What If Opening Your Electricity Bill Made You Feel Excited – Instead of Anxious?
How Solar Can Lower Your Electricity Bills – Even With a Crappy Feed-In Tariff
By Finn Peacock
Chartered Electrical Engineer, ex-CSIRO & Founder of SolarQuotes.com.au
Unlike most homeowners, I look forward to my quarterly electricity bills – my latest (winter) bill was roughly $280 for a 5 person household. And my summer bill was only $71!
This is all thanks to the 6kW solar system that I have on my roof, which produces electricity during the daytime, offsetting the energy usage of my home.
Does it make me a geek if I see each bill as an opportunity to find out how much money I have saved thanks to my solar system?
On second thought, don't answer that.
You may have been told that solar is not worth it any more – since the electricity companies have reduced the 'feed in tariff' in recent years (a feed-in tariff is what you're paid by your electricity retailer for feeding excess solar energy back into the grid).
But all of my electricity bills were achieved with an 8c feed-in tariff. A less-generous feed in rate simply means that you have to take more care in sizing your system, to minimise exports.
Allow me clarify one thing: I'm not saying that if you put a solar system on your roof tomorrow, your next electricity bill will be $71, like mine.
$71 bill or $710 bill, it doesn't matter – because the real question is "what would my electricity bill be if I didn't have a solar system to offset my daytime energy usage?"
So let me be blunt: If you either…
1) Use a lot of your electricity during the day,
2) Have a pool pump or like to keep your A/C running all day
or 3) Can set your appliances (like washing machines & dishwashers) to run on timers
… Then you're crazy if you are paying for grid electricity when the sun is shining.
What if you're not home during the day?
Do you use over 80% of your electricity after 6pm? If so, it's highly unlikely that solar will make financial sense for your home. Be wary of any solar installer that is aware of this fact and still tries to sell you a system!
If you're not home between 9-5 but still use a good amount of your electricity during the day, solar can still make a lot of sense for your home – especially if you're someone who has a pool pump, lots of refrigeration, or likes to keep their home climate-controlled, like I mentioned above.
Understand Solar And Pay A Fair Price For A Great System
"Wait!" I hear you say. "Solar is a complicated topic. It's not like shopping for a new coffee table – you'd need a science degree just to be able to understand what you're putting on your roof!
Those unscrupulous solar 'cowboy' salespeople are preying on people like me who don't understand solar, just so they can sell us a crappy system at an inflated price, right?"
I hear these objections a lot! So let me clarify:
There are still a lot of shady solar installers out there (not as many as there used to be, thank God!) whose core business model seems to be 'whack as much cheap crap onto people's houses as we can, and then vanish into thin air with suitcases of money before the warranty claims start rolling in'.
In fact, nothing makes me more frustrated than when people use my website to get 3 quotes for solar from a list of companies I trust (that I've been building since 2009), get quoted great systems for a good price, and then tell me
"Thanks for the quotes Finn, the companies who contacted me were very knowledgeable and took the time to understand my situation and needs, but this other mob offered me the same size system for half the price – so I'm going to go with them!"
(And then they send me an email complaining that their system has shorted out after 6 months!)
People can feel overwhelmed by solar as a topic. It can get very technical if you're into that sort of thing (like me!) – but 99% of Australians just want to understand the basics of solar and then sit back and reap the benefits of lowered electricity bills.
This is why I place a lot of emphasis on:
a) Providing as much unbiased, independent information about solar on my website as I can, and
b) Making sure that, if you decide to trust me to arrange quotes for solar, the installers in my network who provide quotes are willing to answer any questions that a solar novice might have when they're providing them with a quote…
…So you feel comfortable assessing a quote, comparing it to others, and realising that 'you get what you pay for'.
Should You Wait For Batteries Before Installing Solar?
Despite the hype about solar battery storage, any honest solar installer will give you the same advice: Batteries will not pay for themselves in 2017.
At the moment, a decent amount of battery storage will cost you around $10,000 to install, and will take about 15 years to pay back. Most units are warranted to last 10 years.
You do the maths.
Unfortunately, all the hype in the mainstream media about batteries has made people question the viability of solar without batteries – to the extent that people are waiting for 'affordable batteries' before they invest in solar.
But even though the cost of solar battery storage is projected to decline year-over-year, it makes no sense to wait to get solar.
Every day you don't have solar is another day you do have to pay high electricity bills. A well designed solar system without batteries can give you tiny bills.
Waiting 2, 3 or 4 years for batteries to become affordable means another 2, 3 or 4 years of high bills.
One day, batteries will make lots of sense – and when that day comes they can easily be added to any existing solar system using a method called AC coupling.
So don't lose years of savings waiting for cheap batteries to arrive.
Consider going solar now – with the knowledge that you can easily retrofit batteries later when they will pay for themselves – not before.
Quotes Arranged For You – So You Don't Have To Run Around And Get Them Yourself
There are thousands of solar panel installers in Australia. It is very important that they are Clean Energy Council (CEC) accredited in order for you to be eligible for the Government solar rebate.
SolarQuotes provides you with 3 competing quotes from local, CEC accredited installers within our trusted network.
By comparing quotes from Australia's leading CEC accredited solar installers in your area, you will be able to make sure that you qualify for the rebate. Our installers will also conduct a full electricity bill analysis to ensure that solar makes sense for your household before you make a decision to buy.
We've been operating since 2009 and are Australia's #1 Solar Panel Comparison site, with over 300,000 homes (seriously!) across Australia trusting us to organise their no-obligation solar quotes.
If you're considering installing solar panels for your home or business, SolarQuotes can help you get quotes from high-quality installers within our trusted network:
“Many thanks…
I was a lost sheep in a field of wolves without your help”
About Finn Peacock
I’m a Chartered Electrical Engineer, solar and energy efficiency nut, electric car and e-bike owner, dad, and founder of SolarQuotes.com.au. My last “real job” was working for the CSIRO in their renewable energy division. Since 2009 more than 785,000 Australians have used my site to get quotes for high quality PV systems from pre-vetted solar installers.