AllanB

I just do a deduction from the my UK otherwise £1,500 council tax.

Like in Thailand the cops take 200 baht (£4) off me when they "think" I am speeding, happens about once every 2 years, the cop pockets the money and people complain. Not me, one UK speed camera costs me more than a lifetime of fines back in the tropics.

Knoxy_UK

You also need to consider that a 4kwh peek system doesn't produce 4kw per hour, it's more like 2.7kw per hour.

But as Carv points out, the trick is to not use things at the same time. Takes planning but becomes second nature to sip the fresh tea while the bread toasts (rather than doing both at the same time only for the toast to go cold or the tea to stew)

AllanB

Okay that is something new, are you talking about mains electricity?

I have a bit of reading to do. TIP.

Knoxy_UK

Regardless whether the panels feed the mains or a battery, they don't run at their stated fullness. Ironically solar PV are adversely affected by heat.

AllanB

It's just that I never heard of a 4kW limit on a house supply, in any of the countries I have lived and there have been 5 others,

Knoxy_UK

The UK government deemed 4kwh peek the max for the "domestic" Feed In Tariff. So it's rare to find more than 16 panels on a UK home.

The point is it they don't produce 4kw, so when totalling up what you can use and the savings it'll generate you need to use a lower max production.

Ukkram

Ahh. So this is why my mains trips in winter when I have the heater on and switch the stove or kettle on.

EMR

We have to play " potenia " bingo at times to stop the power tripping.
Usual culprits are the kettle and washing machine when it goes into water heater mode.

carvoeiro

yes my friend just so
we had to increase the the supply - an easy thing to do via EDp to stop tripping out every time our pool pump was running
but your - higher potential - does cost more on your monthly standing order

in my case it was easier to increase the potential supply than to persuade my wife and her visiting family that switching on every light bulb in the house at the same time as using the kettle electric oven toaster and somehow all going away to use hairdryers at the same time was a bad idea

EMR

I am still winning that battle, better to turn off unnecessary devices than pay a higher rate for power.
We have a friend who constantly complains about the cost of their electricity.
No wonder, their house is like a sauna in winter, do not like using the wood burning fire, too dusty.
They have a hot tub , rarely used.
They have a solar panel for water but have the electric back up switched on 24 hours day, 365 days year.
They do not understand that hot water used on winter days will be replaced by power of the sun by the end of the day.
They do not need the water heater coming on for a few hours every morning.

Being of the generation who found wash cloths frozen in the bathroom in winter, ice on Windows.
One room heated ,
Coats etc on the beds to keep warm putting on an extra layer in winter is not a huge inconvenience .
Not as bad as our Portuguese neighbours for who winter starts on 1st Oct and does not end until May judging by the number of layers and heavy coats they wear.

Knoxy_UK

In March I was sunbathing and my neighbour had his coat on. No doubt with time I'll be wearing a coat.

carvoeiro

it can depend on the type of house you live in
we are lucky we have a smaller room we use in the winter and it has a lot of south facing windows - lots of passive heat - rare it ever drops below 15c and often 20+ Noveber to April - we only had 2 daytime fires in the last 6 months because of freak weather days
in the evening we rarely need a fire - a thick rug and the occasional hot water bottle more than suffice - and i'm not a lunatic who likes to suffer the cold
if you live in the south or south West within 30km of the coast you tend to get much milder winters here - we often get 20c+ in the winter months and for 3 of the last 4 years have had days of 30c+ in february - this year i swam for a week at the end of Feb - then it cooled down until April
The other main difference we find is the cold doesnt arrive until very late - often not really getting cold until after midnight and even frosts mostly disappear by 9 o clock the next day
But i have been into older tradional houses with no South facing windows and they have been like fridges
many of the old people in the village are outside most days sitting facing the sun - either outside their homes or in the village square having a chat
its a totally different life here