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Yes, you can share a solar system between two or more houses, but there are key considerations. Combining meters can reduce standing costs but results in a single electricity bill, requiring households to estimate their usage.
If merging meters isn't possible, you can assign specific solar panels to each home with separate solar inverters or microinverters. This allows for individual billing from the energy supplier. Future changes, like one household moving or installing a battery, need careful planning.
Always consult a professional to ensure your wiring and meter configurations are suitable for shared solar use.
Can I have one solar system feeding two or more houses?
Your only alternative is to merge the two meters into one if you wish to share the output of all the solar systems between the two households. It’s important to get expert advice on how the existing wiring can cope with the new configuration.
You should save money on the standing costs as a result of merging the two meters. The fact that you just get one electricity bill is a drawback as you will need to estimate the cost between each household. Please note your energy retailer may refuse to merge your purchases. A single meter is not a problem if one individual pays both existing bills.
If you have bills that are paid by multiple people, you have the following options:
- Consolidate to a single official meter, add your own sub-metering to each dwelling, and divide the ‘official’ cost accordingly.
- If consolidating to a single meter is neither practicable nor practical, you must share the solar array by allocating a predetermined number of roof panels to each residence and then having two separate inverters. One for each meter, or microinverters and sharing the mini inverters between residences. You’re essentially sharing a roof with two independent solar power systems. The advantage of this strategy is that the electricity supplier will bill each residence separately, and the ownership of each solar system will be defined.
Things to consider
New Owner
If one of the households moves away you may find that the new owners wish to have their own dedicated meter. So it’s wise to make provision that meters can be split apart to their original configuration.
Single Energy Retailer
It is also important to note that you can only have one energy retailer for the single consolidated meter. So when sharing a single meter households have to be on the same page as to which retailer they prefer.
Battery
When installing a solar battery for backup, it’s important to consider the implications. The battery should have a predetermined reserve capacity, supplied through a dedicated circuit.
Electric Vehicles
An option to consider could be jointly owning an EV and charging it from the excess power generated by the solar system.
Summary
As you can see there are a number of aspects to consider. We would recommend getting professional electrical advice to ascertain if consolidation of metering is allowed.
