ᐅ Electric meters for air-to-water heat pumps, regular electricity, and solar power?

Hi everyone,

Probably a silly question, but I haven’t fully understood the topic of meters for air-to-water heat pumps and photovoltaic systems, and Google doesn’t provide any results that I completely understand. I keep reading about feed-in meters, yield meters, bidirectional meters, etc., but I have no idea what I actually need.

Situation: New build, equipped with an air-to-water heat pump and a photovoltaic system.

What kind of meter do I need? Is one meter enough for everything? I also keep reading that a separate meter is needed for the air-to-water heat pump because electricity rates are sometimes cheaper. That would argue against the "one meter for everything" approach.

So, what is correct?

Thanks and best regards!

Research the cost of a standard electricity tariff and a heat pump tariff in your area. Then you can decide what makes sense and what doesn’t.

RotorMotor schrieb:

Research what a regular tariff and a heat pump tariff cost in your area. Then you can decide what makes sense and what doesn’t.

However, don't forget to factor in the extra costs for the second meter and additionally for the switching system, so that you can operate the heat pump with the electricity from the photovoltaic system. We are also currently building a new house. We have a ground source heat pump with trench collectors and a 13.26 kWp photovoltaic system. I will only use one meter for consumption.

Correct, a meter (two-way meter) should be sufficient for you as well. Normally, your electrician installs it right away during new house construction. At least, that’s how it was done in our case.

This way, you use the electricity generated by the photovoltaic system directly for your air-to-water heat pump. To achieve optimal performance, you will need to do some experimentation.

So, thanks first of all for your answers. A comparison of the current rates at my future home location for the new build shows:

35 cents for heat pump electricity
38 cents for household electricity

--> From my point of view, it makes no sense to have a separate meter and tariff. And I have read repeatedly that the photovoltaic system can only supply either one meter or the other. Although your post, Neubau2022, sounds like it might be possible? Anyway, I’m going to leave it out—I think that’s the better option for me... 🙂

A crucial factor in this regard is also the output capacity of the photovoltaic system.