{"id":58475,"date":"2022-02-21T14:17:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T03:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=58475"},"modified":"2022-02-21T16:28:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T05:58:00","slug":"solar-worth-it-single","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-single\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Solar Still Worth It &#8211; If You Are Single?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-59085 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/solarsingle.jpg\" alt=\"Solar panels for single-person households - are they still worth it?\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/solarsingle.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/solarsingle-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/solarsingle-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/solarsingle-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>I&#8217;m So Lonely!\u00a0 Will Solar Panels Fill The Aching Void In My Heart?\u00a0 And Do I Have To Pay Them Folding Money?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you ask me,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Hey Ronald, should I get solar power?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>My answer will be,<!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Hell yeah, fill your roof!&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you then say,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;But I live by myself, so I&#8217;m not sure it makes sense for me.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ll reply,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Eh, it&#8217;s probably fine.\u00a0 I personally see no point in worrying.\u00a0 This is because the worst thing that can happen is you&#8217;ll lose money, and you&#8217;re not me.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you respond with,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Ronald, please stop being lazy and provide some information on how long solar is likely to pay for itself for single people, so I can make an informed decision on whether or not it&#8217;s worthwhile for me.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ll say,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;All right, but only because it resembles work and I&#8217;m supposed to do some of that every now and then<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-single\/#en-58475-1' id='enref-58475-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(58475)'>1<\/a><\/sup>.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This article investigates whether <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/solar101.html\">solar power<\/a> makes sense for single-person households with corresponding low electricity bills.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll estimate solar&#8217;s payback period for&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An unrealistically bad situation where solar energy self-consumption is zero.\u00a0 This will show how long the payback period will be in a worst-case situation<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-single\/#en-58475-2' id='enref-58475-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(58475)'>2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/li>\n<li>The payback period where electricity consumption, including solar self-consumption, is typical for a single occupant household.<\/li>\n<li>A situation where solar electricity self-consumption is higher than average &#8212; either because electricity consumption is well above average or because most consumption occurs during the day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After that, I&#8217;ll determine the payback times of smaller solar systems and show how single-occupant households will often be better off with a larger system &#8212; provided they have space on their roof.<\/p>\n<p>While I can give you an estimate of how long solar power will take to pay for itself for a person living on their own, whether or not it makes sense for you will depend on your individual circumstances and personal preferences.\u00a0 But even if you&#8217;re a single person who lives for the moment, investing in solar panels can reduce or eliminate electricity bills which makes it a lot easier to live a carefree life.<\/p>\n<h2>An Unrealistically Bad Scenario &#8212; Feed-In Tariff Only<\/h2>\n<p>To start, I&#8217;ll show how long it takes solar to pay for itself if no electricity is used during the day.\u00a0 This means zero solar energy is consumed by the home and it&#8217;s all exported to the grid for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/systems\/feed-in-tariffs\/\">feed-in tariff<\/a>.\u00a0 This is not a realistic situation.\u00a0 Every home uses some electricity during the day, even if it&#8217;s only used by some people to run an alarm clock they keep next to their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">coffin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The reason I&#8217;m doing this is to show no matter how little solar energy is self-consumed, provided an electricity plan with a good feed-in tariff is chosen, solar can pay for itself in what most people would consider a reasonable period of time.\u00a0 Except in Western Australia where the payback time is unreasonable because there are no good feed-in tariffs there.<\/p>\n<p>To work out the feed-in tariff-only payback time in each capital I&#8217;ll need to know the following&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The size of solar system.<\/li>\n<li>Its cost.<\/li>\n<li>What its annual output in kilowatt-hours will be.<\/li>\n<li>The solar feed-in tariff.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Solar Power System Size (Capacity)<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to assume a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/systems\/6kw\/\">6.6 kilowatt solar system<\/a> is installed.\u00a0 The large majority of Australian homes can install a system this size and export all the surplus energy produced.