If you live in Perth, or within a four-hour drive, I have some good news.  Synergy has changed its residential time-of-use tariff to 8 cents per kilowatt-hour for grid electricity from 9am to 3pm.  They’ve also changed its name to “Midday Saver”. [Read more…]

Australia’s wholesale electricity price crisis is in its fifth month.  This ongoing disaster began in April and really took off in May, June, and July.  It continued through August, but the crisis wasn’t as crisisy as the previous three months. [Read more…]

For four months now, electricity prices in the eastern states have been crazy high. But they’ve cooled down in the last three days to the point where they’re now just high. [Read more…]

Most Australians were hit with an electricity price increase in July. The exceptions were the ACT, which had a slight decrease, and Victoria whose electricity prices change now in August.  [Read more…]

How most Aussies reacted when they found out their new electricity rates.

Unless you live under a rock, you’d have heard about the blowout in wholesale electricity prices in the eastern states. Things were so bad that on the 14th of June, AEMO suspended the wholesale electricity market for the first time in its history. [Read more…]

Wholesale electricity prices increased across most of Australia this financial year. Retail electricity prices should soon follow. [Read more…]

Nigel Morris, who heads up business development at Solar Analytics, readily admits electricity plan comparison products aren’t usually particularly exciting.

Still, it’s clear talking to Morris that Solar Analytics is excited about its recently-launched Plan Optimiser, and Morris reckons both subscribers and solar installers will be as well. [Read more…]

Wholesale electricity spot prices in the two Australian states with the most renewable energy generation — South Australia and Tasmania — are the lowest in the nation and have been for years.  This is good news for anyone who prefers clean energy over dirty. That is everyone who isn’t evil, an idiot, or both. [Read more…]

SA homes are not required to have a time-of-use retail electricity tariff when getting solar

Last week I heard from a South Australian concerned they’d be forced onto a time-of-use tariff after installing solar panels. 

Since this was at the start of the new financial year, my initial response was, “Oh god!  What are the electricity retailers doing now?”

[Read more…]

New aircon energy rating labels! Are you excited? You should be…

The most energy-efficient and cost-effective way to heat your home is to use your reverse-cycle air conditioner.  Even the least efficient aircon uses far less energy than electric resistance heating.  But buying the least efficient air conditioner is a bad idea.  You’ll be better off with a highly efficient one — or at least the most efficient one that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. [Read more…]