Bills & Tariffs
Time-of-use pricing rewards moving a load rather than shrinking it
When electricity costs different amounts at different hours, the cheapest saving available is often a timer…
· 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
Import, export and time-of-use — the pricing that decides the payback.
20 articles · page 1 of 2
Import and export are priced separately, and that changes everything
A solar household buys and sells electricity under two unrelated arrangements, and the gap between the two rates decides almost every decision that follows.
By Tara Mukherjee · · 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
An east and west array can beat a south-facing one on the bill
Splitting panels across two opposite slopes gives up some annual generation and returns a production curve…
· 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
Standing charges mean cutting usage does not cut the bill proportionally
Part of an energy bill is a fixed daily fee that does not move when consumption does, which changes what a…
· 3 min read
Bills & Tariffs
Reading a half-hourly consumption profile before buying anything
The data a smart meter already collects will tell you more about which energy measure suits your house than…
· 3 min read
Bills & Tariffs
An electric car is the largest load most houses have ever had
Charging adds an annual consumption comparable to everything else the household uses, and the way it…
· 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
A heat pump changes the shape of a bill, not only its size
Replacing a fuel with electricity moves a household’s largest load onto the meter, and whether that helps…
· 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
What your metering arrangement is actually counting
The physical arrangement at the boundary decides whether generation, export and import are measured…
· 3 min read
Bills & Tariffs
A smart meter enables things, and it does not save anything
The device measures and communicates, which is a precondition for several useful arrangements and is not…
· 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
Kilowatts and kilowatt-hours are different products, and some bills charge for both
Confusing a rate with a quantity is the commonest error in household energy, and it hides both in tariff…
· 4 min read
Bills & Tariffs
Chasing a self-consumption percentage can cost more than it saves
Self-consumption is a diagnostic ratio that got promoted to a goal, and households distort their lives to…
· 3 min read
Bills & Tariffs
Who actually owns the array on the roof
Some residential systems belong to a third party under a long lease of the roof, and that arrangement…
· 4 min read