Solar and Time of Use electricity

[Bandersnatch]

My off-grid solar system is expensive due to the amount of battery storage I have.
 

 
 

A cheaper option would be solar combined with cheap rate over night electricity (TOU)

 

 

So now instead of buying enough battery storage to cover usage for all night you just need to cover 9am to 10pm. Maybe 5kW of panels and a 5kWh battery depending on your night time usage. From 10pm you will be using half price electricity. 

Anybody doing this already?

[JAS21]

If MEA change my meter to no export…that would be a good way for me to go as I only have a 5kWh battery. Look forward to comments

[KhunLA]

Same as OP, our ESSs were ฿185k of the ฿445k 'installed' system.  So component wise, if DIY, probably about half the cost of our solar system.

[Crossy]

Now why didn't I think of that??

 

 

[Pink7]

How they know whats used at the different rates? In my place they just read of the analog meter once a month how many units consumed (If i not misunderstood something)

 

Pink.

[Crossy]

You get an electronic meter which records the usage at the various times.

 

In t' olden days you had two meters and a time clock which swapped between them or a dual reading meter which had a built-in mechanical clock (with a clockwork backup mechanism in case the juice went off).

 

[MJCM]

17 minutes ago, Crossy said:

You get an electronic meter which records the usage at the various times.

 

In t' olden days you had two meters and a time clock which swapped between them or a dual reading meter which had a built-in mechanical clock (with a clockwork backup mechanism in case the juice went off).

 

Yep I remember those.

 

I also remember that my Mother always did the washing late at night or very early morning.

 

I often asked her (when I got ready for going to school and she was doing to washing) can't you sleep, but much later on I understood why she did it at those times ????

[KhunLA]

57 minutes ago, Crossy said:

You get an electronic meter which records the usage at the various times.

 

In t' olden days you had two meters and a time clock which swapped between them or a dual reading meter which had a built-in mechanical clock (with a clockwork backup mechanism in case the juice went off).

 

So my digital meter is also a T.O.U. meter ?  Wonder if they add on the extra 300 baht service charge.   As charging the EV overnight, 50kW if dead, would be around 120 baht at discount rate, but 420 if T.O.U. meter charge is applied.

 

Which would defeat the purpose, and actually cost more.  Need to get wife to verify, or I guess I could just charge it after hours for 5 or 10 kW, and see what the bill breakdown is.  Car is at 90% now, and meter gets read on 26/27th of the month.

 

Go 2kW on the meter for this month ????

[Crossy]

7 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

So my digital meter is also a T.O.U. meter ?

 

Only if it's set up that way, if you've not asked for TOU it will just behave as a regular meter.

[Encid]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

You get an electronic meter which records the usage at the various times.

 

Which only spins in one direction right? 

[Crossy]

15 minutes ago, Encid said:

Which only spins in one direction right? 

 

Again, it depends how it's been set up. But generally, unless you have some sort of export agreement, it won't go "backwards".

 

Important Note: - At least one member has noted an electronic meter that counts UP when sending energy to the grid. You probably don't want one if you ever actually export.

[Bandersnatch]

Some thoughts about inverter settings to make this work.

 

Set battery to only charge from Solar  - you don't want to charge your battery from peak rate electricity at 9 in the morning!

 

House consumption: Solar first, then Battery then Utility 

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

21 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

A cheaper option would be solar combined with cheap rate over night electricity (TOU)

 

Not worthwhile, the 312bht off peak service charge is more than my electricity usage.

Don't understand how some of you guys can have solar and still pay big grid bills.

 

[Bandersnatch]

48 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Don't understand how some of you guys can have solar and still pay big grid bills.

The last time I paid for a kWh from PEA was during super typhoon Noru in September last year..

 

51 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Not worthwhile, the 312bht off peak service charge is more than my electricity usage.

Good to hear but I posted this for folks with small solar systems

[gamb00ler]

Does PEA have the same TOU rates as MEA?

 

What factor determines which of the two rate schedules (under 12kV and 12kV - 24kV) is applicable?

We have a 3 phase hookup rather than single phase because it's two households as one service.  Is that the determining factor?

 

EDIT: I see on our bill that we paid 24.62 service charge so that tells me what rate we would get under TOU

[Muhendis]

On 1/25/2023 at 8:19 AM, BritManToo said:

Don't understand how some of you guys can have solar and still pay big grid bills.

I can help you with that. 

After many fruitful years, my ESS is now accelerating in an unreasonable direction and causing me to start using PEA although bills are not too big.

Although batteries are expensive, I am about 35k Baht better off than I would have been without solar and batteries.

The big plus for me is my contribution to climate change which, as far as electricity is concerned, has been zero for years.

I will be constructing my new storage soon and will start a new thread on it's progress.