\u00a0 While this may seem larger than what a single person requires, I&#8217;ll look into installing a smaller system later.\u00a0 Some single people may even want to install a larger system if their electricity consumption is high or so they&#8217;ll be prepared when they get a home battery, an EV, or build an electrified combat arena.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_58986\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-58986\" class=\"size-full wp-image-58986\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_big7.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"214\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-58986\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You wouldn&#8217;t believe what his bills were like before getting solar.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Solar Energy Generation<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;ve determined the annual generation<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-single\/#en-58475-3' id='enref-58475-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(58475)'>3<\/a><\/sup> of a 6.6 kilowatt solar system in each capital with the following two assumptions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Panel tilt is 20 degrees.\u00a0 This is a nice round figure between the two most common roof tilts of 15 and 22.5 degrees.<\/li>\n<li>Annual output is 95% of a north-facing system because not everyone can place all their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/best-solar-panel-direction\/\">panels facing directly north or close to it<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Feed-In Tariffs By Capital<\/h2>\n<p>I found out the best feed-in tariffs in each capital using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/energy\/\">SolarQuotes Electricity Plan Comparison tool<\/a>.\u00a0 At the moment this can only show flat tariff electricity plans, but we&#8217;re working on it so it will also be able to compare time-of-use and other demand tariff electricity plans.\u00a0 (This isn&#8217;t easy to do, otherwise we would have done it already.)<\/p>\n<p>The best feed-in tariffs available in each capital are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adelaide\u00a0 13 cents<\/li>\n<li>Brisbane\u00a0 11 cents<\/li>\n<li>Canberra\u00a0 10 cents<\/li>\n<li>Darwin\u00a0 8.3 cents<\/li>\n<li>Hobart\u00a0 10 cents<\/li>\n<li>Melbourne\u00a0 11.7 cents<\/li>\n<li>Perth\u00a0 4 cents<\/li>\n<li>Sydney\u00a0 13 cents<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, Adelaide and Sydney are neck and neck with the highest feed-in tariff, while Perth has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wa-feed-in-tariff-slashed\/\">the worst<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>I Expect Feed-In Tariffs Will Soon Rise<\/h2>\n<p>I expect feed-in tariffs to rise for most Australians in July, but Victorians will have to wait until the new year for an increase.\u00a0 As for Western Australians, I&#8217;m afraid they&#8217;ll only see an increase if their state government decides to stop ripping them off so much.<\/p>\n<p>Feed-in tariffs should increase because the economy is picking up and this is pushing up wholesale electricity prices.\u00a0 If the recovery is strong it may cause another feed-in tariff increase in 2023.\u00a0 In addition to this, the closures of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/particle-pollution-liddell-mb2026\/\">Liddell coal power station<\/a> in April 2023 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/eraring-coal-exit-mb2361\/\">Earing coal power station<\/a> in August 2025 will also boost wholesale electricity prices.\u00a0 While the medium to long term trend is for feed-in tariffs to fall thanks to expanding solar capacity, I&#8217;m not expecting them to drop for the next few years.\u00a0 For these reasons, I won&#8217;t bother to account for falling feed-in tariffs when determining payback periods.<\/p>\n<h2>Solar System Price<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to assume the 6.6 kilowatt solar power system costs $6,000.\u00a0 This isn&#8217;t enough to pay for the best solar hardware available, but this article is for people who want to know if solar will pay for itself quickly enough for them, so I won&#8217;t consider expensive systems that may have panels with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sunpower-maxeon-warranty-boost-mb2344\/\">40-year warranties<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What $6,000 can cover is a system with reliable components from an installer who does high-quality work.\u00a0 You can expect it to operate for a very long time without problem, which is not something you can expect if you don&#8217;t use a good installer.\u00a0 It doesn&#8217;t matter how good the components are, things can still go horribly wrong if a system&#8217;s installation is shoddy.<\/p>\n<p>If you are wondering how you can make sure you&#8217;re installer is good, that&#8217;s what SolarQuotes exists for.\u00a0 Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/quote\/start\/\">this link<\/a>, enter your postcode, answer the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-buying-process\/\">questions that come up<\/a> as best you can, and you can receive quotes from installers that my boss, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/about-us.html\">Finn<\/a>, has personally vetted so we know they do good work.\u00a0 Finn&#8217;s confident he does a good job selecting installers, so he backs them up with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/installation-guarantee\/\">Good Installer Guarantee<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Regional Price Variation<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/price-explorer\/\">average cost of solar<\/a> is not the same in every capital.\u00a0 Solar power systems tend to be moderately more expensive in Melbourne and considerably more expensive in Hobart and Darwin.\u00a0 Perth has the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-perth\/\">lowest cost solar in Australia<\/a>.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll keep the price at $6,000 in each capital for simplicity, but it&#8217;s not difficult to compensate for different prices.