Payout for Solar Export Credits

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snowfly

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#3483571 23-Apr-2026 16:35

Hi @fastbike, if you don't mind me asking (feel free to PM me instead if wanted), but what size/spec is your 3 phase solar setup, which allowed you to get $204.68 solar credits from Meridian, as per your last post?

Presume you are on the $0.17+gst solar buyback rate from Merdian?
Does that mean you exported approx 1044kWh in your last billing period? (March-April?) 35kWh per day?

I'm still going back and forth with solar companies on designing our 3 phase system, can realistically fit approx 13kW of panels on our roof max (3 arrays, east, north and west), but trying to weigh up whether to stick to a 10kW 3 phase inverter (to meet Meridian's and other companies 10kW size limit), or whether to up size to a 15kW inverter (so we can go up to 5kW per phase, when things like 2 x HWC cylinders start up, 3P ducted heatpump, etc)

90% of the time we are under 3kW per phase, but when the larger appliances are used (HWC x2, oven, cooktop, heatpumps, etc), the other 10% of the time one phase can spike over 4-5kW.

fastbike

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#3483836 24-Apr-2026 22:55

snowfly:

Hi @fastbike, if you don't mind me asking (feel free to PM me instead if wanted), but what size/spec is your 3 phase solar setup, which allowed you to get $204.68 solar credits from Meridian, as per your last post?

Presume you are on the $0.17+gst solar buyback rate from Merdian?
Does that mean you exported approx 1044kWh in your last billing period? (March-April?) 35kWh per day?

I'm still going back and forth with solar companies on designing our 3 phase system, can realistically fit approx 13kW of panels on our roof max (3 arrays, east, north and west), but trying to weigh up whether to stick to a 10kW 3 phase inverter (to meet Meridian's and other companies 10kW size limit), or whether to up size to a 15kW inverter (so we can go up to 5kW per phase, when things like 2 x HWC cylinders start up, 3P ducted heatpump, etc)

90% of the time we are under 3kW per phase, but when the larger appliances are used (HWC x2, oven, cooktop, heatpumps, etc), the other 10% of the time one phase can spike over 4-5kW.

So my thinking (not advice) is too size the inverter to meet your average likely max load (not max max load), and configure your system to avoid overloading the inverter. So we have a double oven (3kw each) running across two phases, a HWC with two 3kW elements across two phases, a 4kW heat pump on one phase, an EV charger across 3 phases. Plus normal lighting etc which is a few 100x kW.

I have some automation (openHAB) to keep the secondary loads away from peak tariffs, although some is handraulic.

We have 27x440W panels on the Solis 10kW 3 phase inverter on the house, and 14x440Wpanels/380W Enphase micro 3 phase on the garage. I run some automation to export between 6-10am in the summer to drain the battery so we keep exports below the 10kW (Meridiun) limit effectively clipping the exports.

We sold 1204kWh in the last billing period. This month is a lot less: as the sun is lower and we have used the (EV) car more.

PM me if you want more info,

Otautahi Christchurch

fastbike

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#3490180 12-May-2026 16:31

The power bill to 10 May arrived yesterday - we exceeded our estimate by a decent factor. We're still doing net exports on sunny days and so far have not had to use the heat pump for space heating.

Last winter we spent (net bill) about $100 in June, $200 in July and $100 in August before reverting to net exports.

Otautahi Christchurch

fastbike

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#3501176 8-Jun-2026 08:07

Just keeping this thread current.
Even though we've had fewer sunny days than the corresponding period last year, the weather is unseasonably mild so we've not had a lot of heating turned on. This is $50 depletion of the credit, for the same period last year it was $100 although this is 26 days cf 31 days last year (see below)

NB: Meridian have migrated to a new system so the power bill came in 5 days early and the new system is showing they want to send me a bill for those 5 days on Wednesday ...

