My Last Electric Bill, Ever!

[brianthainess]

At 26 baht a month why get rid of the meter? To save 312 baht a year? Have you explained to PEA why your readings are low, to stop them replacing the meter, have you e-mailed there head office with photos attached? 

[Expat68]

Take a while to get my money back if I did this at 500 baht per month 

[brianthainess]

49 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

At 26 baht a month why get rid of the meter? To save 312 baht a year? Have you explained to PEA why your readings are low, to stop them replacing the meter, have you e-mailed there head office with photos attached? 

Why do people find that confusing? there is a standing charge whether you use any electric or not even at 54b which I believe is the normal charge, its still only 700 baht a year. 

[TorquayFan]

Woof 999 and Charles H - what you see from me is a discussion about Bander's interesting project. Thanks for your boorish replies.

 

I happen not to know what a Tesla Power Wall is so thanks for your help.

[rwill]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

I don't think he gave the meter back, why would someone do that? II don't think it costs anything to keep the meter, Am I correct? 

That way during the rainy season where you might not produce anything you can draw from the matter and when you produce more than you consume , you can feed back .

 

 

LOL.  It shows the pole with no meter on it and just the bare wires hanging there.  The incoming power lines wrapped with a little electrical tape.

 

According to the bills he shows he was being charged about 25 baht/month for no power consumption.

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

I don't think he gave the meter back, why would someone do that? II don't think it costs anything to keep the meter, Am I correct? 

That way during the rainy season where you might not produce anything you can draw from the matter and when you produce more than you consume , you can feed back .

 

 

 

 

Did you watch the video I posted in my opening post?

[rwill]

I am currently having a house built.  I do want solar.  I would like to ultimately be basically off grid wth perhaps the PEA as a back up.

I really don't have much of an idea how big of a system I would need for that.   

 

The house we live in now our consumption runs between 800-1500 units per month.  But this is an old red brick house with no insulation at all.  

 

An interesting idea about using an EV as your battery backup.

 

Also not too interested in selling power back to the grid as PEA limits you to 5Kwh for single phase.

 

Also I saw Homepro now offers solar installation.  They want about 780K baht for a 5kw system with 15kw battery backup.  I'm guessing that is pretty expensive.

 

Homepro Solar

 

Edited February 10 by rwill

[Bandersnatch]

2 hours ago, Bazerino said:

how many years will it take to get your money back from the solar installation?

 

 

At todays prices:

 

Main Components:
20,000 Watts of PV @ ฿5/W = ฿100,000
36kWh Batteries @ ฿5k/kWh = ฿180,000
20kW of Inversion @  @ ฿5k/kW = ฿100,000
= ฿380,000

 

Savings: 
PEA saving ฿5,000/month
Fuel saving for 2 drivers and 2 vehicles  ฿4,000/month (based on Previous usage)
= ฿108,000/Year saving 

Payback = 3.5 Years - after which free electricity and driving

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, digger70 said:

Good luck Mate , Time will tell what the cheapest way is in years to come when it's time to Replace some costly consumable parts.

 

I have had solar for over 5 years and not had to replace anything yet.

[Expat68]

2 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

 

At todays prices:

 

Main Components:
20,000 Watts of PV @ ฿5/W = ฿100,000
36kWh Batteries @ ฿5k/kWh = ฿180,000
20kW of Inversion @  @ ฿5k/kW = ฿100,000
= ฿380,000

 

Savings: 
PEA saving ฿5,000/month
Fuel saving for 2 drivers and 2 vehicles  ฿4,000/month (based on Previous usage)
= ฿108,000/Year saving 

Payback = 3.5 Years - after which free electricity and driving

Maybe!! How long do you think batteries will last?

[proton]

Bill is about 1k a month how can that justify a vast outlay on unethical solar installations?

[UWEB]

7 minutes ago, proton said:

Bill is about 1k a month how can that justify a vast outlay on unethical solar installations?

What is an unethical solar installation??

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

At 26 baht a month why get rid of the meter? To save 312 baht a year? Have you explained to PEA why your readings are low, to stop them replacing the meter, have you e-mailed there head office with photos attached? 

 

I have documented my experiences with PEA over the years on this forum. 

 

I have been accused of spinning my meter backwards (to the exact same reading every month)

Each time I asked for a digital solar meter that cannot be turned back.

 

I have been accused of breaking their meters with my big bad off-grid solar system.

 

I have had about 20 meetings with PEA Surin at their main office over the years.

 

I have had my solar system inspected 4 times including by the Solar Team from PEA Korat, who tried to explain to the local office that my system is off-grid and physically cannot send power out to the grid.

 

Over the years staff change. Every time I get a new meter reader, I get a new meter.

[proton]

Just now, UWEB said:

What is an unethical solar installation??

Look up how solar panels are made, and how long they last

[UWEB]

Will this V2L System work also with a 3 Phase System? I have a 3 phase 10 kw on Grid System and have it already for longer time in my mind to buy a EV Car and use the Battery as back up.

[digger70]

16 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

I have had solar for over 5 years and not had to replace anything yet.

That's only 5 Yrs. good luck .

[UWEB]

4 minutes ago, proton said:

Look up how solar panels are made, and how long they last

How Solar Panels are unethical made? Please explain.

