Solar

[pinball god]

Sheesh. I might have to look into it, but I just looked at my bill of $700+ and I'm averaging 28kw/day usage. I might need a power station in my backyard 

I'll keep reading posts here and hop to get a handle on whether it would pay to get one or just suicide.

[Cursed]

Sheesh. I might have to look into it, but I just looked at my bill of $700+ and I'm averaging 28kw/day usage. I might need a power station in my backyard  

If you are like me that was the biggest bill that you get all year! This last bill has my air conditioning usage and practically doubles the rest of the bills i get.

I have all my bills for roughly the last 2 to 3 years so i will do the same, work out my yearly average and try to get a system a touch higher than that to cover the higher bills (as by then there should be some money in the kitty so to speak). Thanks for your help ddstoys.

[Homepin]

Sheesh. I might have to look into it, but I just looked at my bill of $700+ and I'm averaging 28kw/day usage. I might need a power station in my backyard 

I'll keep reading posts here and hop to get a handle on whether it would pay to get one or just suicide.

Turn some things off 

[goodolddays]

Ring your supplier and ask if you are getting the best possible discount .
Last year I doubled my discount doing this and just the other week got another 2% off doing the same (changed to paying by direct debit)

Also, each time I do this the contract period restarts so I get $100 credit off my next bill   

While your at it, ring your mortgage provider and hassle them too ...works for me . In fact, last time they rang me to check if I was happy , I said no and they gave me another bit of a discount 

[pinball god]

Sheesh. I might have to look into it, but I just looked at my bill of $700+ and I'm averaging 28kw/day usage. I might need a power station in my backyard 

I'll keep reading posts here and hop to get a handle on whether it would pay to get one or just suicide.

Turn some things off 

my heart/lung machine does use a bit of power 

ok no heart/lung machine but my wife bought a pond filter that has been running 24/7 which may explain some of the usage. over winter will be running it less.

back to the subject, I have just read today that a lot of the carrots have gone as of dec 2012 ie. now 8 cents buy back and it doesn't automatically come off your usage but you pay for what you use and get rebated 8 cents of what you produce. maybe individ supplier may be offering better. I haven't investigated it very much yet but its sounding like it will take much longer to pay back the investment

[pinball god]

Hey Rustalan who you get the deal from as it sounds a little like the pre 12/2012 capping

[ktm450]

back to the subject, I have just read today that a lot of the carrots have gone as of dec 2012 ie. now 8 cents buy back and it doesn't automatically come off your usage but you pay for what you use and get rebated 8 cents of what you produce. maybe individ supplier may be offering better. I haven't investigated it very much yet but its sounding like it will take much longer to pay back the investment

That is shit, it would take forever to pay off, and you have to hope nothing goes wrong with the inverter once out of the warranty period or you will be up for more $$$

[Cursed]

back to the subject, I have just read today that a lot of the carrots have gone as of dec 2012 ie. now 8 cents buy back and it doesn't automatically come off your usage but you pay for what you use and get rebated 8 cents of what you produce. maybe individ supplier may be offering better. I haven't investigated it very much yet but its sounding like it will take much longer to pay back the investment

That is what i thought it was originally, now i am just confused! lol

If that is what it is though that is absolute crap!! And did i read that right? 8c! wow people on big numbers now are in for one hell of a shock when thier contract runs out.

Can you buy systems that charge batteries? So that you would use all that power first and then use the mains after they are drained? i honestly don't know if this exists but it would be great if it did!

[ktm450]

back to the subject, I have just read today that a lot of the carrots have gone as of dec 2012 ie. now 8 cents buy back and it doesn't automatically come off your usage but you pay for what you use and get rebated 8 cents of what you produce. maybe individ supplier may be offering better. I haven't investigated it very much yet but its sounding like it will take much longer to pay back the investment

That is what i thought it was originally, now i am just confused! lol

If that is what it is though that is absolute crap!! And did i read that right? 8c! wow people on big numbers now are in for one hell of a shock when thier contract runs out.

