Is there any reason left not to go smart meter?

So here's my view:

The dishwasher and washing machine don't use a whole lot of electricity, so just run them off what you have stored in batteries in the morning

The Eddi probably won't be running at night anyway

The house battery is probably the most important, since that avoids the expensive day rate

The Zappi will throttle to the grid limit anyway, so the big question is will you get enough range to meet your needs

Could you run the heater on a lower setting to ensure there's grid power available for everything else?

If all else fails, there's always the option of upgrading to 16kVA

The 4 hr EV window with Energia might be another option?

These short windows are annoying. Why not 6 or 8? I'd have no problem paying a bit extra if the windows were widened

It ain't cheap, just under €2k including VAT

The trick might be to charge the car for 1-2 hours every night instead of giving it a big charge every 2-3 nights

12 to 16kva upgrade is 900 quid plus VAT. I had networks out to quote and they advised it's just a change of fuse. The additional costs are only if you need new tails etc.

Your fusebox has a 63A fuse, and the incoming supply likely has an 80A fuse. There is no issue with 15kW o clock. 15kW is 62A at 240V and I often see higher voltages than that. It's better and more precise to talk about amperage limits when dealing with supply as you can have varying voltages and this may increase or decrease the kW. 12kW at 208V is taking a lot more amps than 12kW at 259V.

Can that EV Window only be used by EVs, or can you just do anything during those 4 hours? Can you charge your regular batteries, or does the Smart Meter know you aren't charging an EV?

You can do what you like, nobody knows. I max out the 14+kW for the full 3 hours I have every day. EV, battery charging, hot water, mining rigs, the works.

ive 20 panels & 10kwh battery going in next month. On the flogas day night plan at the moment.

In summer house consumes circa 20kw per day (Busy house, family home all day) during winter thats closer to 30kw with the heat pump going. I do run the heat pump overnight and it works quiet well for me.

Heat pumps runs the hot water, usually less than 2kw per day so thats fine I think. But I need to get that timed.

Only other consideration is an EV (60kwh) but 70% of my charging is free at work. Perhaps 25-30kwh charge per week at home

Would you say at 10kwh battery you would stick on the flogas or consider pinergy smart? Also if I was to run heat pump, charge EV and charge battery in the same 3 hour slot is that feasible?

Cheers,

Due to the fact we're in office 3 days a week. it just means Thursday Charge won't get me around till following Tue. And driving 15 mins for a piece of a charge there doesn't make a pile of sense. So I will always have a certain amount at home, Works out at Eur 4-5 per week so again not a deal breaker.

Regards HP, ive been running it by night for last 5 years. releasing heat during the day. Working for my house really well. I know everyone is different and installers will see leave it alone. 3hr window is a bit tight compared to what ive been doing. Must look at the stats from past years. Night rate would give a bigger comfort zone than 3.

I'll see how system works out this winter on D/N and that should give me that data I need for next year. Could bump battery size if it required.

For it to work now id have to at least be getting 15 out of my 30kwh usage in that 3 hour window at cheap cheap rate (and charge battery), 10kwh from battery during the day and the remaining 3-5kwh peak but perhaps bigger battery eventually to cover that.

Any comments on growatt AXE batteries , easy to add to?

I think you're right and thanks for that, roughly how much battery can you fill in 3 hours 10/15/20 kw? (New house so wiring all good)

Also will powering all of those during the 3 hours have an impact on pull rate for the grid then in fact limiting power going to EV or to battery etc.

Great, that gives me a bit of context, it's a Solis hybrid inverter going in. As you said they are limited to 6kw. Would love to get to a neutral bill.

Also makes my thinking of changing the current car charger to a Zappi redundant if priority is to export and charge on EV rate. Saves me over 1k.

im paying E2200 per 5kwh battery from the installer, might be overpaying but don't think id go down the DIY route. Love all this stuff but not to that level!

No point changing your current charge point for a zappi, would be a waste of your money. Just keep using the old one and use a timer (in the car) to charge in the night hours

Also €2200 is insane for a 5kWh pack, that won't have paid for itself by the time it reaches end of life. Unless the delta between night rate and feed in tariff gets substantially bigger (can't see that happen)

As for the Solis, that would be about the only hybrid inverter I wouldn't recommend. The 6kW version says it will do 100A charging (5kW) continuous, but in practice it only does that for a short period, then throttles to 60A

Is there much to connecting that up and having it work on inverter app etc. Im guessing I rock up with my own battery the solar installer won't touch it...

They seem to be really pushing this smart meter install program - I must have received 3 or 4 letters from ESBN (& MDE) in the last fortnight advising that “over the coming weeks we’ll be replacing your electricity meter.” So much for all the talk that this could take years! I wonder how easy it is to push an install back? Deemed export really suits us at the moment, as does the fact that our current meter runs 2hrs slow, therefore night rate currently running till 10am.

With MDE I have postponed it 3 times for 6 months each time and they had no issues doing it without me refusing a smart meter. I dealt with a couple of people there but only wrote down the last contact who was Hillary. Just be certain they know you are not refusing it.