Hoping someone can teach me how to read my net meter

[AndyNicholas]

I have an 11.97kw grid tied solar array. My utility proider is entergy arkansas. I understand the meter for the most part but somethings I am unsure of. The meter alternates between 2 different kwh readings. I understand reading 1 is my usage from entergy and reading 2 is what my panels have produced and sent back to entergy. Here is where I need some clarification. My meter always displays 2 rows of arrows, I was going to upload a photo but it says the photo is too big. I have seen both rows pointing to the left and to the right at different times. The top row is the solar array, the bottom row is the grid. When solar arrow is pointing to the right, does that mean that my house is using everything produced and none is going back to the grid? I also assume the numbers can never go backwards. I also saw one time and only for a second some letters at the bottom right of the meter screen. It was eut or eot or some other combination of those letters, does anyone know what I am referring to and what it means?

I meausred the tilt of the solar panels and they are at 29 degrees, near optimal for spring/fall for my location. My next question is can someone give me an estimate of how much difference I can expect on a good summer day vs good spring/fall day vs good winter day? So far for the month of November, my forty-two, 285 watt panels make 50-57kwh on good days.

[J.P.M.]

I have an 11.97kwh grid tied solar array. My utility proider is entergy arkansas. I understand the meter for the most part but somethings I am unsure of. The meter alternates between 2 different kwh readings. I understand reading 1 is my usage from entergy and reading 2 is what my panels have produced and sent back to entergy. Here is where I need some clarification. My meter always displays 2 rows of arrows, I was going to upload a photo but it says the photo is top big. I have seen both rows pointing to the left and to the right at different times. The top row is the solar array, the bottom row is the grid. When solar arrow is pointing to the right, does that mean that my house is using everything produced and none is going back to the grid? I also assume the numbers can never go backwards. I also saw one time and only for a second some letters at the bottom right of the meter screen. It was eut or eot or some othe combination of those letters, does anyone know what I am referring to and what it means?

I meausred the tilt of the solar panels and they are at 29 degrees, near optimal for spring/fall. My next question is can someone give me an estimate of how much difference I can expect on a good summer day vs good spring/fall day vs good winter day? So far for the month of November, my forty-two, 285 watt panels make 50-57kwh on good days.

1.) Have you called your energy provider and asked them what all that means? Since it's their meter, that's where I'd start. They will help you teach yourself.

2.) Download and run PVWatts from NREL. It's a PV modeling program. Read the help screens a couple of times, use your information, and 10 % system losses. Then, use the hourly output option and look for high output days. Those days will give you a rough, ballpark guess of what you might expect on clear days for your system. The output numbers will also be dependent on the ambient temp. and wind velocity the model uses which will be different than actual conditions at any time.

BTW, you have a 11.97 kW (kiloWatt) system, not a 11.97 kwh (kiloWatt-hour) system.

[wienerdog]

Do you have the name of the meter? Mine sounds a little like yours but I have some dots down in the bottom right. There are 3 dots and they will light up and then go away in the order of the energy is flowing to the grid. Imagine it just as the old dial meters works. If the dots were coming on at the left and then turning off from the left it was just like the dial was moving to the right or power flowing into your house. If the dots turn on at the right then turn off at the right it means it is spinning backwards or to the left. The faster the dots come and and going away the more the power is flowing.

You are farther south than me but my 8.58 kW system produces about 42 kWh this week on sunny days. It was closer to 47 kWh at the beginning of November.

What type of inverter do you have?

[AndyNicholas]

Do you have the name of the meter? Mine sounds a little like yours but I have some dots down in the bottom right. There are 3 dots and they will light up and then go away in the order of the energy is flowing to the grid. Imagine it just as the old dial meters works. If the dots were coming on at the left and then turning off from the left it was just like the dial was moving to the right or power flowing into your house. If the dots turn on at the right then turn off at the right it means it is spinning backwards or to the left. The faster the dots come and and going away the more the power is flowing.

You are farther south than me but my 8.58 kW system produces about 42 kWh this week on sunny days. It was closer to 47 kWh at the beginning of November.

What type of inverter do you have?

The meter says elster a3rl on it. I think mine has the dots as well. I am not sure about my inverter. I can check on it tomorrow if I remeber to. Today was pretty sunny. My array produced 50.86kwh today.

[peakbagger]

The problem you are going to run into is that meters are now customizable. The vendor sells a pile of them to utility and then the utility makes them fit their their standard.

On my meter the direction of net power flow is indicated by the arrows. The first numerical reading indicates the total power flow to the house and the next readout is the total power leaving the house. The utility really cant look back into the house wiring to see the actual solar panel output unless they add some current transducers. In areas that are contemplating time of use billing I expect the readings are far more complex.

