Time to give electricity the flick?

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#1397788 1-Oct-2015 09:45

It's probably costing me more in texts then I'm saving in power!

Aredwood

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#1398357 2-Oct-2015 00:37

kiwitrc:
gchiu: But it's not completely cold. It's reaching 50 deg C at present by the end of the day, and an hour in the early hours is enough so far to reach hot enough for the shower.

Your thermostat will stop the element once it reaches temperature so no need to limit how long it runs for, best bet is to have a timer running say midnight to 6 if you want cheapest power, at least then if you dont get and solar boost you have hot water in the mornings or anytime you need it that day.

This^^^

You need the long run time to guarantee that you will always get a fully heated cylinder. But solar hot water is always a tradeoff. To get max savings you need to actively manage it. And there will be a few times you will have no hot water or low temps as a result.

richms

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#1398360 2-Oct-2015 00:55

That is why I see many people recommending solar as a preheat for a gas continuous system. What solar gives the gas doesn't have to add.

Richard rich.ms

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#1398501 2-Oct-2015 10:00

Aredwood:
kiwitrc:
gchiu: But it's not completely cold. It's reaching 50 deg C at present by the end of the day, and an hour in the early hours is enough so far to reach hot enough for the shower.

Your thermostat will stop the element once it reaches temperature so no need to limit how long it runs for, best bet is to have a timer running say midnight to 6 if you want cheapest power, at least then if you dont get and solar boost you have hot water in the mornings or anytime you need it that day.

This^^^

You need the long run time to guarantee that you will always get a fully heated cylinder. But solar hot water is always a tradeoff. To get max savings you need to actively manage it. And there will be a few times you will have no hot water or low temps as a result.

As a solar user I agree that Solar water heating is usually a trade-off and does require some management to maximise savings. This is mainly because high solar efficiency and high water temperature don't naturally go together.

The water we use needs to be hot whereas the water we heat by solar is more easily heated the colder it is. This is because heat transfer is more efficient when the water is at a lower temperature.

The most effective means to make sure that you won't have to monitor solar water heating is to separate the solar heated water and the hot water you use. That's why some installers recommend a two tank system, solar water heating pre-heats the cold water so it can feed the main tank where the hot water is stored. As a retrofit to an existing hot water heating system the pre-heat tank works well provided you have a suitable space for it.

kiwitrc

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#1398506 2-Oct-2015 10:06

Hate to be that guy, but this is starting to get way off the OP topic, maybe we start a separate thread to continue the solar discussions?

gchiu

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#1401337 6-Oct-2015 21:12

I've noticed that in Napier, Unison are charging 9.2000 c/kWh for network charges, but Wellington Electricity are charging me 1.6700 c/kWh at night, and 4.8600 c/kWh during the day.
This results in much higher charges in Napier for electricity.

What are other network operators charging?

timmmay

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#1401348 6-Oct-2015 21:30

gchiu: I've noticed that in Napier, Unison are charging 9.2000 c/kWh for network charges, but Wellington Electricity are charging me 1.6700 c/kWh at night, and 4.8600 c/kWh during the day.
This results in much higher charges in Napier for electricity.

What are other network operators charging?

That's not the whole variable charge though, it's 6.4c/kwh during the day and 3.2/kwh at night. That includes network and Flick margin though, which is probably a more fair comparison.

All pricing schedules here.

fortydayweekend

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#1401510 7-Oct-2015 09:29

gchiu: I've noticed that in Napier, Unison are charging 9.2000 c/kWh for network charges, but Wellington Electricity are charging me 1.6700 c/kWh at night, and 4.8600 c/kWh during the day.
This results in much higher charges in Napier for electricity.

What are other network operators charging?

What they charge is ridiculously complicated (PDFs) but the general idea is to recover all the costs of building and maintaining the network in their local area. Unison covers Hawke's Bay and Rotorua/Taupo while WE covers Wellington, so it's easy to imagine the cost of maintaining the lines in a large rural area with smaller population will cost more to the end user than in a city.

The 1.67c / 4.86c charges in Wellington are also for "controlled hot water" - basically they have the ability to turn your hot water off for short periods to manage the network load better, and you get a discount for that. The 9.2c from Unison doesn't include that discount.

The closest straight comparison would be for Standard User, uncontrolled, all day pricing:
Wellington Electiricity $1/day, 7.02c / kWh
Unison Hawke's Bay $1.15/day, 9.2c / kWh
All ex GST and your retailer will probably bump them up by whatever "prompt payment discount" they are pretending to offer you :)

kiwitrc

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#1417507 31-Oct-2015 06:43

Somebody was waiting for Flick to start in Christchurch, they are now there as well.

RickW

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#1438627 1-Dec-2015 14:39

Just tried to join flick in Christchurch and was told that we cannot because of our off grid solar system. even after explaining that it is completely separate from The supply power into the property and has no effect on the grid.

Does this sound right?

timmmay

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#1438629 1-Dec-2015 14:42

RickW: Just tried to join flick in Christchurch and was told that we cannot because of our off grid solar system. even after explaining that it is completely separate from The supply power into the property and has no effect on the grid.

Does this sound right?

If it's completely separate and not connected to the mains I don't know why you even told them about it. If they connect then they can limit things. What does your solar system power if it's separate from the mains wiring?

RickW

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#1438634 1-Dec-2015 14:46

timmmay:
RickW: Just tried to join flick in Christchurch and was told that we cannot because of our off grid solar system. even after explaining that it is completely separate from The supply power into the property and has no effect on the grid.

Does this sound right?

If it's completely separate and not connected to the mains I don't know why you even told them about it. If they connect then they can limit things. What does your solar system power if it's separate from the mains wiring?

The guy that I spoke to asked if we had solar and without even thinking I said yes. We have a transfer switch in the switchboard, the solar powers the whole house when it's good weather, we only have a 20kw/h battery bank.

timmmay

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#1438638 1-Dec-2015 14:49

Try calling them back and saying your solar system isn't connected to the mains. They're a new company and probably don't have as many processes as bigger companies so may be able to use some common sense. Tell them the truth - you have a solar system that is not connected to the mains or switchboard in any way.

RickW

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#1438640 1-Dec-2015 14:51

timmmay: Try calling them back and saying your solar system isn't connected to the mains. They're a new company and probably don't have as many processes as bigger companies so may be able to use some common sense. Tell them the truth - you have a solar system that is not connected to the mains or switchboard in any way.

That's what I said as soon as I said about the solar. He put me on hold and spoke to the supervisor of their metering department and said no.

timmmay

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#1438645 1-Dec-2015 14:55

Ok, call back and tell them what they need to know, though in that case advertising it on a public forum may not have been the best idea ;)

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