Energy Matters Forums

[Tracker]

,
Some good news.

I have been told that Energy Australia is telling their staff
that the new GROSS FIT Meters will arrive in March

So we might not have to wait until July after all !

Yea !
.
WARNING - Wil' Robinson

- An Inspector reminded me that IF your Solar Input is connected to a Sub-Main board or circuit..
ie.. NOT run directly to the Main Board .. .. ( eg. On the back Garage or Granny Flat )
.. then .. Naturally .. You cannot do GROSS FIT (Feed In Tariff)..
That really stands to reason, but stands as an early warning to anyone,
who was talked into allowing their PV system to be connected to a sub circuit
and not be run back to the Power-Box.

( EDIT - Mar/2010 - What they are doing is to have a normal meter for Consumption,
and a separate meter to measure the Gross FIT -- See later thread comments )

Note - that the special Gross-FIT-Meter has the capacity to measure if you drain power from that circuit. How the Supply-People will treat any consumption is yet to be learnt. At best, they would likely deduct the used power from the Exported power.

To correct the problem of having the PV system connected to a remote board, you will need to have a separate cable run, from the Sub-Board to the main board, where the meter will be located.
You cannot have the Gross-FIT-Meter at another location.


You have time to have it corrected, or you will not be given a GROSS FIT meter, for when you do finally get around to it.

What would normally happen would be that when you request the new GROSS meter, the installer would turn up and EXPECT to have a simple wire from the PV Array (via.. Solar-Isolation Switch), that will connect into the GROSS Input of the meter. My board has been prepared with that flying wire, ready to be disconnected from the main switch, and connected directly to the meter.

I understand that a normal electrician could fix it (run a separate feed), and you would not need a Solar Expert..
..
.

[helios]

I spoke to Energy Aust today and they are still talking about July for start of gross metering.March or April may be just a rumour. Also of more concern is that they couldn't say at what phase the meters would export at. They may be only single phase. I'm not an electrician but I understand that this may mean if your inverter is 2 or 3 phase you may miss out.
On broader matters, this whole solar thing is becoming a joke. I booked in for installation and when I phoned to check, all the components had changed due to lack of availability and change in supplier - 3rd change in 3 months. Checked around on some other distributors/Installers and same thing seems to have happened so have to start the research again. So how does this all work? Is it a question of whatever lands in the container on the week of installation is what you get. Last change I wouldn't have known of the brand change unless I checked.

[cws]

In an earler post "Tracker" talks about not being able to obtain gross metering if their inverter is not connected to their main switchboard. The jist of what he is saying is true, but for those people who connected their inverters via a sub board, please seek the advice of a suitably qualified electrician as there are solutions to this problem that do not require additional cabling being installed from sub board to main switchboard. This involves creating an additional metering point at the sub board and converting the sub mains that feed the sub board into unmetered sub mains.A Dual element meter(country energy ) placed at the sub board will read consumption of loads from the sub board on one element and the other element will read the Gross production of the array.As you will now have your inverters output directly connected to the line side of the main meter you can measure gross production. This solution is the one that i am currently using for net metered customers. it has the consent of Country energy and costs the customer approx $375


Thanks rob

[Tracker]

.
Good observations Rob.. Worth remembering !
AND - it give a financial target to think about --- $375 for the meter, plus electrician cost to convert the sub-board to include a meter --- and the need to permit Sub-Board access for the meter reader.

The latter might be a big problem as it would likely be located in some inconvenient location, like an internal room or Garage or back "Granny Flat".

So for those afflicted with the issue, be sure to COST the entire cost.
"An Inconvenient second Meter" or a cable run to the Main board..

I just pulled a second cable !
.
.

[cws]

Yes the cost does need to be weighed up ,but for some people i see, a 200m underground trench back to the main board can ammount to alot of money, most of these customers installed on sheds as they didnt have enough roof space at their house and net metering works perfectly well when inverter is wired from sub board. Each case is different but there is more than 1 way to skin a cat

[Inspector]

In an earler post "Tracker" talks about not being able to obtain gross metering if their inverter is not connected to their main switchboard. The jist of what he is saying is true, but for those people who connected their inverters via a sub board, please seek the advice of a suitably qualified electrician as there are solutions to this problem that do not require additional cabling being installed from sub board to main switchboard. This involves creating an additional metering point at the sub board and converting the sub mains that feed the sub board into unmetered sub mains.A Dual element meter(country energy ) placed at the sub board will read consumption of loads from the sub board on one element and the other element will read the Gross production of the array.As you will now have your inverters output directly connected to the line side of the main meter you can measure gross production. This solution is the one that i am currently using for net metered customers. it has the consent of Country energy and costs the customer approx $375

Rob, this method where there is another meter inside the customer's property, remote from the main switchboard, does not comply with NSW Service and Installation Rules, however each Network Operator/Distributor is allowed to add their own requirements to override the NSW Service Rules.

I have been making a list of questions which I will bring up at a meeting planned in a couple of weeks regarding solar and metering at work, and I will add your comments, recommending that EA follow Country Energy's example. It's certainly a much cheaper alternative for the customer, but I don't know what EA's decision would be regarding a second metering point at the installation (especially as Tracker mentioned regarding access to the meter if it's INSIDE the customer's garage/granny flat etc, however a solution to that might be simply to mount another meter box on the wall outside, behind the sub-board - which would still be cheaper than running new submains!).

[cws]

Using this method is also a good way around installs where inverter is mounted at house and the installation has master / subtract metering. Again, add dual element meter next to off peak meter on house (existing metering point) . convert supply from master meter to house to un -metered,measure general tariff on element 1 and gross production of array on element 2.

Rob

[squash]

Well anyone with a shiny new gross meter yet? I figure I've already lost around $200 thanks to EA. If they don't get it done soon I'm turning it on, at least the meter can run backwards while I wait.

[Inspector]

Well anyone with a shiny new gross meter yet? I figure I've already lost around $200 thanks to EA. If they don't get it done soon I'm turning it on, at least the meter can run backwards while I wait.

Have you submitted an Application for Connection form for the metering upgrade yet? Make sure the form has the "February 2010" issue date or it will be rejected by EA's data group. I heard yesterday of one ASP that submitted 20 forms and all of them were rejected because he used an out-of-date form (December 2009).

[eclipse]

I'm in the same situation as squash. I've checked with Energy Australia and am on the list for installation of gross meters, all correct documents submitted, but even after weeks of waiting they can't give me a week, let alone a day, for installation. How can an "organisation" be so disorganised? Is this a way of avoiding paying FIT?