Is it fraud? New Controlled Load using your solar

[Malster]

So recently anyone with a Controlled Load (CL1 or CL2) service was advised that they were changing the timings to move some of the CL during the day when solar is abundant.  Makes logical and environmental sense.

What they failed to tell us is that the CL will be using your own solar, but they will still charge you full-rate for your CL service.

In my case, where my HWS dissipates approx 4800kW I can observe the following:

Solar production :~3kW

Approx 500W used by house

Leaves 2.5kW exported.

CL activates for 10 min (11:00am)

Now importing 2.4kW 

Thus i am only drawing down 2.4kW from the grid..

Actual grid consumption for that 10min:

2400 / (60min/10) = 400Wh

What did my raw data from smart meter say?  931Wh for CL usage.

So I got billed for all the CL1 usage, even though it came from my own solar.

If you have your own monitoring as I do (2 independent systems), you might want to check what is happening with your CL service.

[volt]

Right, I too am in the same boat. I have 12KW of solar, a 30 KW battery and a Intellihub meter. My hot water (on controlled load) has been activating during the day when I have been exporting to the grid. Nevertheless, in my most recent bill I was charged for 785 kWh of controlled load usage, which is impossible. I thank you for keeping the pressure on AGL and hope that they won't simply resolve the case for you as an individual but own up to the mistake and reimburse all impaxted customers.

Personally, I'll be getting my hot water moved over to the main circuit and getting the controlled load option removed from my account.

[Caban]

---

@volt wrote:

Personally, I'll be getting my hot water moved over to the main circuit and getting the controlled load option removed from my account.

---

That is a wise move. It is quite staggering how much power you need to use to make a CL break even. Quite easy to work out with spreadsheet. The Daily Rate is compared to the difference of the CL Rate and the normal OP rate.

[Lester]

"Personally, I'll be getting my hot water moved over to the main circuit and getting the controlled load option removed from my account."

Sure, but you have to get that breaker with a timer on it, so you can be in control of when it comes on.

The Hager we had fitted.

We still have it set for 0100 - 0500, so we are an hour each side within our very cheap 8c tariff midnight to 0600 (just in case DST mucks it about, or the EST that is the base times for NEM I think).

It's like 30c or so a night avg, I'm happy with that (it used to be $1.30 or so a day on CL !).

You can see on the timer you can have it off, timer on, on simply on.

Nice summer days, I can turn it on for an hour during solar production, another hour later it does a quick top off for 10 mins, but really with the simple hour done in solar soak, the early morning timed boost is only a matter of cents in cost then.

[SCIF]

I've got solar + battery recently. I can see for now my hot water cylinder is being sourced by the battery but at the same time I'm being charged for CL. Did I get this right this is the well-known behavior and AGL does nothing here? And yes, I'm a «lucky» owner of intellihub meter

battery statAGL report

[Malster]

Hi SCIF,

  Indeed you are correct, AGL is ripping you off (or more precisely your wholesaler is, and AGL are complicit, and not protecting or advocating for you).   AGL had no suitable technical staff who understood the issue, understandable I guess they are only a reseller.  They rolled over like a lovestruck puppy when Endeavour (my wholesaler provider) told them to go away, nothing to see here.  

Even a simple explanation like;
Solar = 10kW, CL HWS = 5kW, Export drops from 10kW to 5kW when CL is active, thus 5kW of customers power is used for CL was too hard for them to understand. They insist there is 2 x cables coming from the street and they are on different circuits.  

Intellihub meters have errant software that doesn't subtract users PV/Battery/Input power from the power delivered to the CL circuit.  Simple correction of some code within the meter would fix it, but while they all reap the benefit financially, nothing will get done. 

NSW Ombudsman was a total waste of time and effort, toothless tiger claiming "they can't tell AGL how to bill".

See below for the rooted in physics and associated well established laws of electrical power/current flow.. 

[SCIF]

Hi @Malster , the most charming part of my setup is that CL load is not even considered as a feed-in (which is true, because power doesn't leave my property boundary).

> They insist there is 2 x cables coming from the street and they are on different circuits.

The meter in the switchboard is just once and there are just one pair of cables comes to the input of the meter from the street.