Solar Electricity

C

cjandlj

Not sure where to put this so thought this might be the best place for traffic.

I recently installed solar panels on my PPOR and was lucky to get in before they dropped the tarriff. Installed 18 panels at a cost of $11600. Went in 3 weeks ago and the gross meter was installed within 7 days so all good there.

Today I got a letter from my provider (we are with AGL) to advise that there has been a change to our electricity meter :rolleyes: and they have amended our tarriffs.

Initially i was a bit worried :eek: but have been trying to compare it to prices online and think its better rather than worse but just thought as all references to the feed in tarriffs online now refer to the new rates of 28c its hard to tell so I thought id put it out there to see what you wonderful people thought???

Essentially the new rates incl GST are:

Peak first 7000 21.043 c/kwh
Peak thereafter 27.996 c/kwh
Peak consumption 44.066 c/kwh
off peak consumption 9.317 c/kwh
Service charge 56.936 c/day
Service charge 53.383 c/day
Shoulder consumption 16.401 c/kwh
Feed-in price 68 c/kwh

What do you think?

All looks good to me and based on what its been producing over the last couple of weeks Im very happy :)
 
Last edited:
The feed in tarriff is 68c for what WE generate.

The other rates are what we pay for what we use. Just got my latest account out to compare and they seem to be the same as before so I'm assuming that the letter is just confirming the rates.

Happy though because i was only expecting a feed in tarriff of 60 cents woohoo!
 
Seriously, you would not need to be a smart techie to set up a battery charger to push "a little extra" power down your DC lines from your panels.

Spain tried to be a World Leader in alternative energy and it was a big contributor to their bankruptcy. It seems one enterprising chap set up arc lights to shine on his solar panels. Made a profit. What is there to prevent you from doing the same?
 
Sunfish said:
Seriously, you would not need to be a smart techie to set up a battery charger to push "a little extra" power down your DC lines from your panels.

Spain tried to be a World Leader in alternative energy and it was a big contributor to their bankruptcy. It seems one enterprising chap set up arc lights to shine on his solar panels. Made a profit. What is there to prevent you from doing the same?
Click to expand...

I was just about to make a cup of tea and now thanks to you Im going
to have to get on the roof and set up my light.
 
nww said:
I was just about to make a cup of tea and now thanks to you Im going
to have to get on the roof and set up my light.
Click to expand...
You would basically be buying 'dirty' electricity to sell as 'green' electricity - somewhat misleading and most likely highly illegal.

I reckon that the electricity retailer would have benchmarks for how much sunlight you are likely to have each month, and they would also know how big your panels are so they could easily calculate how much solar power you would be expected to generate. Therefore any discrepancy would be obvious.

On the other hand the same retailer makes money for every KW.hr that you use and they also make money out of every KW.hr that you generate. Do they have to report this info to any government agency?
 
Graingrower said:
You would basically be buying 'dirty' electricity to sell as 'green' electricity - somewhat misleading and most likely highly illegal.
Click to expand...

I heard of one bloke with a massive diesel generator and he pumps electricity in when it is dark. Costs him something like 20 cents per Kw to do it and he gets paid the 60 cents.

I don't know if this is illegal. If it isn't it soon will be. Amazing how people love working the loopholes.
 
cjandlj said:
What do you think?

All looks good to me and based on what its been producing over the last couple of weeks Im very happy :)
Click to expand...

It is awesome cjandlj. Solar is great. Don't tell a bloke called Dazz on this forum though otherwise he'll make as many negatives about it as possible (have a look at the thread "Electricity Bill Slashed Thanks to Solar - Awesome").

Cheers and good luck with it. The only negative I see for people on the 60 cents is if the NSW Govt changes and the new Govt. sees there is absolutely no money there they might say "OK everyone, that 60 cents was too generous and now we are going to cut everyone back to 20 cents."
 
charlieandkath said:
I heard of one bloke with a massive diesel generator and he pumps electricity in when it is dark. Costs him something like 20 cents per Kw to do it and he gets paid the 60 cents.

I don't know if this is illegal. If it isn't it soon will be. Amazing how people love working the loopholes.
Click to expand...

Now if this guy was to convert the diesel motor via a simple heat exchanger
to run on waste vege oil from the local chippy he could do it for free.

Been running my old ute on a blend of diesel and filtered waste vege oil for some rime.
Blend is 50/50 so I halve my fuel costs.
 
charlieandkath said:
It is awesome cjandlj. Solar is great. Don't tell a bloke called Dazz on this forum though otherwise he'll make as many negatives about it as possible (have a look at the thread "Electricity Bill Slashed Thanks to Solar - Awesome").

Cheers and good luck with it. The only negative I see for people on the 60 cents is if the NSW Govt changes and the new Govt. sees there is absolutely no money there they might say "OK everyone, that 60 cents was too generous and now we are going to cut everyone back to 20 cents."
Click to expand...

If the new government does change the rules it still does not effect me
as Im producing more energy than I consume, just makes my small credit
from the energy company even smaller.
 
Graingrower said:
If it's really sunny and lots of solar produced the price will go down. If its 40 degrees and aircons go on, price goes up.
Click to expand...

The generating companies do this now. The price they sell to each other varies according to the supply/demand at any time. If smart meters allow this I'm all for it, but this garbage of being paid three or four times the market price ON CONTRACT is ripping ME off.
 
but this garbage of being paid three or four times the market price ON CONTRACT is ripping ME off
Click to expand...

Sunfish are you referring to the feed-in tarriff?

this is like saying banks paying shareholders high dividends is ripping you off on your bank fees?

Sorry but if you havent invested in something you cant complain about the return that people who have are :rolleyes:

Anyway, disregard my post. I think ive worked out the tarriffs Im paying arent too bad.
 
this is like saying banks paying shareholders high dividends is ripping you off on your bank fees?

That this is a fact has nothing to do with you ripping me off directly.

OK we are on different grids and different generators so I do not directly subsidise your lifestyle. But NOBODY should.

London to a brick says you aren't a shareholder in ANY energy company. Why be a shareholder when you can be a leech?
 
Sunfish is right in a way. In NSW the people who were smart and jumped onto the 60 cent gross feed in tarriff are laughing all the way. However the people that did not jump in are now paying for the smart people that got in. Another stuff up by the NSW govt. Trouble is you can't blame the smart people either.
 
My solar system was connected to the grid six days ago - and I haven't seen the sun since! Looking forward to a clear sunny day to see what it can actually do.
 
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