Solar options for home in 2022

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693 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#3418620 25-Sep-2025 07:12

I am a low user and waiting for my solar to be installed. Have narrowed it down to either Meridian or PowerEdge.

Any comments on either? Also since I am coming from a power/broadband bundle. Which ISP did most of you use for stand-alone broadband? I just need the basic 100/20.

timmmay

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#3418624 25-Sep-2025 07:41

dantheperson:

Oh meridian, yes i'm about to run my spreadsheet against them, but only 17c buyback in auckland, and 29c anytime. I guess you are on high user which changes anytime usage to 22c, but i'd save more on on the daily charge with low user. I thought most people with solar would fall into the low user category. Keen to lock in the low user daily rate for 3 years before they disappear.

Our power bill in winter was still $250 or so, but without solar it'd have been more like $400 - from memory. I think I briefly considered low user, but over the year I think we'd be worse off. I'll ask Meridian at the end of summer what they recommend. We're on a 3 year fixed plan so not sure if I could change it anyway.

wellygary

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#3418689 25-Sep-2025 09:45

timmmay:

Our power bill in winter was still $250 or so, but without solar it'd have been more like $400 - from memory. I think I briefly considered low user, but over the year I think we'd be worse off. I'll ask Meridian at the end of summer what they recommend. We're on a 3 year fixed plan so not sure if I could change it anyway.

Low User lines changes will be fully removed (assuming the current plan continues) by mid 2027 so its a pretty moot point for a long term calculation,

https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-consultations-and-reviews/electricity-price/mid-point-review-of-the-phase-out-of-the-low-fixed-charge-lfc-regulations

chimera

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#3418691 25-Sep-2025 09:54

CrashAndBurn:

I am a low user and waiting for my solar to be installed. Have narrowed it down to either Meridian or PowerEdge.

Any comments on either? Also since I am coming from a power/broadband bundle. Which ISP did most of you use for stand-alone broadband? I just need the basic 100/20.

Get a Hybrid inverter so you can add battery later. Don't paint yourself into a corner.

RE: Power provider... YMMV. Unfortunately they vary considerably from region to region as do their 'packages'.

I'm with Octopus, I did a spreadsheet yesterday Octopus vs Meridian and if I channge will cost me $60 more a month. Mate of mine managed to get on the 4 free hours Meridian plan before they ditched it, he uses to charge his battery free overnight then use that with solar during day and has a bugger all power bill. I wasn't fast enough to change :-(

dukezoid

74 posts

Master Geek
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#3418694 25-Sep-2025 10:06

timmmay:

dantheperson:

Oh meridian, yes i'm about to run my spreadsheet against them, but only 17c buyback in auckland, and 29c anytime. I guess you are on high user which changes anytime usage to 22c, but i'd save more on on the daily charge with low user. I thought most people with solar would fall into the low user category. Keen to lock in the low user daily rate for 3 years before they disappear.

Our power bill in winter was still $250 or so, but without solar it'd have been more like $400 - from memory. I think I briefly considered low user, but over the year I think we'd be worse off. I'll ask Meridian at the end of summer what they recommend. We're on a 3 year fixed plan so not sure if I could change it anyway.

With solar + batt a good low user daily, off peak / night rates and higher export rates really pay dividends.

Not too tough to run numbers across several providers oneself or chuck your consumption csv and invoices preferred LLM - I've tested GPT 5 and Claude 4, do a great job with a lil coaching and sanity checking. Paypal users can get Perplexity Pro free for 1 year (includes most models)

sibel

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Geek
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#3418729 25-Sep-2025 13:41

fastbike:

timmmay:

Meridian solar plan. You have to contact them for rates in your area, I guess they vary.

Unfortunately such sweet rate are not available in the Orion networks area (greater Christchurch) - here we have a plan with 17c FIT, imports are 18.14c from 9pm-7am and 30.31c during the day.

So a battery that is charged by sun, or at night on sunless days, makes sense if you need to use power at those peak times as you can avoid paying the higher rates: here's the daytime usage kWh from recent bills:
- 11 June   19
- 11 July    59
- 11 Aug    18
- 11 Sep    8
So a total of around 110kWh for the whole of winter. Last year the two highest were around 900kWh per month !

