Australian Solar Systems Interest Index – February 2018

auSSII solar report - February 2018

While January was accompanied by school and public holidays, this certainly didn’t stop Australians from pursuing their goals of reducing electricity bills through solar power.

Solar Power System Size Preference

In January, 43% of Australians requesting solar quotes through the SQ service were clear they wanted big systems (5kW and 6kW), another increase on previous months. As for very small systems (1.5kW), those requests again represented less than 1%. The proportion of prospective solar buyers not sure on what size suited them best and requesting advice was still high at 38%.

solar panel system capacity

Many Eager To Purchase Solar – Now

There were plenty of Australians eager to get solar panels on their rooftop as soon as possible, with 16% stating “immediately” and 29% indicating a purchase within the next 4 weeks. All told, nearly 80% were considering buying a solar power system within the next three months.

timeframe for buying solar

Wanting The Best Of Both Worlds – Good Price, Good Quality

An ongoing trend is strong preference for a system that is a good mix of quality and price instead of a budget or top-end (most expensive) system, with 81% selecting this option. Just 7% indicated a preference for a “good budget system”. These figures have been fairly consistent over the months.

quality and price preferences

Ready For Battery Ready?

Solar batteries still don’t appear to be high up on the priority list, with 11% specifying they wanted a “battery-ready” system. This was down on December and November.

battery-ready PV systems

Concurrent Solar + Battery Storage

Again, installing a battery with a solar panel system from the outset wasn’t a gotta-have. Just 3.4% of quote requests asked for pricing on solar + storage, down on December. As always, we like to note in this part of the report that when submitters indicate they want a solar + battery quote, a flag is displayed showing indicative pricing and the option for a battery-ready system quote is offered.

concurrent solar and battery installation

Battery System Capacity

For those who did want batteries and had a size in mind, 42% wanted capacity of 10+ kWh. 50% of submitters requesting pricing on batteries as part of a quote weren’t sure on what capacity they wanted or required.

Battery system capacity preference

Battery Application

For just under 4%, a battery’s prime purpose would be  for backup power purposes, for 42% it was for mimising grid electricity consumption and for around 54% it was for both applications.

battery usage

Power Bills Creeping Up Among Heavy Electricity Users

59% stated they had quarterly electricity bills of $500 or more – a little less than December. However, the proportion of Australians with quarterly bills of $2,000 or more increased from just under 4% in December to just over 5% in January, with the level greatest in New South Wales.  7% stated they weren’t sure what their bills average out to.

Electricity bill average

About The auSSII

We receive thousands of requests for solar quotes every month and the information provided is what we base the auSSII on.

If you’d like to get 3 quotes from pre-vetted Australian installers in the Solar Quotes network, click here; or browse through our comprehensive database of solar installer reviews .

Solar Sales Leads Generation For Quality Companies

If you’re an installer or installation firm wanting solid Australian solar sales leads and care about providing quality to Australian households and businesses, SolarQuotes has been providing superior lead generation services since 2009. To date, more than 338,000 Australians have received quotes through SQ. Learn more about our solar lead generation services.

Report Reproduction Guidelines

Reproduction of graphs and other detail from any auSSII report is welcome, but we require the report page from which the information is taken be acknowledged as the source.

About Michael Bloch

Michael caught the solar power bug after purchasing components to cobble together a small off-grid PV system in 2008. He's been reporting on Australian and international solar energy news ever since.

Speak Your Mind

Please keep the SolarQuotes blog constructive and useful with these 5 rules:

1. Real names are preferred - you should be happy to put your name to your comments.
2. Put down your weapons.
3. Assume positive intention.
4. If you are in the solar industry - try to get to the truth, not the sale.
5. Please stay on topic.

Get The SolarQuotes Weekly Newsletter