Solar Power Generation

[Richard]

ED, I was wondering how effective you were finding your solar power installation in reducing your bills and how long the likely payback was likely to be.

I am only considering the panel cost in relation to payback as I recall you were also opting for battery backing the installation.

[wasbit]

My 2.1 Kw system is now 5 years old & has generated 12,000 Kwh. It was estimated to have a 6 year payback time & doing a rough calculation it looks to be on track.

--
Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[Ed P]

Sorry Richard, I have been tied up with a few things and only dipping into the Forum. Basically my installation is on track for an eight year pay-out. (The Government reduce their subsidy each year which is why my payout is lower than Wasbit. It is down again this year so the current payout for new installations may only be marginal (you would need to check, but I’d be surprised if it is better than a 10-12 year payout and high risk if  post-Brexit inflation kicks in. (older installtions are not affected by such rules changes as these are treated like a fixed term contractual deal)

With respect to the battery that was probably not a great investment at the time, (couple of percent max), but they are getting much cheaper. We bought it because I feared another ‘Winter of Discontent’ brewing, and the 6KWHr battery controller can be manually switched to be used as a giant household UPS. So really that was relatively cheap insurance but it does allow the wife to more easily schedule large consumption loads (dish washer & tumbler dryer) to peak solar production periods. (pretty much zero today I’m afraid!).

What the setup may do is swing the economics of our next car towards a plug-hybrid. Off the cuff we reckon that could give us ‘free’ motoring for half the year.

[Richard]

In part my question was the result of an error, not of my making. A recent electricity bill was higher than expected and I had taken it at face value. (Both my wife and daughter have had seriously restricting health issues for a number of weeks, I just though oh well it must be the air source heat pump. Then I started to change supplier and wondered why I had a meter reading issue. Simple answer the meter reader in September had over read the meter by about 3,000 units – doh.

I was wondering if the solar could give me effectively free juice for the heater-cooler. Getting a genuine payback has always looked to be an issue, so a cost reduction, in effect a prepay might be of greater value to me. If power goes up in price as the Green lot hope, then any saving (even not including the FIT) would be a bonus. 12,000Kwh over 5 years is about 2,500 per annum so could be about 20% of our annual bill allowing for a downward rounding error (and without meter reader errors!). The economics are still looking a bit shaky on those figures at a few hundred pounds per annum about perhaps £200~400. A ten year life cycle (mine, rather than anything else might only repay a third to a half of the installation costs making it appears more of a gamble.

Thank you, that gives me rather more food for night time indigestion!

[Ed P]

The Feed in Tariff rate has so far gone up in line with the Green Energy charge – effectively an inflation proof return if you use most of what you generate. I think you would have to get some estimates from a reliable installer who would take due account of your alignment and latitude. We used GESS and I am happy with both their work and follow-up, it obviously depends on cloud cover but I’d reckon their payout is within a 10% contingency so far.

[Richard]

Thank you, if the present problems ever slow down their incoming rush I will make an enquiry.

Richard

[Bob Williams]

Richard, are you able to take your own meter readings? Apologies if you have mentioned somewhere else that you cannot. That’s what I do with EDF, have done for over 4 years now. My account is registered on their website, I take the readings every month and send them via the website. There is usually a response and new bill within 48 hours and an adjustment one way or t’other: last reading was after I had just setup a new online, paperless tariff and I received an actual reduction in the payment.

I have stuck with EDF for their great customer service and the really good website, which has a very efficient Online Chat service. In the past, I have taken readings and been given a new payment amount that I dispute. I talk to the Chatline and there is always an agreement, usually a compromise. Especially after I told them that I am aware that they build up “Credit” amounts on my Statements, for the beneficial effect upon EDF’s accounts, with a corresponding disadvantage upon my bank account! I once made them repay an excess Credit amount from my account.

I have also continued to refuse a Smart meter. They do not have the usual “old out of date meter” reason, as both gas and leccy meters wer fitted new in March 2016. And as we all know, smart meters are not compulsory.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Richard]

Yes Bob thank you and like you I regularly send them into the company(s). Usually we use about 2,100~<2,500 units per quarter, but in September ‘they’ read the meter. I did not notice at the time (*explanation follows) but they had a reading that suggested about 3,000 units more then normal i.e.  well over 5,000 units.

