I am producing more energy than I am consuming, so why do I still have an electricity bill?

Understanding your solar system can be quite confusing at first. It is quite logical to wonder why you would still have an electricity bill if you produce more energy than you consume in a given day, month, quarter, year etc. 

Why is this to be expected?

In the graph below, which you can find on the 'Consumption' tab of your dashboard, you ​​will see that on some days your energy production is more than the combination of the different circuits' energy consumed. By circuits we mean 'consumed', 'hot water' and 'other'. 

This however does not mean that you have not used electricity from the grid (electricity you are billed for) on days such as the 3rd, 5th and 6th of Feb in the above example. 

If you look at the graph below, which you can also find on the 'Consumption' tab of your dashboard, you can see where your consumption (purple curve) overlaps with your production (yellow curve). Note: In this example hot water and other circuits are included in your consumption circuit and so the purple curve represents your total consumption.  

It is only where this overlap of purple and yellow occurs that you are not importing electricity from the grid or owing your electricity provider money. This is because the electricity produced by your PV system is not stored on site for later use. It is actually exported back to the grid. In fact you earn money on the solar you export to the grid and this can be seen on the 'Savings' tab on your dashboard, as in the image below, where the orange circle demonstrates your earnings through solar exported to the grid.  

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So whenever you are consuming more than you are producing at a single point in time you are racking up the money you will owe your electricity provider.

You typically earn less for exporting energy than you pay for importing it. If this is the case for you, we recommend to maximise the overlap in your yellow and purple curve to maximise savings.