Solar power.

Was just thinking about the solar power rebates on offer and how we can use them to our advantage.
what about this... Fit solar electric in the IP claim installation costs, Take over electricity bills from the tenant, claim electricity bills, make income on the sell back scheme. More to depreciate. put rent up because no electric bills for tenant, Also the value would go up as solar power is fitted.

Go on tear it apart!!

Yeah I know the tenant will have every electric appliance known to man. What about a threshold on the power consumed by the tenant?
Anything over a certain amount they have to pay?

what do you reckon?
 
You're going to spend $20,000 odd on a BIG system just to get payback on someone else's usage and some extra depreciation?

Because the cheap or free systems don't pay back. They just reduce your bills a little bit and you still have to pay the balance. Tenant won't do anything to reduce their usage if you're paying. Do those systems even add value to your house? And do you get rebates beyond RECS sale on an IP installation rather than a PPoR one?

Doesn't seem a very good idea, but give it a few years as the cost of solar systems goes down and cost of electricity goes up.

Personally I want solar heating. Would save a fortune on winter power bills.
 
In a few years time when electricity suppliers decide that they don't really feel like paying you for your electricity what are you going to do? Make no money and pay your tenants electricity for them?
 
Even if you have a clause in the lease that the tenant has to pay for electricity over $XXX per quarter, good luck trying to get the money from the tenant.

Your PM will likely not have processes in place to deal with this and will need to be constantly reminded to bill the tenant. Do you really want to spend your time chasing PMs and tenants for re-imbursement?

In my QLD IP tenants can supposedly be charged for water use. However, if the tenant doesn't pay there is absolutely nothing you can do to enforce it except claim from the bond when they leave. I'll bet it would be similar for electricity in this situation.

And every time anything goes wrong with anything electrical in the house the tenant will refuse to pay any of the electricity bill for the last 12 months (just like they do with water when there is a tap slightly dripping), and you will have to fight them at tribunal.
 
There was a good article in this months API on the subject. the main issue is no seperate meters, and in my case at least, I havent been able to cinvince a retailer to give me cash instead of a dixscount on the bill. I also tried to get a private ruling to negatively gear the purchase, which was denied.
 
I pay the elec in the student place and I am considering putting in a system as the prices come down. Depreciation must be good.

I am amazed by how many systems I am seeing around the suburb these days. These things are getting popular.

I even considered importing some panels myself - maybe we can split the cost of a container load of the things direct from China?

Cheers,
 
I even considered importing some panels myself - maybe we can split the cost of a container load of the things direct from China?
Cheers,

Count me in if you want to share costs. Obviously, I'm interested in quality products that work & don't look too ugly.
 
They all look much the same to me.

I don't even know what I need. More research required.....

http://www.alibaba.com/products/solar_panel/--100705--------------------------.html?noddp=Y

Cheers,
I organised a group bulk-buy in my neighbourhood, from someone (Rezeko) who had basically the same idea, just 4-5 years ago. Locally, we had 33 installed, and at the time (Nov 2008) it was by far the best price, but by installation time Clear Solar and all the rest had jumped on the bandwagon before they shut it all down.. The guy who started Rezeko, however, now has a 15+ employee business from that first concept of a group bulk buy... Crowded market, lots of rubbish product available, but will be increasingly popular.

Back to valuations: I spruiked it locally as "adding $10,000 value to your home for just $1500"... but I think I may have fallen for the advertising myself. 6 months ago we revalued and renegotiated mortgage, and local bank valuer told me they allocate zero value to solar power, or to rainwater tanks, grey water system etc etc... Because (at least locally) he said it has no discernible difference on house sale prices. They expect it may start to, but at the moment the market is not paying a premium for them.
I'm still generating $400 of electricity a year, so I'm not upset.
 
Personally , my Solahart system cost $2000 and saves me between $150 and $200 per year. At that rate it will take at least 10 years to pay back. I nought that 18 month ago - I know the rebates are better now....
The Solar Panels cost $2800 for a 1.5kw system (slightly cheaper than nuenergy deal they have right now is $3000) - using the old governemnt grant. It will save me around $1500 per year once I transfer to Origin;they give back an extra 10% so around 99c per KW hour coming back to me thanks to the NSW gross feed in tariff of 60c per kwh (meant to be guaranteed for 7 years - but this is a labour Gov so I am sure they will backflip at some point in time :rolleyes: ).
Do the sums on that....
I reckon its worth it....
 
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I've just ordered a small one from Beyond Buiding. It's a 1.5kw system, so it is not going to save a huge amount, however they have a special on at the moment that makes it $1k cheaper than anything else on the market. It cost me $2k for it, so it will pay for itself in around 18 months.
 
I went to bunnings a few weeks ago. Solarhard i think was there doing a promo. The guy said i could get a 4.5k system for about $10k and i would get $xx /day for at least 10 years. The system should pay itself off in about 2.5 years he said. Too bad they didnt bother to show up to my place at the agreed time and havent called me about it either.
 
I went to bunnings a few weeks ago. Solarhard i think was there doing a promo. The guy said i could get a 4.5k system for about $10k and i would get $xx /day for at least 10 years. The system should pay itself off in about 2.5 years he said. Too bad they didnt bother to show up to my place at the agreed time and havent called me about it either.

On saturday I saw a 1.5Kw system at Bunnings but it was by Solar first.
They came around today and gave me a quote for $2860 +$150 for the tiled roof. They said that if I wanted to proceed I'll have to take the quotation to the special orders dept. at Bunnings
 
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Last night I found out from another forum about www.solarchoice.net.au which gives you quotes for half a dozen or so solar systems by different companies.

Solarchoice don't come to your home to look at your roof because they can see it using Google earth and can estimate the available roof space. They also call you up to verify these details before sending you the quote.

They are very quick.
I filled out the online form last night and today they e-mailed me the quotation. The cheapest 1.5KW system is from clear solar for $1801 and the next one up is by eco kinetics for $1990.

One is using 8 panels (1.52KW) and the other 1 is using 9 panels (1.53KW). The quotation has a lot of info specifying the panels, types of inverters, upgrade options, additional costs etc.

The connection to the grid is extra but I guess it will be between $300-$400

I hope this helps.
 
It seems we are all of a sudden being bombarded with ads in every newspaper for solar this or that. There is now an element of miss trust creeping in.
Does anyone know about the quality of these cheap panels? Iv'e seen some dirt cheap deals around.
I live on my own in my place and know that a 1.5 system would suit me and I'd have it soon payed for it self, What I'm concerned about is the Quality of the equipment used in the cheaper deals.

BTW I have just installed the solar hot water system. I did it through a local plumber. After all the rebates it cost me $1200. It was a Rheem tank.
Can't wait to see my next bill.
 
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