Many people look at the solar feed-in credit on their electricity bill or energy account and think that this is the the amount of power that their solar system has produced each quarter. This is incorrect.
Gross Power
Gross Solar Power is the actual power that your solar system generates. That is power before any use by household appliances. The Gross Power reading for each day can be found on your inverter. Refer to the below “How to read your Inverter”
Net Power
Net Solar Power is the excess energy fed back to the grid after all appliances in the home have been powered (known as solar soaking) for daytime use. This is the reading found on the digital meter and your electricity bill or energy account statement.
It is important to remember that your solar system is set up to power your home first and foremost before exporting any unused excess energy to the grid. This means if your household’s day-time energy use has increased since the solar system was installed, you may see that your solar feed-in has dropped. This is not cause for concern and does not automatically mean that your system is malfunctioning.
We are often asked by our customers how to read their solar meter and inverter. Follow this simple guide for more information.
It is important that you take notice of your meter reading and ensure that the feed-in credit that you are receiving on your bill matches the amount exported on your meter’s digital display.
In Queensland, Energex and Ergon – the energy distributors – utilise a number of different digital solar meters depending on the age and location of the property. Compare your meter to the photos below to find out which meter you have at your property.
The EM1000 is a single phase import/export meter. In order to read your export correctly refer to your energy account to determine which meter corresponds to which tariff (for homes with multiple supply tariffs). The Meter Number will be details on your latest energy statement from your retailer.
The EM1200 is a single phase digital electricity meter used by Energex at times when they require a meter for an off peak supply as well. The EM 1200 is very simple to read; if you have solar power it will scroll between three main readouts with the readout designation number showing above where the meter says “Ripple” (You can press the scroll button to scroll between the readouts):
The standard two or three phase digital electricity meter that Energex use is the Atlas EDMI polyphase meter. The Atlas EDMI is very simple to read; if you have solar power it will scroll between two readouts (You can press the scroll button to scroll between the readouts):
It is important to read your inverter display on a regular basis either via the mobile application (for WiFi-enabled models) or via the integrated display.
Depending on the inverter model and brand there are a number of ways to read your daily and total power generation.
For most inverters, there will be an LCD display with a scroll button. For models without a physical button, check to see if there is a touch button or “knock here” label. Pressing any of these buttons will scroll through the various inverter display readings including E-Today, E-Total, PAC.
To monitor system performance and easily see if your system is performing as it should, you should record your E-TODAY and E-TOTAL readings for approximately 2 weeks. It is important that you aim to take the reading at the same time each day in the afternoon just before sunset when the inverter will shut-down for the evening.
The days weather should also be recorded as overcast and gloomy days will see less energy production and this will need to be factored into the analysis.
You will find a copy of our solar generation log at the bottom of this page. Feel free to print this out and use it to record your daily readings.
Once the data has been collected, send this through to our team and we can analyse it for you taking into account the system age and location.
The generation calculator below provides a good average power generation per day based on the Clean Energy Council’s Solar Design Software.
The rated output is that achieved in perfect laboratory conditions. The Clean Energy Council design summary software takes these de-ratings into account when predicting averages for any given system. Panels generate more electricity in summer than in winter. The table above reflects the electricity generated across the whole year.
