Moved into this house a month ago. Those are my electricity figures. Are the panels working? Is that the rebate I'll be getting. Surely not?
This is a picture of the panels.
https://imgur.com/a/K9YnWMG
This is the usage in Kwh
https://imgur.com/a/5noDVpk
This is the usage in cost
https://imgur.com/a/Oma2EwR
Surely my rebate isn't 60c for a whole month lol
Have a look at the inverter and see if they're working?
If you're using what you're producing then you won't have much of a feed in tarrif, especially since it's almost nothing at the moment
where is the inverter and what am i checking for?
A big box on the wall probably near your fuse box. Most would have a digital display showing some numbers (the kW being produced at the time).
It's shown in the solar panel photo. I would suggest downloading the manual for the inverter to figure out how to use it.
What AndyC1 said.
At noon on a very sunny day, look at the LCD display on that thing. See what the power output is. Should be four digits and ends with a "W"
Lol
Since you have absolutely no idea what you are doing I suggest you get an electrician to check everything out.
Nothing more to be said here
How much is your normal usage?
I know you've just moved in, but if it's generally high, your panels are probably offsetting your draw from the grid, so you are paying less electricity.
although that does seem like a lot of panels, and i'm assuming it's not overcast and rainy every day.
im confused though. doesnt my app show that I am paying about $60 for electricity and getting a rebate of $60c. That means that I am paying for 99% of my usage and getting a 1% offset(rebate) doesnt it?
Surely all those panels can't be generating only 60c off a $60 bill?
The 60c is electricity you haven't used that has gone into the grid and they are paying you for. If you use it before it goes to the grid then you neither pay the grid for it (it hasn't come from the grid) and the grid doesn't pay you for it (it hasn't gone into the grid). Think of it like having a veggie garden - if you eat what you grow your grocery bill is less as you don't need to buy as much food. If you grow more than you can eat at any time you get paid for selling it to the market. However they pay so little that it is better to eat it whenever you can.
A typical feed in tariff is 8c per kWh. A 6.6kw system can produce 5kw at absolute peak (eg 12-2pm with no clouds or rain) and less at other times. So it might make your 20-30c over the day if the electricity isn't otherwise used. Your system is probably smaller though given the 60c
Maybe you spend 100$ of electricity, but 40$ share of it was produced by your panels. That's why you see 60 in the bill, not 100$. Part of electricity which is producing by panels and immediately used by your house does not appear in the bill. So that 40$ from my example - invisible in the bill.
Most of the power produced could have been used locally (that won't appear on that usage statement). Any power consumed at the house from the inverter will just reduce your power "consumed" in the usage statement.
You need to look at the data on the inverter.
No, you're not paying $60 for electricity, you are paying $37-69, the rest is the supply charge.
$37-69 for electricity for a month isn't much. There are two scenarios possible here.
One is that you don't use much electricity, and your solar panels aren't working. But if the solar system wasn't working at all you'd expect to get no solar credit whatsoever.
The other is that you use a significant amount of electricity, that the power the solar panels are generating is all going to supplying your needs during the day, with nothing left to be exported to the grid. This scenario is quite plausible for someone whose main electricity use during summer is daytime air conditioning.
i know absolutely nothing about this but my guess is that the power that is getting generated during the day is basically being used up straight away by your house, there is a tiny bit left which is the 12 Kilowatts and it is going back to the grid, on top of that, the 168 Kilowatts is what your house is using after the sun goes down running all your appliances, your hot water system(if electric and it is not set up to switch on at daytime) and so on, all that night time energy use comes from the grid so the excess you generated and did not use at daytime is taken from that figure, to me $60 a month sounds like a bargain, i don't think that you are paying for 99% of your usage, i just think you are using 99% of your generator power, then at night time you are drawing from the grid 168 Kilowatts per month, which means you are using 5.4 Kilowatts per night, a ducted air con system could use that in an hour
Maybe the sun is being blocked by the double storey house next door. Perhaps one of the DC isolators is turned off and only the bottom row is working.
Would be good to know which way that’s facing.
Seems kind of silly to have panels facing that way… wondering if it would be better to have them on another part of the roof facing another direction even if it’s not as optimal simply so that it won’t be blocked by the house next door?
Make sure that your panels are clean. It makes a big difference.
Sure you haven't got a battery, which is sucking up all the excess production? Serious question.
You need to log into your solar system app (should be relatively easy) and monitor the daily production/consumption and output.
You get a daily (usually hour by hour) chart showing how much is being produced, how much your house consumes and any excess that goes to the grid (or your battery?).