[AndyNicholas]

Thank you all for your responses. Azdave, I am going to check out those websites, thank you.

j.p.m. I haven't called the energy provider. I was standing next to the worker when he changed the meter. All he said was if the arrow points left I am putting power into the grid, if it points right I am buying power. He said readout 1 is kwh from the grid and reading 2 is kwh sent to the grid. He didn't seem too interested in explaining much more, I think he actually said he wasn't very familiar with them. I will look for the pvwatts. Is it an app for the phone or a program for a computer? Thank you for correcting me on how to identify my system size. It probably won't be the last mistake I say.

peakbagger, I think you are right about a lot of different kinds of meters. All the videos and photos I have found online are different than mine. I was hoping to find another entergy arkansas grid tied person on this website. Solar power is rare in my area. I may see if the solar installer will give my name and number out to someone they know has my provider and see if that person will call me.

I saw the letters on the display again earlier, the letters are ECH.

[J.P.M.]

Thank you all for your responses. Azdave, I am going to check out those websites, thank you.

j.p.m. I haven't called the energy provider. I was standing next to the worker when he changed the meter. All he said was if the arrow points left I am putting power into the grid, if it points right I am buying power. He said readout 1 is kwh from the grid and reading 2 is kwh sent to the grid. He didn't seem too interested in explaining much more, I think he actually said he wasn't very familiar with them. I will look for the pvwatts. Is it an app for the phone or a program for a computer? Thank you for correcting me on how to identify my system size. It probably won't be the last mistake I say.

peakbagger, I think you are right about a lot of different kinds of meters. All the videos and photos I have found online are different than mine. I was hoping to find another entergy arkansas grid tied person on this website. Solar power is rare in my area. I may see if the solar installer will give my name and number out to someone they know has my provider and see if that person will call me.

I saw the letters on the display again earlier, the letters are ECH.

Is there some reason you cannot call the energy provider and get information from the horse's mouth, or at least ask ? Seems more direct with a better chance of getting correct information and better than dart throws at what's going on from sources here that are not, and probably cannot be as informed as to equipment particulars as those who provided the equipment. Put another way: What have you got to lose by a phone call ??

[AndyNicholas]

Is there some reason you cannot call the energy provider and get information from the horse's mouth, or at least ask ? Seems more direct with a better chance of getting correct information and better than dart throws at what's going on from sources here that are not, and probably cannot be as informed as to equipment particulars as those who provided the equipment. Put another way: What have you got to lose by a phone call ??

No, there is no reason I can't call them. When i do call them, hopefully I get someone who knows something about them. I did ask the guy, who called me to set up the appointment for the meter change out, about it and he said he wasn't sure how to read it, he only dealt with scheduling the meter swap. Then as I mentioned before, the guy who changed the meter didn't go into anymore detail other than left arrows were putting power into the grid and right arrow was us buying from the grid.

[J.P.M.]

No, there is no reason I can't call them. When i do call them, hopefully I get someone who knows something about them. I did ask the guy, who called me to set up the appointment for the meter change out, about it and he said he wasn't sure how to read it, he only dealt with scheduling the meter swap. Then as I mentioned before, the guy who changed the meter didn't go into anymore detail other than left arrows were putting power into the grid and right arrow was us buying from the grid.

If you call them and either get a bonehead or blown off, start walking up the chain of command. Nothing can replace persistence. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Just stay professional.

[Syberdog]

I would expect someone in billing or meter reading dept to know... like JPM says, always go up the chain until your satisfied, then watch what comes back down....

[AndyNicholas]

Screenshot_2017-12-08-11-36-56.png I called the electric company and asked about how to read my meter, they said they would call me back but they never did. So, after a few days, i called the installer, they also said they would call me back. They did call me back and explained to me if the top arrow points left, I am selling to the grid. If the top arrow points right, I am using everything I am producing. If the bottom arrow is pointing left, it is basically just to keep the (power I am buying) number from increasing. If the bottom arrow is pointing right, I am buying from the utility.

I may call the installer back for 1 more question. I noticed when our heat pump is running, the meter shows I am selling power and buying power at the same time. My array was producing over 9000 watts then. I am confused as to why I would be buying if I was making enough to be selling back to the utility.

[DanS26]

Andy, sounds like you are very interested in your electrical production and usage. In that regard, have you considered installing an energy monitoring system? Many good systems out there which will monitor a few or all your circuits including your solar circuits. No more guessing and some of the more capable systems will let you input your utility rate structure and thus you can reconcile to the POCO billing.

[AndyNicholas]

Andy, sounds like you are very interested in your electrical production and usage. In that regard, have you considered installing an energy monitoring system? Many good systems out there which will monitor a few or all your circuits including your solar circuits. No more guessing and some of the more capable systems will let you input your utility rate structure and thus you can reconcile to the POCO billing.

I haven't considered installing one but I may look into it. I do like to know how things work, which is why I have been watching my usage and production closely since the array went up. I have noticed when the heat pump isn't running the meter indicates i am not buying from the grid at all, only using and selling what I produced. I have just been trying to wrap my head around how/why I would be buying and selling at the same time if I am already producing enough to be selling back in the 1st place.

[azdave]

I have just been trying to wrap my head around how/why I would be buying and selling at the same time.

You aren't. It's either one or the other. Simple indicator arrows on a utility meter should never be expected to provide definitive answers about your system performance. I get generation vs consumption numbers updated each day from my utility along with monthly and yearly stats. They present it as a bar graph and overlay the average ambient temps as well.