High Energy Prices Mean Huge Benefits For Owners Of Smart Metering Belgian Photovoltaic Systems

VREG, the energy regulator of the Flanders region of Belgium, reported last week that owners of residential photovoltaic systems who agreed to install smart meters and withdrew from the net metering program are currently benefiting from an electricity injection tariff of approximately EUR 0.11/EUR. Kilowatt hours.

Dirk Van Evercooren, managing director of the Flemish Renewable Energy Association Organisatie voor Duurzame Energie (ODE) Vlaanderen, told Photovoltaic Magazine: “This tariff is about 0.08 euros higher than the tariff paid to smart metering producers at the beginning of the year.”

According to him, the owners of photovoltaic systems operating under the smart meter system not only benefit from the rising electricity price-related injection price, but also-more importantly-benefit from their high-value self-consumption of kilowatt-hours. "This is because the electricity price in November has risen to a staggering 0.39 Euro/kWh," he said.

He further explained: “Summarizing these two benefits, and considering that high energy prices may remain at these levels for a period of time, producers and consumers who rely on smart meters may see that the payback time for their installation is less than that of 2021. The number in January has been reduced by more than half," he further explained. , It is noted that the investment recovery time of the net metering project will also decrease in the same period, but it is less than the investment recovery time of the smart metering device.

The producers and consumers of smart meters are charged based on the actual electricity consumption and the amount of electricity injected, while those who do not have digital meters and still benefit from net metering have no direct economic compensation for the injected electricity, but the injected kilowatts. The economic equivalent-hours are deducted from the household’s electricity bill. "If the net-metering consumer's consumption is higher than the photovoltaic power generation, he will have to buy electricity from the grid at the normal rate," Van Evercooren explained. "If the output is higher than the consumption, he will not get nothing by injecting electricity into the grid. However, his benefit is still great, because all the energy produced by the photovoltaic system is basically considered for his own use."

Theoretically, under the current high electricity prices, both of these two categories of producers and consumers have achieved huge benefits, but the benefits of photovoltaic system owners under smart meters are even greater because they are exempt from paying the Flemish authorities for 2015 The grid fee introduced by residential consumers, he added: “Assuming that 72% of the output is injected and withdrawn during the same billing period, the fee is modeled to reflect a self-consumption level of approximately 28%.” “So if you With a self-consumption rate higher than 28% and a digital meter, you don’t have to pay the consumer tariffs, so your business case may be better than the net metering case.”