Something like this
https://imgur.com/a/FQxdVgU
Looks like its working. Need to check inverter stats obviously. Could also check other nearby similar sized systems on www.pvoutput.org to check a ballpark production figure for your area.
Lots of assumptions but guessing it’s a 5kw system, producing probably 15kwh/day = 450kwh for a month. Have fed back 12kwh of this into the grid so leaves 438kwh.
Add your consumption from the grid of 168kwh = 606kwh total usage for a month = 20kwh per day average for the house.
If there is any shading caused by the house next door or the vent pipe, the every panel in the chain is going to drop to the output of the lowest producing panel.
https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/modules-and-arrays/shadi…
Look how much the system output drops with just one cell partially shaded!
Did you shop around for rebates?
Sydney's privatised electricity industry is pretty competitive on feed in tariffs.
I have a panel array of 20 panels and 6.6kw - generates roughly 40kw/day in summer.
depending on the size and age of your array your figures could be in line with what it's design to generate. Otherwise you may have a failed panel/multiple failed panels.
For our house we make around $1 a day in electricity (although we export 2400kw/quarter during summer and only consume something around 275-300kw and still have to pay an electricity bill.
For our house we make around $1 a day in electricity (although we export 2400kw/quarter during summer and only consume something around 275-300kw and still have to pay an electricity bill.
With such impressive generation, if you had a battery you would be close to paying zero per month (during summer at least).
Yep, did the maths and even with a battery, unfortunately it'd still take 10+ years to pay off, waiting for a couple of years until the prices settle a bit more/get an electric car that can power the house.
10+ years to pay off
Someone did the maths over on Whirlpool. It was close to 18 years for the Tesla Powerwall 2. :'-(
i read they are thinking about giving upto $3k rebate for battery but that max $3k would be for a top priced battery
just roughly how much are you paying on your quarterly bill ? i know it changes from winter to summer bill ..but thinking about getting solar panels
I think we're about $200-$250 a quarter
Knocks about $150 a quarter off from generation from memory
But then again I'm in perth where its 2.75c/kw off peak and 10c/kw peak buy back. Where consumption is 20c a kw
Do you mind breaking it down for us in $$ [estimate], if you can remember how much you paid on average per month or quarter without panels vs with panel. I'm curious.
Are you running AC while the sun is shining? If so, that probably where all the solar generation is going and none back to grid.
What size is the system? The picture of the panels is impossible to even guess.
We generate around 20kwh per day. Feed back around 8kwh to the grid if we aren’t home.
Don't forget also that energy retailers charge a per day charge for just being connected. usually around $1 - $1.20 per day.
So you actually need to feed in more than consumption to have enough credit to pay for the connection fee.
Get the brand of inverter, sign up to their app and you can monitor everything from their app. The inverter is that big white box on the bricks wall.
We have a 5.3kw system here in VIC. About 28 - 30kwh is produced each day on average in summer half.
Our FIT is 10.2c. Being light use ourselves the bill is always in credits ~$40pm over this period.
That is your inverter. I have a 6.6kWh system and generate about 30kWh on a good day and buy about 12kWh for overnight.
I would follow what has been said above. Check your inverter is all okay and there are no faults. You could have a faulty panel which is making the system not work the best. It looks like you have a few panels, so you should be generating more than what you are seeing.
1) is the inverter working?
2) What solar plan are you on?
3) You will get a better idea if you look at an actual bill
4) Find out what app connects to the inverter. Set it up. It will show gross production rather than net.
I imported about that much over last 31 days, with aircon on and so for.
You are using something very energy hungry. You don't have an outdoor bar fridge right? Lol
I reckon it’s working just fine. The chimney will throw shade early and late in the day, and I’m assuming you have a string inverter, so that’ll drop output as well.
It looks like you’re eating almost all of your generation. What were your bills like before solar?
What were your bills like before solar?
Moved into this house a month ago.
I doubt they would have much for comparison.
Missed that bit. Thanks
They are 1.5kw panels. They produce sweet FA. Need to upgrade to 6kw
Simple way to find out is to login to your energy retailer or provider. Ausnet in Victoria has a breakdown of energy generated and energy used. AGL retailer also has a breakdown showing when and how much your solar system contributes to your energy use. Too simple.
My guess is you have an isolation fault from all the rain, looks like you have more then 20 panels and each panel max 330w each so should be over 6kw
we have had a lot of rain but you should be getting more so maybe the inverter is faulty
Check if there are any stickers/labels attached to/near the invertor that could identify the company that installed it. I would suggest calling them to inspect the system for you if you are not too sure about what to look for.
check your inverter.
look for the data to show there if you can read it on there.
check for any messages or errors. check the log.
It may just be a small system you have, or something is wrong.
need more info to tell for sure.