*Over that period our daughter had a change of her medicines and suffered some serious repercussions, we had daily support visits and 24 hour contact numbers to call so you could get some idea things were ‘lively’. My wife has an obstruction in her throat and a few other issues and I had a spinal injection – so leccy bills were not top of my action plan. at the time

It all came to a head last week, when I was wondering why a change of supplier was not going well. I had given the new supplier three meter readings over a period of about 4 weeks, all three were about 3,000 units less than bozo bill the meter reader had guessed in September, so now the mess has to be sorted out. Phase two of battle will be held this week, its supposed to be on Wednesday when my wife will go into hospital for a delayed second investigation of her throat blockage issue. She went in a couple of weeks ago but was sent home as they said she was ‘too ill’ to do anything with her throat’… She has a persistent cough, trouble eating and episodes of sickness, so not so easy for essential throat works.

[Bob Williams]

Richard your wife’s problem sounds somewhat like one of my own long-standing conditions, called Barrett’s Oesophagus. It began with food being stuck in the throat, progressed to sickness and acid reflux. An initial camera “session” came up with the Barrett’s diagnosis. The lining of the Oesophagus is attacked by stomach acids and reacts by defending itself, creating a lining on the Oesophagus wall which is exactly like the lining of the stomach. This decreases the diameter of the Oesophagus, meaning that food has to be chewed really well and washed down with a drink. (I use carbonated mineral water, which works better that anything else I have tried) In my case it creates a lot of gastric mucous most mornings, when I cough for England! I have to take 2x Lansaprazole every day to keep the pipes open and free from reflux, which can be very painful and debilitating. I have to have a camera every 2 years, with biopsies, as apparently the cells lining the Oesophagus can become cancerous, although I have been having this every 2 years since 2000 and it is fine. Gargling with warm water helps. I am due another camera invasion in February.

The continual reflux also created a Hiatus Hernia for me, which may exist but seems to make no difference to my life, so on the principle “ignore it and it may not bother me” I leave it be. There is a family connection, in that my parents’ first born would have been my sister, but she died at a few months old in 1926. From what my dad told me, sister Eileen died because she could not swallow and ingest food, so starved to death. It was obviously painful for dad to tell me this, so I did not pursue it further. After that one daughter, my parents had 3 boys: I am younger by 15 and 17 years. It is sobering for me to realise that I was born 19 years after my oldest sibling. Life is strange.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Richard]

Bob, it could be a related condition to Barrett’s Oesophagus or to another condition that has been suggested, but it appears to be different to both. While a hiatus hernia not only exists and is known to be increasing in size, that is also far lower than the immediate issue of a pouch , perhaps together with some as yet, unknown other issues. Apparently this is in what appears to have been a baffling presentation. The results of next week’s investigation is awaited with baited breath by several different locations, not least by my wife, those blood pressure has also been a recent concern following a sharp increase. The treatment has been doubled so hopefully some progress will be made by that effort.

[Bob Williams]

Nothing worse than meeting the upper bracket of medical minds and realising they don’t have a clue, Richard. I have been there a couple of times and it is not pleasant, I feel for you and your family. I sincerely hope they come up with the (correct) diagnosis.

Good Luck.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Richard]

Bob,

Amen to that.

Richard

Ps I tried to post that line a while back, I guess I misfired, old fingers and sleepless nights not a good idea.

[The Duke]

They rarely have a clue. It’s all guesswork.

[Bob Williams]

IMO, most veterinarians make more accurate diagnoses than some of the consultants I have met. One of my former Insultants recorded this on my records in a large Nottinghamshire hospital: “He has an odd gait.” My view of that ‘expert’ opinion is not printable, but was passed to her in person and in basic English, with a request for a second opinion.

If she had made the correct diagnosis in the first place, I would not have been given treatment for 15+ years which exacerbated a broken vertebra. NOT a “slipped disc”, a broken vertebra. And if she had suffered the same problem, I would have been interested to see her ‘gait’.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Author]

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