Night Rate Meter

caster

Question on this - does this always have to be physically installed or are newer meters already equiped with this and all that needs to be done is for the electricity supplier to switch it on?

I had a look at my own meter yesterday and it looked to me that it has a Night Rate facility built in to the meter ? :

peposhi

caster wrote: »

Question on this - does this always have to be physically installed or are newer meters already equiped with this and all that needs to be done is for the electricity supplier to switch it on?

I had a look at my own meter yesterday and it looked to me that it has a Night Rate facility built in to the meter ? :

no need to replace yours. 5 min work for the ESB guy to set it up. once he separates the day and night rate, you would be able see the overall and each rate kwh build up on its own. it is interesting to see what has your usage in the past been, once the switch is done and within 6 months or a year. i had 18000kwh over 5 years of which 5k + were used after 11pm...

peposhi

deleted... repost

caster

peposhi wrote: »

no need to replace yours. 5 min work for the ESB guy to set it up. once he separates the day and night rate, you would be able see the overall and each rate kwh build up on its own. it is interesting to see what has your usage in the past been, once the switch is done and within 6 months or a year. i had 18000kwh over 5 years of which 5k + were used after 11pm...

Thanks. So, its a very quick job but somebody does need to come out?

I actually work from home during the day, so not entirely sure it will make sense for me to have a Night Meter even when I get the EV, then again daytime needs are mostly just to run a PC, monitor etc. I'll do the maths anyway.

I think I need a Tesla home battery

The Tesla Powerwall would allow you to charge at cheap rate and use that leccy during the day but you'd still want to be using enough leccy to justify the cost.

Would be convenient for me when I work nights and have to charge during the day. But again the pay back would be years because I'd only be saving about 1.50-2 Euro's max per charge.

caster

Deleted User wrote: »

The Tesla Powerwall would allow you to charge at cheap rate and use that leccy during the day but you'd still want to be using enough leccy to justify the cost.

Would be convenient for me when I work nights and have to charge during the day. But again the pay back would be years because I'd only be saving about 1.50-2 Euro's max per charge.

Yeah, i think it'll be a few years more before it makes sense financially generally for most people. PV panels would probably need to part of the equation too but prices on both could be very attractive in 4 or 5 years, or perhaps even a bit less.

I don't think Solar PV in an Irish Climate is a good way to go off grid, nor anywhere, while Solar does work in Ireland you'd need a massive amount of Kwp to make it worth while (for storage purposes), to go off grid.

Grid tie systems with a feed-in-tariff is far more suitable and you don't have to pay for a battery, you sell the excess to the grid and buy it back when you need it. The grid is your gigantic unlimited free battery. Unfortunately in Ireland we're a long way away from a feed-in-tariff grid.

My partners parents in Germany can generate 70-80 Kh on a good sunny Summer day, that would be a big ass battery to store it ! Then take in to account the shorter winter daylight hours and you will realise that storage won't work. But the Germans have 3 phase to homes we only have single phase so that limits our ability to export more than about 5.5 kw to the grid which was the limit when the ESB had the trial feed-in-tariff. I pity those who will have to give their leccy for free, disgraceful !

Where storage may work in Ireland at is with wind turbines but the cost of wind turbine installation in Ireland is ridiculous, you're talking 15K euro's for a 3 kw system but that 3kw system has a potential to generate a lot of electricity because we've a lot of continuous strong winds. You wouldn't need nearly the amount of storage you would for solar PV.

If every roof top in Ireland had a 2-3Kwp solar system and send the excess to the grid it would make a big difference to our need for foreign energy.

caster

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think Solar PV in an Irish Climate is a good way to go off grid, nor anywhere, while Solar does work in Ireland you'd need a massive amount of Kwp to make it worth while (for storage purposes), to go off grid.

Grid tie systems with a feed-in-tariff is far more suitable and you don't have to pay for a battery, you sell the excess to the grid and buy it back when you need it. The grid is your gigantic unlimited free battery. Unfortunately in Ireland we're a long way away from a feed-in-tariff grid.

My partners parents in Germany can generate 70-80 Kh on a good sunny Summer day, that would be a big ass battery to store it ! Then take in to account the shorter winter daylight hours and you will realise that storage won't work. But the Germans have 3 phase to homes we only have single phase so that limits our ability to export more than about 5.5 kw to the grid which was the limit when the ESB had the trial feed-in-tariff. I pity those who will have to give their leccy for free, disgraceful !

Where storage may work in Ireland at is with wind turbines but the cost of wind turbine installation in Ireland is ridiculous, you're talking 15K euro's for a 3 kw system but that 3kw system has a potential to generate a lot of electricity because we've a lot of continuous strong winds. You wouldn't need nearly the amount of storage you would for solar PV.

If every roof top in Ireland had a 2-3Kwp solar system and send the excess to the grid it would make a big difference to our need for foreign energy.

I agree regarding PV in Ireland, that's why a big price drop would be needed before it comes close to being worthwhile financially, but I guess either way its going to have a fraction of the efficiency of that in sunny countries. Going off grid in Ireland is not practical I agree, with current technology/pricing, it appeals to me as possibility but only in conjunction with the grid.

Btw, Is there any talk of ESB having a feed-in tariff at any point?

caster

caster wrote: »

I agree regarding PV in Ireland, that's why a big price drop would be needed before it comes close to being worthwhile financially, but I guess either way its going to have a fraction of the efficiency of that in sunny countries. Going off grid in Ireland is not practical I agree, with current technology/pricing, it appeals to me as possibility but only in conjunction with the grid.

Btw, Is there any talk of ESB having a feed-in tariff at any point?

No, it will take a Government that is far more green minded than the current one and a Green Government with a bit of cop on that knows what the hell they're actually talking about. For instance C02 isn't a pollutant so why are we not taxed based on Nox emissions and the other carcinogenic emissions that actually cause serious health problems and damage to the environment ?

We still burn solid fuels for heating in this country for God sake, the most unregulated and polluting form of fuels, need I say more ?

The ESB are not going to pay more than commercial rates for electricity so the feed-in-tariff would need to come from the taxpayer inevitably rising bills. But which is worse, importing foreign energy or spending money on our own ?

Solar does work in Ireland, and it works in Germany but no matter where you are unless you live near the equator where you have a much better chance of getting a more constant sunlight hours where (Sunlight hours change little Summer or Winter) then you're going to need some pretty gigantic battery, this is where the grid comes in, it's a gigantic free battery, sell your excess and buy back when you need it. Wind power is best for Ireland or better still, a hybrid system of Solar PV and Wind.

pwurple

Ireland imports 90% of it's energy, we are totally at the mercy of other countries. And it's silly really, because our atlantic coastline is seen as a "gusher" in terms of wind energy. The major problem is that our electricity infrastructure is basically unable to handle the generation from alternate means yet.

Kinda depressing when you see this. Denmark produced 140% of it's energy through wind power... selling off the rest. This should be us. We have far more wind power flying over our heads than Denmark has.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/denmark-produces-140-per-cent-of-its-electricity-needs-through-wind-power-10381648.html

Currently 35% of our energy is coming from wind at this moment which is almost the same as gas and about 15% more than coal.

Isn't this fascinating !!!

http://smartgriddashboard.eirgrid.com/