BOOST button, does it use available solar power before using PEAK power

[tellmenolies]

I have a Atlas MK7A meter. If I use the boost button, does it use available solar power first before using electricity from the grid. Also, when a boost button is pressed, how long is it active for. Surely someone must know, you have meters in more than a million households. 

[NeilC]

@tellmenolies 

I suppose you did find out that it is your electricity supply company that controls your meter settings not your retailer.

[NeilC]

@tellmenolies, @eGeorge , @jayden_AGL 

The answer to this question is very simple.

On the MK7A/MK7C meter:
Export refers to energy consumed by the customer.
Import refers to energy generated by the customer.

On your Electricity bill:
Export refers to electricity from your solar PV system to the grid.
Import refers to electricity to your property from the grid.

So TellMeNoLies was reading his/her meter incorrectly and hence the reason why no answer was ever posted. I am sure that if he/she was successful in his/her complaint to the Ombudsman then he/she would have been crowing the news in this post.

And, furthermore, TellMeNoLies would not have been been charged Off Peak, (now commonly known as Controlled Load), but would have been charged Peak Prices.

It is also interesting to note, that in a document produced by Origin Energy, that states:

This meter is 2 single phase meters in one body and replaces your gross meter/s and will be remotely switched to net metering on 1 January 2017 to send energy from your solar system to your household first, before sending the excess back to the grid.

Also please note, that in SA, these meters are no longer installed, having been replaced by IntelliHUB meters. (My IntelliHUB meter was installed 30 Jan 2019 in SA).

Cheers Neil

[Kym59]

I also have this question and notice in 5 years it has never been answered for SA users. Some interested customers, it has 19,500 views to date!

It is a simple question, on an Atlas MK7A meter also system I have a 5000W solar panel system generating excess power giving me a miniscual 4c per kilowatt from AGL. I would like to press the boost button when sun is out   - if it works- and save on the Controlled Load hot water night rate of 30 or 40 cents per kilowatt at 1am. Also a big environmental saving using day time sun rather than night time wind/diesel/coal? 

Does the green button use solar panel power if availaible or not? It could save alot of people alot of money, and of course the environment, - so is AGL allowing this to be in place?

[Lester]

@Kym59 if you too are on a CL metering for your HWS, you will never have solar affecting that, it goes through the CL TOU tariffs wholly and solely.

So no, using the boost button will put it through the normal meter, at the normal TOU rates, higher in SA.

I am in SA too (like the OP), and can tell you categorically, when I got solar last Nov and was updated from old analogue meters on single tariff with CL, to 2 new digital meters, still have the normal meter circuit (Atlas Mk 10D), which our normal daily usage and solar goes through, and then the CL HWS is still on the 2nd meter (also Atlas Mk 7A), the CL works for me with my HWS on the CL meter and is totally independent of the solar / regular circuit meter.

You might have one meter, depends on how configured, but it should work same way.

I also have a switch in the kitchen marked 'night' and 'day', when on night it uses a tiny bit of power during off peak 1130-0630 (just a couple of short bursts), and shoulder cheapest time of day rate between 1000-1500 with 3 or so short bursts.

If I use it on day setting, it puts the HWS usage through the normal circuit TOU tariffs, AND solar, but I can't control when it comes on, so it will use power during the solar soak hours, but also in peak and off peak, so that switch acts like a boost button, and with tariffs I would lose out there !

In hindsight when I got solar on I should have said remove the CL metering, because to fix this like you, and get my solar working better for me, I either have to get the CL meter removed, and / or HWS on regular circuit, and be able to time it for either / and solar hours or cheapest rate times, but it goes through the regular meter then, and at whatever TOU rate is applicable for regular supply.

So when doing the smart meter upgrade, SAPN just put in what was here already, not what's best for you.

If you want to get your CL HWS on solar, you (and I) will have to either get the HWS off the CL circuit and onto the main circuit (sparky job), dumb timer it for whatever blocks of time you want, mostly solar soak hours, or other cheaper times in Winter if needed, or pay a lot more for a HW diverter that is smart itself and can sense best times to put it on, through solar soak when producing enough solar, and if not enough (eg Winter), through whatever time of day cheapest to suit you, only needs say a half hour twice in that situation to keep water hot for normal use.

[Kym59]

Thankyou @Lester it sounds like it may be almost just as cheap to get a second $1000 hot water system on the normal meter, (with a day time timer) that feeds hot water into the CL system. Effectively this would mean the CL system is always being topped up with cheaper hot water so less heating to do at 1am. I could also turn it off on cloudy days.

[Lester]

It should be a lot cheaper to just get the HWS put onto the normal circuit, and put a timer on it.

The hot water 'diverter' type of system is just a fancy name, it just uses 'smart electronics' to put your excess solar into the HWS before it sends anything to the grid, and also picks up if it is too cloudy / shady / low winter sun etc to get an excess of solar, and then it will heat the HW from whatever tariff time you want, ie cheapest.

Some can be $1800 fitted, other smart options are under $1000.

If you wanted to leave your CL meter in the box, you can, it will just no longer send any readings . . . you may choose to do this rather than the electrician arranging the supplier (SAPN) to come out and remove this, they do charge to do that apparently.