{"id":4467,"date":"2015-02-05T14:57:44","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T05:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=4467"},"modified":"2019-09-16T11:35:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T01:05:08","slug":"got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"How I got a $33 power bill with solar &#8211; even with a crappy 8c buy back rate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Update:<\/strong> <em>This post was written in 2015. It is still worth a read to understand how solar affects your bill &#8211; but if you want to browse <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/finn-electricity-bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all my recent bills you can do so here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I got my quarterly electricity bill last week. It was $33. I was so happy that I tweeted AGL.<\/p>\n<p>AGL&#8217;s reply is priceless:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Solar_Quotes\">@Solar_Quotes<\/a> Hi Finn, sorry to hear about this issue. Can we help? Pls call 131 245 (we\u2019re open 24\/7) &amp; we\u2019ll investigate ASAP. ~Gero<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 AGL Energy (@aglenergy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aglenergy\/status\/557182282520592384\">January 19, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m guessing AGL\u00a0don&#8217;t get a lot of compliments on Twitter! I also posted a scan of my bill on SolarQuotes&#8217; Facebook page:<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.0\";  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/photos\/a.380200815344709.90587.134546229910170\/896626707035448\/?type=1\" data-width=\"500\">\n<div class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\">\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/photos\/a.380200815344709.90587.134546229910170\/896626707035448\/?type=1\"><p>We are getting heaps of posts on our FB page along the lines of: &#8220;solar is a rip off &#8211; you only get 8c per kWh for&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\">SolarQuotes<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/photos\/a.380200815344709.90587.134546229910170\/896626707035448\/?type=1\">Monday, January 19, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lots of folks said\u00a0in the comments that they have a similar sized system and still have a bill of a few hundred a quarter. They seemed to imply that &#8211; unless you can get an almost zero dollar bill &#8211; that solar panels are not worth it.<\/p>\n<p>My response to that is &#8220;Imagine what your bill would be like without solar!&#8221;. If you have a 5kW+ system, you paid a fair price for it, and it is working properly then you\u00a0should be getting an excellent return financially, whether your bill is\u00a0$33 or $330 per quarter. (If your bill is $3,300 per quarter and you have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/systems\/5kw\/\">5kW solar system<\/a> then you really are doing something wrong &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/contact\/\">contact me and I&#8217;ll do what I can to help<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The problem with calculating solar savings, once installed, is that the most of the\u00a0savings are hidden from the electricity bill. The average solar owner has no way of knowing how much they are saving!<\/p>\n<p>In this blog post I&#8217;ll show you how to expose\u00a0those hidden savings.<\/p>\n<h3>Two\u00a0Mistakes Many Solar Owners Make When Calculating\u00a0Their Savings<\/h3>\n<p>First let&#8217;s get a couple of common misunderstandings\u00a0out of the way which were repeated many times in the 98 comments on the Facebook post:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1)<\/strong>\u00a0Many people don&#8217;t realise that the miserly $0.08 Feed In Tariff is &#8220;Net&#8221;. It is not paid for every kWh generated by your solar panels. It is only paid for the solar energy you export. If you self-consume the solar energy in your house you are saving much more: around $0.31 per kWh at current electricity pricing. (If this makes no sense I explain how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/do-i-get-paid-for-my-solar-energy.html\">exports work here<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>2)\u00a0<\/strong>Your solar savings are a lot more that the part of your bill that shows a credit for solar electricity! Here&#8217;s that part of my bill highlighted in yellow:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4472\" style=\"width: 494px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4472\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4472\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\" alt=\"my post-solar electricity bill\" width=\"484\" height=\"418\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4472\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The red pen shows how much my bill was credited due to exported solar energy.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>You can see that I got a credit of $196.5 for my 3 months worth of exports. Many people read this as:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Hmmmm. $200 savings every 3 months. That&#8217;s only $800 savings per year. The bloody salesman said I&#8217;d save over $2,000 per year! What a crook! My $8,000 solar system is gonna take 10 years to pay off before I start seeing any return on my investment! Solar is a complete con!&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This common analysis is wrong on a number of levels. Firstly it is wrong because your savings with solar panels are a lot more than simply the value of your exports. Although it is invisible on AGL&#8217;s bill, most of my savings have come from\u00a0all the kWh&#8217;s I haven&#8217;t had to buy from AGL at $0.31 per kWh.<\/p>\n<p>So how do I work out how much I have saved through &#8216;self-consumed&#8217; solar energy? Unfortunately it is not easy! The first thing you need is a good Energy Monitor. I use one called a Wattson which cost about $200. This allows me to measure the total electricity usage of my house before any solar energy is taken into account. When I plug it into my computer I can download\u00a0my usage and generation in 5 minute intervals.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what that looks like on a typical Summer&#8217;s day (you can click the graph for a big interactive version).