Is there any reason left not to go smart meter?

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121118672#Comment_121118672

Yup. Why does it bother you? You'd get it back if you don't use it. I plan to have a few negative or near zero bills to start with and then I plan to convince them that my level pay is set way too high.

And mine will be high as I included all 5 family members on the bill / account. Can anyone here confirm that you get the €200 income tax excemption on feed in tariff for each person on the bill? I've heard it said many times, but I never so any official link confirming this

Fantana2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121118903#Comment_121118903

https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/b1fbe-micro-generation/#micro-generation-support-scheme-mss

Only official reference to the exemption I can find, strangely nothing from Revenue though. I would imagine a husband and wife jointly assessed could claim, not sure it would extend to children.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121118903#Comment_121118903

See here;

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2023-06-13/367/

unkel

Thank you @Jonathan !

"The exemption is available to any individual who is the electricity bill payer, and who resides in the property. If there are two or more people named on the electricity bill, each person may avail of the €200 exemption.The aim of the tax exemption is to remove the potential administrative barrier that could be created by the declaration and payment of tax on a relatively modest amount of income earned from the micro-generation of electricity from renewable, sustainable or alternative forms of energy. The €200 disregard was set to ensure that the majority of domestic renewables self-consumers, who typically have an installation of below 6kW, will pay no tax on income from this source. "

By the time I would get close to the limit, my youngest will be 16 and all 5 of us will be working and thus contributing to the bills. Just gotta make sure we are all on that bill 😁

Bobeagleburger

I'd be fairly shocked if Revenue are hounding anyone for small FIT money tbh.

I'd still be availing of any opportunity to load as many people you can onto the bill per household.

Bobeagleburger

What's the reason behind pinergy level pay anyway?

They must have a good deposit of unrequited cash from punters. Strange system.

Is it best to just say you are in a two bed household? Or even one? Therefore level pay is lower?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121119703#Comment_121119703

After 3 months it can be adjusted and then also you can get it repaid.

I don't like level pay either tho.

championc

Speculate to accumulate stuff. Yes, it will cost you €900 up front for the first 3 months. Come next April, I will be running up quite a credit I reckon / I know.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121119683#Comment_121119683

You and me both. And it is self-assessed too.

Ultimanemo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121111826#Comment_121111826

Do you have to mind the load during charging or your CT clamp "or whatever there" will limit it ?, I thought people could "burn their wires" trying to charge as much as possible in 3 hours window.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121120565#Comment_121120565

If you have a zappi car charge point like many people have, it comes with load balancing built-in. So if you are on a standard Irish 12kVA connection and you're charging your battery, and heating your water and charging your car, and running appliances and already using almost the max of the connection - and someone then puts the kettle on, the zappi will immediately and automatically lower the power going to the car - to stay within your limit

Seen this happen many times last winter in my system, it works well.

Punchin A Keyboard

I went to an eirgrid/esbn/seai roadshow during the week.

I asked about alternate mcc's to support variable Tou tariffs like octopus in the UK. That enlivened them a bit after suffering from a bunch of looney questions before hand.

So a vague response but they have a number of other mcc's in the pipeline that could be exciting. And directed me to their SME at the side.

He was a nice chap. Now I am thinking new MCC means possibly a new meter.

So I asked about the potential for a 2g switch off and he replied that they expect the current meters to last 8 to 9 years.

So now I am thinking by the time they have finished the current rollout then they will be starting all over again

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121121799#Comment_121121799

Well you don't need a change in MCC to do the super variable tariffs, mcc12 is fine for that as it has 30 minute reporting.

Although.. if the meters are only 2g.. that's short sighted. At least if it supported LTE it would be about for 20 odd yrs

Vodafone is switching off their 3g soon

irishchris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121118672#Comment_121118672

All their smart plans require level pay but it automatically reduces after three months and will reduce to the minimum level pay they do of €5 per month if your are exporting more than you are importing.

Mine has been on €5 for over 12 months now while credit is raking up each month and paid out to accounts after a year

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121123543#Comment_121123543

Thanks a million for that update, Chris. You really were a visionary in going this route a year ago!

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121123543#Comment_121123543

For those switching now though, we won't be exporting more than we import until the following quarter.

So am I likely to ensure 6 months of €300 a month before it settles?

irishchris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121123689#Comment_121123689

Yours will still reduce from the amount it is to a lower amount as is based on non solar household so your usage pattern will be a lot lower than the average house.

Depends on setups but even last December I earned more in exports than my imports albeit my only grid usage was nightly battery charging on EV rate.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121123689#Comment_121123689

What Chris says and the bill could still go negative if you have enough storage and inverter power as an exported unit is 28c and an imported unit is 5c

Also, didn't the minister more or less say that there will be electricity credits again this winter?

championc

So basically, if you import 15kWh at night, and export 3kW during the day, you'll be in credit.

Only on crap days will you not export anything. Remember, you will start with a full battery at 05:00, and any immersion water should be heated overnight too.

For the next two years, my Eddi and Zappi will be idle from 05:00 to 02:00

Bobeagleburger

Are the Pinergy FIT and electric rates fixed or variable?

DrPhilG

Thanks guys

Start date can't come soon enough. It's extremely painful having a crap day like Sunday (4kWh generated by solar) and I had to charge the car a bit so I imported more than 30kWh.

My bill for the last 2 months was €30 and yesterday I spent nearly €15 in a day...

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121124487#Comment_121124487

Variable.

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121124494#Comment_121124494

Once I decided to jump on Pinergy, I knew I had to bail out quickly in order to keep using nothing from the grid until the switch was complete. Of course, I was at that point still expecting a month on 24hr Energia plan, so 10 days to switch completely was a good bonus.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121124487#Comment_121124487

Variable, but you have to see that in context. If you plan to use (almost) zero on the high rate, then even in the unlikely case they double the high rate to the like of 100c / kWh, the drive rate will still only be about 10c (as it is a rate with a discount of near 90%), miles cheaper than from any other provider

And of course the €100 welcome credit pays for more than any of our losses during the switch over process...

DrPhilG

Another question folks...

This is my usage according to the ESBN page.

I wish it was true, but I imported about 10kWh on the 16th.

There's a missed period here.

the_amazing_raisin

For anyone interested, I got the first letter in the post advising me of the switch to a Smart D/N meter today

Usual stuff about how I'll get metered export from when it's installed and will lose the FIT payment if I refuse it

No installation date as yet, that'll come in the next few weeks

championc

I just got my ESB Networks account access fixed. A lady rang me from ESB and I got sorted.

The portal had been prompting me for my MPRM. The three things of the Name, Email and Mobile must match on both sides.

It appears that when you switch supplier, the system "assumes" you are a new customer, and she very much hope that they resolve the issue (it wasn't picked up in the system design stage apparently)

graememk

Got the SM letter today, dated 14th sept.

"SM are coming"

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121125326#Comment_121125326

That's letter 1. Apparently letter 2 hits from the 25th with the installer details and date.

unkel

Got my retention call from Energia this morning. Nice chap from the North, but he was astounded his competitor was offering 5c electricity and a €100 welcome bonus and that the rate was unlimited 😁

Hope I'm on that Pinergy plan now, I am by the looks of it, but don't have usage data in my Pinergy app yet. Doing good business today, exporting a lot!