Can you buy systems that charge batteries? So that you would use all that power first and then use the mains after they are drained? i honestly don't know if this exists but it would be great if it did!

Yes you can but the batteries are very expensive, not sure if you can swap onto mains power but stand alone units are definitely available

[rustalan]

Nice. So how long will it take you to recoup 6.5k from savings on your current electricity bills?

Worked out should save about half my power bill

[rustalan]

I should look into solar power.

The only thing i don't quite get is this whole tariff thing, i could be wrong here but are you not at the mercy of the electricity companies on what they will "pay you" per kilowatt? Only reason i say this is i am pretty sure my cousin got solar just over a year or so ago and he is getting something like 64c per kilowatt for x amount of years vs. 30c (which i hear is the going rate now) for yours.

I am not trying to upset you or anything but it is the fact that tariffs are very low now compared to what they were. I am sure i have heard of 84c as well. This is a massive difference and i have no doubt that when the certain amount of years ends they are in for a shock!! Fancy going from 64c or even 84c down to 30c!!

And what will it be in another 3-4 years time?? Going by those numbers it will be 15c, wont be saving much then!

Could someone please tell me i have it all wrong as i hope i do, but the tariff is the one thing that i dislike and if anything tariffs should be going up NOT down!

The company is giving me 30c per kw and the power company was 8c but changed power company that offered 30c per kw as well. This is for 3 yrs from both. But you must remember that what you make is used first and whats left over goes back to the grid so bigger system is better. My decision was more based on what I would save on the bill rather then what they offer.

[rustalan]

Well I bit the bullet and had solar put in today. Had a great price so couldn't resist, so in with a 5kw system. After working out the average kw hour rate of the system and checking my bill it should about halve it. The deal was a little over $6500 with $650 dep. 24 months no interest repayments 30c feed in tariff for 3 yrs, fully upgradable. If anyone is interested PM me for more details. Yes they are Australia wide. Don't know how long this offer will last.

What will the feed in tariff be after 3 years?

Thats in the lap of the gods 

[rustalan]

Our daily average over the year to cover the line rentals we need to make around 13kw a day.   That's just so we don't get a bill so of we make anything over 13kw we should make credits towards our next bill.     If you can get a 5kw system for $6500 interest free why wouldn't you.   I might even get a 5kw system for the shed that would take us from 30 panels to over 50 lmfao.

Here we average over 1yr 15kw per day from the unit (18) panels

[rustalan]

Just to be clear, are you saying that when the bill comes your Kw are taken off the total used. Not the 'cost' of them?

For example if you used a total of just say 100kw for the bill and you fed back 95kw you are only billed for 5kw?

I thought it would be you used 100kw and the bill should be say $200 they then work out that 95kw times 30c = 28.50 so your bill would be $171.50

If it is the first then what you are saying sounds much better to me. And building a system to your usage makes sense. Provided you are only billed for what you use over what you feed back.

So essentially the tarriff is for everything OVER what you use. I hope i am getting this right. 

Actually  you use what you make as you make it anything over goes back to the grid and you will be credited for it, so if your system is making 20kw per hr and your current usage at that time is 15kw then 5 kw will be fed back and you will get that off your bill. If your usage is 25kw then you will only be charged for the 5kw over what you have made.

[rustalan]

Sheesh. I might have to look into it, but I just looked at my bill of $700+ and I'm averaging 28kw/day usage. I might need a power station in my backyard  

If you are like me that was the biggest bill that you get all year! This last bill has my air conditioning usage and practically doubles the rest of the bills i get.

I have all my bills for roughly the last 2 to 3 years so i will do the same, work out my yearly average and try to get a system a touch higher than that to cover the higher bills (as by then there should be some money in the kitty so to speak). Thanks for your help ddstoys.

Before you buy a system check that the metre will allow you to go over 5kw