\u00a0 If you pay 20% more add 20% to the payback time and if you pay 10% less, reduce the payback time by 10%.<\/p>\n<h2>Scenario #1: Zero Self-Consumption<\/h2>\n<p>Using the annual output of a 6.6 kilowatt solar system in each capital it&#8217;s easy to determine how long it will take the highest feed-in tariff available to equal the $6,000 cost of the system:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-59069 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_0feedin.png\" alt=\"Rooftop solar simple payback - zero self-consumption single person household\" width=\"1059\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_0feedin.png 1059w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_0feedin-300x176.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_0feedin-1024x600.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_0feedin-768x450.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1059px) 100vw, 1059px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Even in this unrealistically bad situation, it takes under 7 years for every capital on the mainland east of Dumbleyung.\u00a0 It&#8217;s a little over 8 years in Hobart, thanks to low solar output, and it&#8217;s tragically long at over 14 years in Perth, due to their unfairly low solar feed-in tariff.<\/p>\n<p>The shortest payback time is in Melbourne and is indicated by the light blue section on its column.\u00a0 This is the payback period if the $1,400 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/victorian-solar-rebate.html\">Victorian Solar rebate<\/a> is used.<\/p>\n<p>These payback periods rely on the average feed-in tariff not changing.\u00a0 Since I&#8217;m expecting an increase for everyone who isn&#8217;t Western Australian, this doesn&#8217;t seem unreasonable to me for the next four years or so.\u00a0 After that things become more uncertain.\u00a0 But I&#8217;m not expecting feed-in tariffs to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-feed-in-tariff-future\/\">disappear anytime soon<\/a> or even in my lifetime<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-single\/#en-58475-4' id='enref-58475-4' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(58475)'>4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<h2>What If You Are Not A Vampire?<\/h2>\n<p>In real life, there are very few vampires who use zero electricity during the day.\u00a0 Even in Toowoomba vampires are less than 8% of the total population.\u00a0 So payback periods in real life should be considerably better.\u00a0 But single-occupant dwellings generally don&#8217;t use much electricity and for people who are rarely at home during the day, the payback period may not be a great deal better than with zero solar energy self-consumption.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_58963\" style=\"width: 860px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-58963\" class=\"wp-image-58963 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_agl.png\" alt=\"Single person household electricity consumption\" width=\"850\" height=\"687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_agl.png 850w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_agl-300x242.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_agl-768x621.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-58963\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This graphic from an electricity bill shows the average consumption of a one-person dwelling in Adelaide averages 7.2 kilowatt-hours per day in spring, while the person who received this bill only averaged 5.6 kilowatt-hours per day.\u00a0 Note electricity consumption is usually lowest in spring and autumn.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The average amount consumed by single-occupant homes varies considerably depending on location.\u00a0 The average electricity consumption for a typical single occupant home without a swimming pool, underfloor heating, or electrified combat area for each capital is&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adelaide\u00a0 2900 kWh annually, 8 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Brisbane\u00a0 3200 kWh annually, 8.8 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Canberra\u00a0 5380 kWh annually, 14.7 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Darwin\u00a0 3,300 kWh annually, 9 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Hobart\u00a0 5940 kWh annually, 16.3 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Melbourne\u00a0 3100 kWh annually, 8.5 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Perth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2,900 kWh annually, 8 kWh daily<\/li>\n<li>Sydney\u00a0 2900 kWh annually, 8 kWh daily<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_59047\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59047\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59047\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_big5.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"213\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-59047\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I&#8217;m not including energy use by electrified combat arenas because it&#8217;s too variable &#8212; despite being fun for all ages.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>How Much Self Consumption For Singles?<\/h2>\n<p>For single-occupant households that consume the average amount in each capital, their solar electricity self-consumption percentages will be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adelaide &#8211; 14%<\/li>\n<li>Brisbane &#8211; 15%<\/li>\n<li>Canberra &#8211; 26%<\/li>\n<li>Darwin &#8211; 15%<\/li>\n<li>Hobart &#8211; 35%<\/li>\n<li>Melbourne &#8211; 17%<\/li>\n<li>Perth &#8211; 13%<\/li>\n<li>Sydney &#8211; 15%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are averages, so solar self-consumption will be higher if the occupant is often at home during the day or an effort is made to shift electricity consumption to when the sun is shining.\u00a0 This can be done by putting electric hot water systems and other devices on timers.