<\/p>\n<div><a style=\"display: block; text-align: center;\" title=\"Finn's House - Electricity Usage Vs Generation - Feb 3 2015\" href=\"https:\/\/plot.ly\/~finipi\/20\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 100%; width: 992px;\" src=\"https:\/\/plot.ly\/~finipi\/20.png\" alt=\"Finn's House - Electricity Usage Vs Generation - Feb 3 2015\" width=\"992\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div><script src=\"https:\/\/plot.ly\/embed.js\" async=\"\" data-plotly=\"finipi:20\"><\/script><\/div>\n<h3>How to read this graph:<\/h3>\n<p>The blue line shows my power usage over 24 hours. Midnight to midnight. \u00a0The spikes just after midnight are the dishwasher heating the water and then drying the dishes at the end of the cycle. We put it on a timer because it is noisy!You can see the house start to wake up at 6am. Energy is used throughout the day. Mostly it is the clothes washer, dishwasher, oven (cakes!), computers and rainwater pumps.We put the kids to bed at 7:30pm and energy use falls off.<\/p>\n<h3>Calculating My Savings<\/h3>\n<p>Looking at the graph: if the orange\u00a0line is above\u00a0the blue\u00a0line then we are generating more than we are using. Any electricity being used at these times is self-consumed solar energy. I&#8217;ve shown this energy\u00a0as green below. Any excess solar electricity is exported. This is the yellow area below. The red areas are where I have to import from the grid.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4484\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2015-02-05_15-42-55.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4484\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4484\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/2015-02-05_15-42-55.jpeg\" alt=\"graph of energy usage in a solar home\" width=\"650\" height=\"336\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4484\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Imports, exports and self-consumption.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The total amount of energy used by my house in the 24 hours is the area under the blue line (red + blue areas). I can work this out in a spreadsheet and it comes to 13 kWh.My spreadsheet tells me that 10.33 kWh of that is the green area. This is my self-consumed solar energy. At $0.31 per kWh it means that I am saving $3.20 per day with self-consumption.My exports on this day (the yellow area) add up to $2.51 ( 31.4 kWh x $0.08 ).So most of my savings are coming from self consumption.The total\u00a0savings for the day are $5.71.If I extrapolate this to the 93 billing days and take into account that some days were overcast, the savings come to about $500 for the billing period.<\/p>\n<p>If I extrapolate this to the\u00a0full year (taking into account that winter generation is lower) then the savings for a whole year come to about $1,900.<\/p>\n<h3>Is $1,900 per year a good return on a 6kW solar system?<\/h3>\n<p>A good 6kW system, at the time of writing (Feb 2015), will cost you about $10k installed.<\/p>\n<p>So $1,900 of annual savings is a simple payback of just over 5 years.<\/p>\n<p>And this is where we come to another\u00a0misconception about the returns from\u00a0an investment in solar power.\u00a0Many folks believe that a payback of 5 years means that they see no financial benefit for 5 years. \u00a0This is wrong, wrong wrong! We need to take cash flow into account. When you work out the actual cash flows, many folks find that they are actually losing money not having solar panels! (Oh dear, I really am starting to sound like a sleazy salesman &#8211; sorry &#8211; but please bear with me because this is true!)<\/p>\n<h3>Working out the simple cash flow for a $1,900 per year return on a $10,000 spend.<\/h3>\n<p>Most people either pay for solar out of savings or add it to their mortgage.<\/p>\n<p>If you have $10,000 in the bank right now it is probably earning about 4% interest. Let&#8217;s call it 5% to make the maths easy.<\/p>\n<p>If you add $10,000 to your mortgage you are probably paying about 5% interest on it.<\/p>\n<p>Either way you have an &#8220;opportunity cost&#8221; or &#8220;cost of finance&#8221; of 5%, ($500 per year) if you splash $10k on\u00a0buying\u00a0solar power.<\/p>\n<p>But outweighing this is the $1,900 per year I am saving with solar panels.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine a machine where you put $500 in and got $1,900 out. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve got on my roof. You gotta love solar energy.<\/p>\n<h3>Things that may\u00a0reduce (or increase) your returns.<\/h3>\n<p>Please let me be clear &#8211; this is not financial advice. I am simply going through the savings\u00a0of my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/solar101.html\">solar power system<\/a>, and looking at it in terms of both payback and cash flow.<\/p>\n<p>If you buy solar panels, the returns will depend on how much energy you use and when you use it. They will also depend on the quality of the system. An el-cheapo system that seriously degrades or fails in the first few years is not going to give you good return!<\/p>\n<p>If you are buying solar, ask the salesperson to show you the maximum and minimum savings. Any good salesperson or installer will be happy to do this. These savings are calculated using\u00a00% and 100% exports respectively.\u00a0Your return will be somewhere between these 2 numbers based on how much you export in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>When I did the maths, before buying my solar panel system, my minimum savings were $700 and maximum $2,700 per year. I guessed that I would lie about halfway between those 2 extremes and it turns out I was right. But I spent my money with confidence because, even if I only saved\u00a0$1,000 per year, I knew the system would be more than paying for itself based on current interest rates.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to explore what return you could get from a solar power system on your roof, you can get 3 quotes (with estimated max and min returns) from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/quote\/\">my website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Update: This post was written in 2015. It is still worth a read to understand how solar affects your bill &#8211; but if you want to browse all my recent bills you can do so here. I got my quarterly electricity bill last week. It was $33. I was so happy that I tweeted AGL. