Do you account for self-consumption?

Understanding self-consumption in solar systems

Self-consumption refers to the electricity generated by your solar panels that you use directly in your home before drawing power from the grid. It's an important aspect of solar efficiency, as using your own solar power directly is typically more economical than exporting it to the grid.

How Automised Energy handles self-consumption data

Automised Energy's plan matching system automatically accounts for self-consumption in its analysis. Here's why:

1. Meter-based data collection: We collect data directly from your electricity meter through your provider.
2. Behind-the-meter activity: Self-consumption occurs "behind the meter" - meaning this activity happens before your meter records any grid interactions.
3. Natural inclusion: Since our analysis is based on what your meter records (imports from and exports to the grid), self-consumption is inherently factored into your usage patterns.

What this means for your plan matching

When we identify your best-fit electricity plan, we're analysing your actual grid interaction patterns - after self-consumption has already occurred. This means:

• Your plan matching results already reflect how much electricity you import from the grid
• Your solar export patterns (what you send to the grid after self-consumption) are accounted for
• The timing of your imports and exports, which is affected by self-consumption, is included in our analysis

Technical explanation

Your electricity meter only records:

• Electricity imported from the grid to your home
• Electricity exported from your home to the grid

It doesn't record electricity that travels from your solar panels directly to your appliances. This self-consumed electricity never passes through the meter, so it appears in our data as reduced grid imports rather than as a separate measurement.

Our plan matching algorithm uses this meter data to find the most suitable plan based on when and how much electricity you import and export - your natural pattern after self-consumption.