Otautahi Christchurch

fastbike

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#3519994 13-Aug-2026 17:59

So the bill for the 5 weeks to 11 July was $168 cost and the one for the 4 weeks to 11 Aug was $130. Credit balance is now $1,243 and from the performance of the last few days we should have a neutral bill for this month so a decent payout in October.

Otautahi Christchurch

timmmay

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#3520050 13-Aug-2026 21:55

@fastbike what part of the country are you in? Looks like you have around 18kw of panels? With 9kw of panels we've produced 267kwh of power in the 13 days so far this month, which should be 616kwh if it's straight line but last year was 732kw. We've used more than double what we produced though, it's not been that sunny. Compared with Dec where we produced 1300kwh and used 900kwh, in Wellington.

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pdh

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#3520055 14-Aug-2026 00:16

Don't really see the ethics of solar export being tax-exempt...

If I build a house to live in - and AirBnB a room occasionally - that revenue is taxable.

What's different ?

I accept that it may cost more than it's worth for IRD to collect - and it's great that they've noticed that.

But it doesn't change the fact that you've invested in plant that is producing income...

fastbike

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#3520061 14-Aug-2026 07:23

timmmay:(

@fastbike what part of the country are you in? Looks like you have around 18kw of panels? With 9kw of panels we've produced 267kwh of power in the 13 days so far this month, which should be 616kwh if it's straight line but last year was 732kw. We've used more than double what we produced though, it's not been that sunny. Compared with Dec where we produced 1300kwh and used 900kwh, in Wellington.

For the first 13 days of Aug the house array has produced 388kWh, the garage array 115 (104 last year).
We're now getting to the point where the battery is no longer charging overnight, and next month the battery will be switched back into export mode (dumping some energy at 7am to make room for peak midday excess generation)

We've had some pretty cold nights which often results in a clear day.

Otautahi Christchurch

fastbike

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#3520062 14-Aug-2026 07:27

pdh:

Don't really see the ethics of solar export being tax-exempt...

If I build a house to live in - and AirBnB a room occasionally - that revenue is taxable.

What's different ?

I accept that it may cost more than it's worth for IRD to collect - and it's great that they've noticed that.

But it doesn't change the fact that you've invested in plant that is producing income...

Ethics LoL.I can think of lot's of ethically dubious things happening in the world around me, but exporting a small amount of power ?

Maybe you need to go to school and study accounting, as I would be running a tax loss situation here.

I'll leave it at that. Enjoy your BnB guests, I get to enjoy my side hustle without doing laundry.

Otautahi Christchurch

k1w1k1d

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#3520068 14-Aug-2026 08:19

Do most residential solar installations produce income for the homeowner or just offset some of their electricity charges?

Jase2985

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#3520069 14-Aug-2026 08:21

k1w1k1d:

Do most residential solar installations produce income for the homeowner or just offset some of their electricity charges?

most do the latter.

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fastbike

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#3520144 14-Aug-2026 12:02

k1w1k1d:

Do most residential solar installations produce income for the homeowner or just offset some of their electricity charges?

I have a colleague who installed 26 panels a few months after did mine, he has no battery. But I think he has a very small power bill over the year. He also has fireplace although uses some oil column heaters in the winter.

Our situation is quite different as we have 3 phase power so can export more, although the limit for single phase is being increased. We also have a solar thermal hot water system so use very little PV for water heating whereas many people dump surplus power into a HWC. Finally I have some battery automation than runs from Sept to April to soak up excess PV in the middle of the day and then export it at times when the grid demand (not ours) is high - this keeps me under the PowerCo 10kW buy back limit.

We used to have a power bill around $3k per year. Power prices have increased since we installed, and we run our heat pumps more (comfort dividend).

So it depends on your circumstances and installation details.

Otautahi Christchurch

fastbike

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#3527183 12-Sep-2026 08:01

The latest invoice arrived for the month to 10th August. We got a small credit - a little lower than the corresponding one 12 months ago due to a bit more cloud and some late frosts. So looking forward to another $$ payout from powerco next month.

Otautahi Christchurch

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