. (I assume it will be)
According to octopus "some" but not many people are still on the original 15 year old fit tariff and upon change of supplier they need to read the solar meter regularly and receive payments around 25p kwh. That would explain my friend.
Octopus state that the might have been a contract with the original installer and owner wheras they receive the fit payment however without accurate readings this is not possible so the spare electricity would be just pumped back into the grid without any payments being made to anybody. Therefore they state there is a "possibility" that if the original installer and owner do not have this contract in place and she is free to move onto the fit tariff then she might well be due a rebate.
cross keys say "speak to solar maintenance services" - installer, owner, etc
their offices are closed till 3rd jan
will update when more info is available.

[Neelix]

I think she should be happy getting the solar production and not worry about the FIT as I doubt very much it would be allocated to the tenant

[big-all]

is it mentioned in the tenancy agreement

[Deleted-user-3]

oh really neelix?
She has parkinsons. Early onset, shes had it for 12 years and is 57 years old.
The cost of electricity is ridiculous at the minute. Her bills are sky high which is why we are looking into what these solar panels are producing. And that would be not a lot at the minute but would have been quite high during the summer. Now, that electricity has been supplied back to the grid and no one has been paid for it as far as i can see.
Would you rather someone else get the financial benefit? someone more deserving perhaps? As this possible unclaimed benefit is just siting there, which she may well be entitled to, it may well go a long way to help pay for keeping the place warm during the highly likely very cold snap we are likely to get in the new year.