[KhunLA]

11 minutes ago, proton said:

Look up how solar panels are made, and how long they last

[sirineou]

28 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

 

Did you watch the video I posted in my opening post?

You are correct, I did nor and apologise, I should have. 

[Bandersnatch]

25 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

Maybe!! How long do you think batteries will last?

 

Warranty is 5years/6,000 cycles maximum degradation 70%. They use CATL LFP Cells

 

 

 

[KhunLA]

37 minutes ago, rwill said:

The house we live in now our consumption runs between 800-1500 units per month.  But this is an old red brick house with no insulation at all.  ....  Also I saw Homepro now offers solar installation.  They want about 780K baht for a 5kw system with 15kw battery backup.  I'm guessing that is pretty expensive.

Whoa, ฿780k makes our installed system look inexpensive, even though one of the more expensive system, compared to other AN members DIY systems.   Our 8kW inverter w/20kWh ESS/battery back up was  ฿445k.

 

With a better build, ours would probably meet your needs, although I would go with two 5kWh inverter and enough panels to max out input/output, and should cover your 800-1500 kWh a month.

[Bandersnatch]

56 minutes ago, UWEB said:

Will this V2L System work also with a 3 Phase System? I have a 3 phase 10 kw on Grid System and have it already for longer time in my mind to buy a EV Car and use the Battery as back up.

 

You should watch my other videos on my channel about how I setup V2L. Basically I used a transfer switch to select between 2 sources of ac power input. In your case the grid and V2L. Set your inverter to SBU (solar first, then Battery, then Utility) with Utility if there is no V2L it will switch to PEA/MEA

 

I have single phase so I can’t say for certain that it would work. Does your inverter have the option to accept a generator input?

Edited February 10 by Bandersnatch

[sirineou]

1 hour ago, rwill said:

25 baht/month for no power consumption.

Oh I missed that also

25 baht a month? Outrageous,  I would tear out my meter also . 

 

I will admit I did not know, I was under the impression that under a certain usage you did not pay anything, ao I asked my wife , and she said it used to be the case but is no longer. 

So I did  a search and this is what I found.

" the minimum charge shall not be lower than 70% of the maximum demand charge during the last 12 month period  "

https://www.boi.go.th/index.php?page=utility_costs

if I understand this correctly  then the minimum would be 30% of your highest bill in the past 12 months  ,

If I am doing  this correctly 25 baht is a very reasonable amount , in fact it sound way too low  because then the highest bill in the last 12 months would had been les than 100 baht. 

So I must be missing something.

Regardless, even after installing solar, I would never take my meter out if I had the option to keep it,  You never know when your solar would be inadequate (rainy season) or a component could fail. 

That's my uninformed (since I don't have one) opinion on the subject  

So I must not be doing this right. 

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

58 minutes ago, digger70 said:

That's only 5 Yrs. good luck .

 

5 years 70% 

[jesimps]

8 hours ago, CharlieH said:

I wish the OP good luck, I am sure he did his research and there is a growing community of supporters to assist in such projects and its development. Personally, it's all still too new and the capital expenditure for some can be the non starter.If you have the funds are willing to "go for it" I wish you well and hope it turns out just as you expected.

 

Many aspects for me are very much "too new" and not enough data.Besides which financially it would be a non starter anyway.Even if I had the funds its not something I would pursue at the low cost of electricity here against capital investment against my probable remaining lifespan. 😀

 

 

At 80 yoa this June, my thinking is along the same lines.

[Muhendis]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

That is an extremely misleading statement from Forbes.

It gives the impression that solar panels stop producing at 25 to 30 years.

That is simply not the case.

At some point in the life of a panel, it's output will have declined to 80% of what it was when new.

So when a solar panel has been in use for 25 to 30 years it is not dead but is still producing 80% of its maximum rated power. 

That 80% figure is a measurement benchmark and is not an indication of end of life.

[xtrnuno41]

Bandersnatch, I know you have an impressive installation and you mention already 5 years experience being of grid!

But meter back? Well ok you did, hope of grid will go on well and you wouldnt regret giving meter back.

But ok only time can tell. Let us know when you regretted it. 😉

 

[Bandersnatch]

28 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Let us know when you regretted it. 😉

Did you watch the video?

 

In case you didn’t I showed my electric bill for all of last year and it showed zero units used, when I had 36kWh of solar batteries

 

I now have an EV with an additional 82.5 kWh of backup power. 
 

I have provided evidence that I can operate without the grid on 36kWh so why do so many people think I won’t be able to on 118kWh?

 

 

[xtrnuno41]

28 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

Did you watch the video?

 

In case you didn’t I showed my electric bill for all of last year and it showed zero units used, when I had 36kWh of solar batteries

 

I now have an EV with an additional 82.5 kWh of backup power. 
 

I have provided evidence that I can operate without the grid on 36kWh so why do so many people think I won’t be able to on 118kWh?

 

 

I did. Ok so they were changing every time the meter, I "wouldnt" care.

I see from you a comment about your intake issues. Had not red that one before, was not in video.

Im not criticizing you and you also said you would keep it first, but with the loads of accusations and trouble every time again?

Then I really understand why to give back. Meetings, controlling visits, that would be a pita.

You dont regret. Amazing it can be like that.

 

[Srikcir]

Curious - would you use solar thermal heating too or just use solar electric for individual electric hot water units?