\u00a0 Self-consumption will be lower if the occupant is usually out during the day and makes little effort to shift electricity consumption to the daytime.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll use the above self-consumption figures to determine a more realistic payback time than what looking at feed-in tariffs only gave us, but first I&#8217;ll need to work out what households are likely to pay for electricity during the daytime.<\/p>\n<h2>Daytime Electricity Prices Are Falling<\/h2>\n<p>In the distant past, a whole 6 years ago, almost every home had a flat tariff and was charged the same amount per kilowatt-hour of grid electricity consumed, no matter when it occurred. But now we have smart meters, many homes have time-of-use tariffs and some, tragically, even have demand tariffs<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-worth-it-single\/#en-58475-5' id='enref-58475-5' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(58475)'>5<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>Some people prefer a time-of-use tariff.\u00a0 Some would prefer to have a flat tariff, but get stuck with time-of-use one because their local network makes it difficult or impossible to change back to a flat tariff.\u00a0 Because time-of-use tariffs are becoming more common, I will use the typical daytime price of electricity during the day on a time-of-use tariff in each capital.<\/p>\n<p>For the capitals, the typical costs of daytime electricity on a time-of-use tariff which isn&#8217;t seasonal and charges consistent rates over a year are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adelaide &#8211; 26 cents<\/li>\n<li>Brisbane &#8211; 22 cents<\/li>\n<li>Canberra &#8211; 18 cents<\/li>\n<li>Darwin &#8211; 27 cents<\/li>\n<li>Hobart &#8211; 14 cents<\/li>\n<li>Melbourne &#8211; 19 cents<\/li>\n<li>Perth &#8211; 29 cents<\/li>\n<li>Sydney &#8211; 22 cents<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Scenario #2: More Realistic Self Consumption<\/h2>\n<p>Using these figures to calculate payback periods while keeping feed-in tariffs the same gives the following:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-59071 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/singel_typical.png\" alt=\"Simple payback period - time of use tariff, single person household\" width=\"1067\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/singel_typical.png 1067w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/singel_typical-300x177.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/singel_typical-1024x605.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/singel_typical-768x453.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1067px) 100vw, 1067px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After taking typical self-consumption for a single occupant into account, payback periods are considerably better. For all the mainland capitals, except one, the payback period is around 5 years or less.\u00a0 In cloudy Hobart, it&#8217;s 7.1 years, while Perth is the worst at 7.9 years.\u00a0 While Perth still has the longest payback period, it&#8217;s close to half what it was before solar self-consumption was considered.<\/p>\n<p>So if you are not in Perth or Hobart, and your electricity use if fairly typical, then solar power is likely to pay for itself if you think you&#8217;re likely to stay where you are for around 5 years or more.<\/p>\n<h2>Scenario #3: High Electricity Consumption Singles<\/h2>\n<p>So far I&#8217;ve shown the payback period for&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An unrealistic situation where no solar energy is self-consumed, and&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Typical solar self-consumption for a single occupant home.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now I&#8217;ll work out the payback period for a household that uses 50% more electricity than a single occupant typically does.\u00a0 This is as much as the typical 2-3 person household.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping all prices of daytime electricity and feed-in tariffs this same causes the payback period to come to:<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-59075 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_high_consumption.png\" alt=\"Simple solar payback period - single occupant - high electricity use\" width=\"1062\" height=\"621\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_high_consumption.png 1062w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_high_consumption-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_high_consumption-1024x599.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_high_consumption-768x449.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1062px) 100vw, 1062px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>With 50% higher than typical electricity consumption, the payback period in both Hobart and Perth is under 7 years, while it&#8217;s under 5 years everywhere else.\u00a0 The shortest payback period is 4 years in Adelaide and Melbourne when the $1,400 Victorian Solar rebate is used.<\/p>\n<h2>Smaller Systems May Give Faster Payback &#8212; But Often Don&#8217;t<\/h2>\n<p>Installing a solar system smaller than 6.6 kilowatts can give a shorter payback time.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it often won&#8217;t, because halving the size of a solar power system doesn&#8217;t halve its cost.\u00a0 A typical 3 kilowatt system will cost roughly one-third or more per watt of capacity than a 6.6 kilowatt system.\u00a0 Because of the higher cost per watt, whether or not a small system will have a shorter payback period than a larger one will depend on its price, location, feed-in tariffs and electricity prices.<\/p>\n<p>Even in situations where installing a smaller solar system will reduce the payback period, this may not be the best financial choice to make because it will also reduce the total savings on electricity bills.\u00a0 Often, the solar power system that&#8217;s the best overall investment isn&#8217;t one with the shortest payback period, but one that provides greater annual savings.