Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Smart meters and solar pv

We have solar PV and have just had a smart meter installed.
Does anyone else here have the same as I need to share an issue.
The intended benefit of the smart meter (for me as a user) is to be able to monitor consumption by individual appliances. However all the time the solar PV is generating, the indicated "consumption now" is reduced by the solar PV generated, often showing a negative consumption. As the solar PV is constantly varying, it is impossible to monitor the consumption of any appliances.
I have spoken with E.ON, our supplier but they are useless and failed to resolve. I have also been in communication with SmartEnergyGB, but they also could not help.
Ideas?

Paging Hamwich, paging Hamwich. Harwich to till number three please..

The meter only allows you to meter consumption by individual appliance if only one appliance is on in the whole house at a time.

It does not do that if say the fridge or freezer switches on or for that matter if there are a few units on standby.

Therefore there is no difference with your PV in that there is more than one unit on at a time in this case your PV.

Your logic is just too simple for a single meter.

Thanks I have PV panels and my provider is pushing for a smart meter.

Unfortunately the feed from your pv and the incoming supply are joined together and either take care of your domestic need or if negative, go back through your meter into the grid. You can isolate the pv system if you wanted to do a survey of your usage over a period of time, however you would be wasting the pv benefit during the period.

Ken,

I consider Smart Meters are, at the moment, pointless.

Why?

Certainly they are of benefit to the supply company, as they remove the need for a meter reader...but it is unclear if, should you change supplier, if the new supplier can access the smart meter. So until Smart Meters are "universal" they only help discourage change.

All the other reasons touted by the supply company are spurious. I really don't need to know, moment by moment, how much power I'm using. The meters don't in my view, provide data that facilitates sensible management of consumption. We use the power we need, we have LED lights almost everywhere and we mostly turn off devices we are not using.

I will decline a smart meter if and when offered:

If you do want to monitor individual devices the modern home automation stuff can assist you.

I use a plug device from Elgato called Eve Energy.
https://www.elgato.com/en/eve/eve-energy

You plug it into the socket then plug the device into it. It links up over bluetooth to a smartphone/pad and then saves info to a cloud service they provide. You don't need all the other gubbins they offer in order to benefit from it.

Using it to compare a traditional tungsten light bulb to a modern LED is quite enlightening.

It is helpful if you need to switch things on or off without getting up (elderly/ill etc) and have some electric items around the home.

Quite surprised that when you have panels or other generating devices fitted as a matter of function that there aren't multiple reading points to give an accounted balance.

There are cases where people have been supplying their neighbours, a guy I work with had had this problem when he lived in Andover.

It probably wouldn't take much to fit another meter on the consumer side but obviously that would be at the customers expense no doubt as it's of no benefit to the supplier.

I use an Owl monitor. You can differentiate the smallest of devices coming on and off from the graphical display on your pc. Personally I would avoid having any official 'smart' device thank you.

I plan to be one of the last to have one fitted. That way as the technology improves, you are likely to get the best options for the consumer.