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[112,30,37,197],"class_list":["post-4467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solar-panels-2","tag-buyers-guide","tag-feed-in-tariffs","tag-finance","tag-payback","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How I got a $33 power bill with solar - even with a crappy 8c buy back rate - SolarQuotes Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about two mistakes many solar power system owners make when calculating their potential power bill savings - and how to avoid them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How I got a $33 power bill with solar - even with a crappy 8c buy back rate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about two mistakes many solar power system owners make when calculating their potential power bill savings - and how to avoid them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-05T05:27:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-16T01:05:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Finn Peacock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FinnPeacock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Finn Peacock\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178\"},\"headline\":\"How I got a $33 power bill with solar &#8211; even with a crappy 8c buy back rate\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-05T05:27:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-16T01:05:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\"},\"wordCount\":1541,\"commentCount\":173,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"buyers guide\",\"Feed In Tariffs\",\"finance\",\"payback\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Panels\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\",\"name\":\"How I got a $33 power bill with solar - even with a crappy 8c buy back rate - SolarQuotes Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-05T05:27:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-16T01:05:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn about two mistakes many solar power system owners make when calculating their potential power bill savings - and how to avoid them.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Solar Panels\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-panels-2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How I got a $33 power bill with solar &#8211; even with a crappy 8c buy back rate\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes Blog\",\"description\":\"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SolarQuotes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png\",\"width\":592,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"SolarQuotes\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/\",\"https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178\",\"name\":\"Finn Peacock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Finn Peacock\"},\"description\":\"I'm a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Solar and Energy Efficiency nut, dad, and the founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. I started SolarQuotes in 2009 and the SolarQuotes blog in 2013 with the belief that it\u2019s more important to be truthful and objective than popular. My last \\\"real job\\\" was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009, I\u2019ve helped over 800,000 Aussies get quotes for solar from installers I trust. Read my full bio.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/FinnPeacock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How I got a $33 power bill with solar - even with a crappy 8c buy back rate - SolarQuotes Blog","description":"Learn about two mistakes many solar power system owners make when calculating their potential power bill savings - and how to avoid them.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How I got a $33 power bill with solar - even with a crappy 8c buy back rate","og_description":"Learn about two mistakes many solar power system owners make when calculating their potential power bill savings - and how to avoid them.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/","og_site_name":"SolarQuotes Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","article_published_time":"2015-02-05T05:27:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-16T01:05:08+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Finn Peacock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FinnPeacock","twitter_site":"@solar_quotes","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/"},"author":{"name":"Finn Peacock","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178"},"headline":"How I got a $33 power bill with solar &#8211; even with a crappy 8c buy back rate","datePublished":"2015-02-05T05:27:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-16T01:05:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/"},"wordCount":1541,"commentCount":173,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg","keywords":["buyers guide","Feed In Tariffs","finance","payback"],"articleSection":["Solar Panels"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/","name":"How I got a $33 power bill with solar - even with a crappy 8c buy back rate - SolarQuotes Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg","datePublished":"2015-02-05T05:27:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-16T01:05:08+00:00","description":"Learn about two mistakes many solar power system owners make when calculating their potential power bill savings - and how to avoid them.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/solar-credit.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/got-33-power-bill-solar-even-crappy-8c-buy-back-rate\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Solar Panels","item":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-panels-2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How I got a $33 power bill with solar &#8211; even with a crappy 8c buy back rate"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","name":"SolarQuotes Blog","description":"An independent reckoning of the Aussie solar scene","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization","name":"SolarQuotes","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/solarquotes-logo.png","width":592,"height":600,"caption":"SolarQuotes"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/","https:\/\/x.com\/solar_quotes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/solarquotes\/","https:\/\/au.linkedin.com\/company\/solarquotes","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/SolarQuotesAustralia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/495c35fb3086e6ef93220dcf2472b178","name":"Finn Peacock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6416cde752d8e0b695acfadb239ba7b7026ae219306ca29f9eb28780087cbcbf?s=96&d=monsterid&r=r","caption":"Finn Peacock"},"description":"I'm a Chartered Electrical Engineer, Solar and Energy Efficiency nut, dad, and the founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. I started SolarQuotes in 2009 and the SolarQuotes blog in 2013 with the belief that it\u2019s more important to be truthful and objective than popular. My last \"real job\" was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009, I\u2019ve helped over 800,000 Aussies get quotes for solar from installers I trust. Read my full bio.