<\/p>\n<h2>Smaller Systems &amp; Solar Self Consumption<\/h2>\n<p>Because small solar systems produce less energy overall, households will have higher solar self-consumption percentages.\u00a0 After accounting for this and using the following assumptions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/systems\/3kw\/\">3 kilowatt solar system<\/a> is installed that produces 95% as much energy as one facing directly north.<\/li>\n<li>The system cost $3,500 &#8212; a low price for a good quality system.<\/li>\n<li>Electricity consumption is typical for a single occupant dwelling.<\/li>\n<li>Daytime electricity prices and feed-in tariffs are kept the same as in the previous two examples.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The payback time for the solar power system in each capital will be:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-59073 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_versus.png\" alt=\"3kW vs. 6.6kW solar system payback time, single person household\" width=\"1130\" height=\"612\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_versus.png 1130w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_versus-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_versus-1024x555.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_versus-768x416.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1130px) 100vw, 1130px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, in this situation, a 3 kilowatt system only has a shorter payback period in Darwin, Perth, and Melbourne if the $1,400 Victorian Solar rebate is used.<\/p>\n<p>Unless you are certain that&#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0A smaller solar system will provide a shorter payback period.<\/li>\n<li>You value a shorter payback period more than you value greater savings on electricity bills.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Then I recommend single people install around 6.6 kilowatts of solar panels, provided there is enough roof space for it to reasonably fit.\u00a0 One reason to do this is so you&#8217;ll be ready in the future if decide to get a home battery, an electric car, or electricity consumption simply increases.<\/p>\n<h2>Higher Feed-in Tariffs = Higher Electricity Charges<\/h2>\n<p>One thing I didn&#8217;t allow for when calculating the payback periods above is electricity plans with the highest feed-in tariffs generally don&#8217;t have the lowest charges for grid electricity, so the effective savings from solar power can be slightly lower.\u00a0 For a single person, this isn&#8217;t likely to make much difference as their electricity use is usually low, so I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s worth worrying about.\u00a0 But if you want to worry about it, bumping up the payback times by around 5% allows for a 2 cent difference in grid electricity prices.\u00a0 Note this doesn&#8217;t apply in Western Australia where there&#8217;s no retailer choice.<\/p>\n<h2>Use Our Solar &amp; Battery Calculator<\/h2>\n<p>If you want to estimate the payback time of solar panels for your home, whether you&#8217;re a single-occupant household or otherwise, the easiest way to do that is to use the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/solar-calculator\/\">SolarQuotes Solar &amp; Battery Calculator<\/a>.\u00a0 It lets you enter the details of the system you want to install, as well as the electricity price, the feed-in tariff, and your electricity consumption.\u00a0 Then it will give you an estimate of how long its payback period is likely to be, along with other information on output and savings.<\/p>\n<h2>Quiet House, Busy Roof?<\/h2>\n<p>If you live by yourself, don&#8217;t use much electricity, and are hardly at home during the day, then solar power can take a long time to pay for itself &#8212; if you&#8217;re in Perth.\u00a0 In the rest of the country, it&#8217;s not that bad.\u00a0 If you use the average amount of electricity for a single person and are sometimes at home during the day or make an effort to shift electricity consumption to the day, then it&#8217;s pretty good.<\/p>\n<p>In the majority of capitals, the payback period will be around 5 years or less.\u00a0 Even if you&#8217;re not sure you&#8217;re staying that long, a solar system is a home improvement that will add to its value, so you still may consider it worthwhile.<\/p>\n<p>In this article, I&#8217;ve only looked at 3kW and 6.6 kilowatt systems.\u00a0 But don&#8217;t let that hold you back.\u00a0 Fill your roof with panels and enjoy receiving money from your electricity retailer instead of paying them, buy an EV and charge it with clean solar energy, or simply build the electrified combat area of your dreams.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59064\" style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59064\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59064\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/single_big10.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"168\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-59064\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You&#8217;re never too old to start a lightning fight.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m So Lonely!\u00a0 Will Solar Panels Fill The Aching Void In My Heart?\u00a0 And Do I Have To Pay Them Folding Money? If you ask me, &#8220;Hey Ronald, should I get solar power?&#8221; My answer will be,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":59085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","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>Are Solar Panels Still Worth It If You&#039;re Single?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Solar power is usually a no-brainer for families, but will solar pay for low-consumption, single person households? Numbers crunched here.\" \/>\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\/solar-worth-it-single\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Solar Still Worth It - If You Are Single?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Solar power is usually a no-brainer for families, but will solar pay for low-consumption, single person households? 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