The other reason we got a battery is that we are limited to a max of 10kW export at that FIT, go over it and they will credit ALL exports at a measly 12c. At peak sunshine hours in the sunnier months (Sep - Mar) we could be leaving up to 24kWh/day of exports on the table (we have 15kW of PV/inverter). Having the battery allows us to export early in the day if required and then store that excess PV for later use / export. So a win - win for the power system and our bank account.
As I type we are exporting 5kW which will be powering a neighbour either side of us :)

Back to the video linked earlier, this why I and other contributors to this thread believe that simplistic spreadsheets are no substitute for better data, modelling and a deeper understanding of how a distributed generation system (PV + battery) will work for your own circumstances. I hope the solar broker does such an individualised analysis for their clients rather than just clipping the ticket for a preferred installer. Reading their website makes me think they are a lead generation firm for their installers.

Great output/ lack of import!

Has anyone had comms with Orion about increasing their export limits per phase?

timmmay

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#3418798 25-Sep-2025 16:59

If the revenue from residential solar generation can be taxed, does that mean solar panels are an asset that can be depreciated and claimed against your tax?

MikeFly

192 posts

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#3418800 25-Sep-2025 17:00

timmmay:

If the revenue from residential solar generation can be taxed, does that mean solar panels are an asset that can be depreciated and claimed against your tax?

Yes, but they are not going to tax export revenue.

PolicyGuy

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#3418804 25-Sep-2025 17:22

MikeFly:

timmmay:

If the revenue from residential solar generation can be taxed, does that mean solar panels are an asset that can be depreciated and claimed against your tax?

Yes, but they are not going to tax export revenue.

And that's one part of why they are going to declare it tax exempt income - it would open a very large can of accounting worms.
To quote from the Bill "High compliance costs may also arise from apportionment issues due to the private limitation on deductions."

BTW for the more masochistic of us, here's the actual text of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2025–26, Compliance Simplification, and Remedial Measures) Bill https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2025/0199/latest/whole.html

HarmLessSolutions

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#3418805 25-Sep-2025 17:26

PolicyGuy:

MikeFly:

Yes, but they are not going to tax export revenue.

And that's one part of why they are going to declare it tax exempt income - it would open a very large can of accounting worms.
To quote from the Bill "High compliance costs may also arise from apportionment issues due to the private limitation on deductions."

BTW for the more masochistic of us, here's the actual text of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2025–26, Compliance Simplification, and Remedial Measures) Bill https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2025/0199/latest/whole.html

But also differentiating exported generation from that which is self consumed. They're both essentially income streams but quantifying the 'invisable' behind the meter self consumption is near impossible.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

MikeFly

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#3418807 25-Sep-2025 17:31

HarmLessSolutions:

But also differentiating exported generation from that which is self consumed. They're both essentially income streams but quantifying the 'invisable' behind the meter self consumption is near impossible.

Why is self consumed an income stream?

HarmLessSolutions

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#3418808 25-Sep-2025 17:35

MikeFly:

HarmLessSolutions:

But also differentiating exported generation from that which is self consumed. They're both essentially income streams but quantifying the 'invisable' behind the meter self consumption is near impossible.

Why is self consumed an income stream?

Because you're still deriving financial benefit from it. To deny that is like justifying not paying for the produce you consume before you get to the supermarket checkout. FBT on vehicles is all about the transport benefits company vehicles provide in respect of not using your own vehicle so what's different.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

fastbike

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Ultimate Geek
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#3418809 25-Sep-2025 17:36

MikeFly:

HarmLessSolutions:

But also differentiating exported generation from that which is self consumed. They're both essentially income streams but quantifying the 'invisable' behind the meter self consumption is near impossible.

Why is self consumed an income stream?

You would be required to do an apportionment of the total output and then only claim finance/depreciation on the portion that can be exported for income.

Otautahi Christchurch

MikeFly

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#3418810 25-Sep-2025 17:45

fastbike:

You would be required to do an apportionment of the total output and then only claim finance/depreciation on the portion that can be exported for income.

That explains it better. I don't think they are both income streams, only export is.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3418813 25-Sep-2025 17:53

MikeFly:

fastbike:

You would be required to do an apportionment of the total output and then only claim finance/depreciation on the portion that can be exported for income.

That explains it better. I don't think they are both income streams, only export is.

We benefit the tune of $400/month by way of reduced electricity spending due to self consumption, separate from our export. In most comparable economic gains the IRD consider that to be income by way of deferred costs. "Income stream" may not be a totally accurate definition but then nor is it for employer rent subsidisation, company supplied vehicles or under the table produce supplied to workers but IRD see them that way.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

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