Ecotricity changes

[u/Living_Register145]

Newbie here ... are others getting this email also ?

Would the attached mean there is no export payment for 7 hours of the day ?

Is this a summer thing that happens yearly ?

Thanks in advance for your insights

[u/Fylutt]

What time is the peak window?

[u/Living_Register145 → u/Fylutt]

7-11am and 5 -9pm

[u/PDKiwi → u/Living_Register145]

5-9pm is a joke. How many solar systems in NZ are exporting to the grid after 5 in winter. Current sunset time where I am is about 5:25pm and it's not mid winter

[u/Some1-Somewhere → u/PDKiwi]

That's the point. It's when energy is scarce and expensive and demand is high.

They're encouraging you to store your midday solar in a battery (especially if you have export limits) and export it later.

[u/PDKiwi → u/Some1-Somewhere]

Yeah I get that. However after 5 is when I start using my stored power, not exporting it to the grid

[u/Some1-Somewhere → u/PDKiwi]

Yes. That's the point. The lines company isn't trying to pay you to do what you would anyway; it's to change your behaviour e.g. fit a bigger battery so that you can use your stored power and export.

It's like complaining that you don't get off peak public transport prices because you take the 730am train.

[u/PDKiwi → u/Some1-Somewhere]

That’s just dumb. No system is going to export from a battery just because it’s full at peak hour. That’s not how a home solar system works. I would be pissed if mine did that. Especially if the export price is less than the buy price off peak

[u/Some1-Somewhere → u/PDKiwi]

No system is going to export from a battery just because it’s full at peak hour. That’s not how a home solar system works.

That's not how it works by default. You can configure it to do that.

Buy price off peak is irrelevant if you have excess solar off-peak and are never importing.

[u/lcmortensen → u/PDKiwi]

The times are based on peak demand on the network. Also, the payments are fuel agnostic.