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/","https:\/\/x.com\/FinnPeacock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2FF2s-1a3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4575,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/why-are-solar-owners-charged-gst-on-money-they-never-spent\/","url_meta":{"origin":4467,"position":0},"title":"Why Are Solar Owners Charged GST On Money They Never Spent?","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"March 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a 6kW (24 panel) solar system on my roof. My last quarterly electricity bill is here. The good news is that it was for only $33.60. The interesting thing is the breakdown of the $33.60. If you look at the bottom of the bill, I paid $12.68 in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Panels&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Panels","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-panels-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"electricity bill including GST","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bill-gst-solar-e1425438175654.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bill-gst-solar-e1425438175654.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/bill-gst-solar-e1425438175654.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28961,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/agl-off-site-solar-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4467,"position":1},"title":"Off-Site Solar Scheme: Don&#8217;t Buy AGL&#8217;s Golden Handcuffs","author":"Finn Peacock","date":"March 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are lucky enough to own an unshaded roof over your head, solar power is a no brainer. Millions of homeowners have realised this and, for those who have done it right, they are living a life free of energy bill worries for the foreseeable future. But what about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Solar Innovations&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Solar Innovations","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-innovations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"golden handcuffs","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/golden-handcuffs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/golden-handcuffs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/golden-handcuffs.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/golden-handcuffs.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/golden-handcuffs.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":75807,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/agl-origin-prices-rise\/","url_meta":{"origin":4467,"position":2},"title":"Brace Yourself: AGL, Origin Energy Bills Set to Explode","author":"Richard Chirgwin","date":"June 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Weeks after the Australian Energy Regulator revealed price hikes for Ausgrid, Essential, Endeavour, Energex and SAPN customers, retailers AGL and Origin have announced their own price rises. Customers on variable rate contracts will see their bills rise in from July 1 in NSW, South Australia and Queensland, and in Victoria\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"paper energy bills","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/energy-bills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/energy-bills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/energy-bills.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/energy-bills.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/energy-bills.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44855,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/click-energy-solar-tariff-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":4467,"position":3},"title":"Click Energy: Best Feed-in Tariffs But Not Always Best Deal\u00a0","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"November 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"If you: want a high solar feed-in tariff. have a solar inverter 5 kilowatts or less. have low grid electricity consumption\u00a0 ...then Click Energy may be the best choice of electricity retailer to minimize your electricity bills (or maximize credit received). This is thanks to Click Energy having the highest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electricity Prices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Click Energy solar feed in tariff review","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/electricity-bill-calc.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/electricity-bill-calc.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/electricity-bill-calc.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/electricity-bill-calc.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/electricity-bill-calc.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51514,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/st-vincent-agl-solar-mb2053\/","url_meta":{"origin":4467,"position":4},"title":"AGL Installing A Bunch Of Solar Systems For St. Vinnies","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"June 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria will soon be making huge savings on its electricity bills through the installation of solar power systems. AGL announced on Friday it will be installing 91 systems for the charity across the state - up to 1.6 MW of solar capacity in total capable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"St Vincent de Paul - solar energy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/agl-st-vincent-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/agl-st-vincent-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/agl-st-vincent-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/agl-st-vincent-solar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/agl-st-vincent-solar.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23257,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/agl-20-cent-feed-in-tariff\/","url_meta":{"origin":4467,"position":5},"title":"Is AGL&#8217;s &#8216;Solar Savers&#8217; 20c Feed-In Tariff A Good Deal?","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"August 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"If I were to ask: \"Would you like a 20 cent feed-in tariff for the electricity your solar system sends into the grid?\" Chances are at least some of you would reply: \"A whole 20 cents?\u00a0 That's more than what I'm getting now, so yeah, baby!\u00a0 Yeah!\" https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ayLPWCLot74 You may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Electricity Prices&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Electricity Prices","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/electricity-prices\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/agl-fit-crop.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4467"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33515,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467\/revisions\/33515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}