Power bill and solar power.....

[Tinky]

Last week on the local ABC radio in Newcastle, Energy Australia said that it was changing from a net payment system to a gross payment system, so that you will be paid for each and every watt that you put into the grid, regardless of your usage.

I am getting my second and third quotes for 1.5kw systems this week. We have our pools solar collector on the north facing roof, so will need to look at our options given performance reduction from placing pannels on NE & NW facing roof.

 

[Col J]

Last week on the local ABC radio in Newcastle, Energy Australia said that it was changing from a net payment system to a gross payment system, so that you will be paid for each and every watt that you put into the grid, regardless of your usage.

I am getting my second and third quotes for 1.5kw systems this week. We have our pools solar collector on the north facing roof, so will need to look at our options given performance reduction from placing pannels on NE & NW facing roof.

Hi Tinky,
if it's in NSW they have to pay on gross feed-in. You get 60c for every kw/h you produce & pay approx 20c to buy it back. That's the way it was legislated. The energy companies are loathe to approve new systems. I wonder why????

 

[Chris1]

We've been considering adding solar in NSW. Anyone done it here? We've got great roof space with no overhanging trees and live on a hill, so great location.

i got a 1.5KW (i think its a 2.4 KW inverter) system a while ago, part of my roof that faces the right direction (i think NE, i did listen but forgot, lol,..) and i get 92% of the possible production of the panels, which the guy said is pretty good.

he estimated that over a 1 year period it should pay about $1400, for the next 7 years, which easily covers teh $4k i spent.

i think u need to get in quick to be eligible for the feed in tarriff, when i got mine he said it would probably be full in the next 2-3 months,....

does anyone know if we have to pay tax of the 60C per kilowatt feed in tarrif?
i forgot to ask,....

 

[The Devil]

i got a 1.5KW (i think its a 2.4 KW inverter) system a while ago, part of my roof that faces the right direction (i think NE, i did listen but forgot, lol,..) and i get 92% of the possible production of the panels, which the guy said is pretty good.

he estimated that over a 1 year period it should pay about $1400, for the next 7 years, which easily covers teh $4k i spent.

i think u need to get in quick to be eligible for the feed in tarriff, when i got mine he said it would probably be full in the next 2-3 months,....

does anyone know if we have to pay tax of the 60C per kilowatt feed in tarrif?
i forgot to ask,....

I hope the figures you were told are correct, if they are it means that your 1.5KW system has to produce 4 time the power of my 1KW system.
I've got $50 that says it won't. I'm guessing it was the salesperson who gave you those figures.

My 1KW system has produced a total of 1300KW over the past 10 months so I'm thinking that your 1.5 KW will produce around 2300 to 2400KW over 12 months.
So for it to produce around $1400 for the year your mains power must be costing you around 60 cent a KW.
Given that you have spent $4K on the system I really hope my figures are wrong......

 

[Snowman]

One of the major costs is the solar panels themselves. Most the Japanese ones are quite expensive but are supposed to last 10 years. The Chinese ones are cheaper but only have a couple years warranty.... It could end up costing a whole lot more....

 

[wokka]

If anyone is interested there is an Alternative Energy Seminar and Festival on at the end of next month at Bellingen NSW. I am going and hope to learn a fair bit more. We are trying to put together a buying group to cust the buying and installation in half which will make the numbers work. One hundred 10KW systems at the current 50K each equals 5 million which should give us better buying power.

 

[Chris1]

I hope the figures you were told are correct, if they are it means that your 1.5KW system has to produce 4 time the power of my 1KW system.
I've got $50 that says it won't. I'm guessing it was the salesperson who gave you those figures.

My 1KW system has produced a total of 1300KW over the past 10 months so I'm thinking that your 1.5 KW will produce around 2300 to 2400KW over 12 months.
So for it to produce around $1400 for the year your mains power must be costing you around 60 cent a KW.
Given that you have spent $4K on the system I really hope my figures are wrong......

by my understanding ALL the power produced by the panels gets fed into the grid, and we buy power normally like every other household without the panels.....at 16 or so cents pper kilowatt.

so if i produce the 2300kw annually that u estimated, at 60C per kw feed in tarriff it comes to $1380.

and your 130kw per month should give you $78 per month.

i only just switched it on yesterday, so ill check it on sunday and that will give an accurate reading for 6 and a half days....calculated at 60c/kw,

Obviously i still pay a power bill (last one was $290/quarter, so for now my power should be close to free)

boy i hope the salesman was right,...otherwise ill just have to be happy with being that little bit greener,..

 

[junglepython2]

i got a 1.5KW (i think its a 2.4 KW inverter) system a while ago, part of my roof that faces the right direction (i think NE, i did listen but forgot, lol,..) and i get 92% of the possible production of the panels, which the guy said is pretty good.

he estimated that over a 1 year period it should pay about $1400, for the next 7 years, which easily covers teh $4k i spent.

i think u need to get in quick to be eligible for the feed in tarriff, when i got mine he said it would probably be full in the next 2-3 months,....

does anyone know if we have to pay tax of the 60C per kilowatt feed in tarrif?
i forgot to ask,....

According to a recent news story, any profits are considered income and will be taxed and may affect pension payments.

 

[The Devil]

by my understanding ALL the power produced by the panels gets fed into the grid, and we buy power normally like every other household without the panels.....at 16 or so cents pper kilowatt.

so if i produce the 2300kw annually that u estimated, at 60C per kw feed in tarriff it comes to $1380.

and your 130kw per month should give you $78 per month.

i only just switched it on yesterday, so ill check it on sunday and that will give an accurate reading for 6 and a half days....calculated at 60c/kw,

Obviously i still pay a power bill (last one was $290/quarter, so for now my power should be close to free)

boy i hope the salesman was right,...otherwise ill just have to be happy with being that little bit greener,..

The way it works up is here is the ONLY the power produced that is SURPLUS to needs at THAT time is exported to the grid.
Example.....if you are producing say 1KW per hour and your usage is 1.3KW per hour then nothing is being exported. Your costs for that hour would be the point 3KW that you are drawing from the grid.

 

[Tinky]

The Devil

Different Energy providers and different states may have different regulations, however the below is from Energy Australia for NSW


You will receive a GROSS feed-in credit for all the electricity your solar power system generates at the NSW Solar Bonus rate of 60 cents/kWh (incl. GST if any), from the date of the metering change or installation. If you are an EnergyAustralia retail customer, from this date we will also provide you with an additional payment of 6 cents/kWh (incl. GST, if any) giving a total credit of 66 cents/kWh (incl. GST, if any).

Again this is a gross payment, not a net payment.

 

[The Devil]

The Devil

Different Energy providers and different states may have different regulations, however the below is from Energy Australia for NSW


You will receive a GROSS feed-in credit for all the electricity your solar power system generates at the NSW Solar Bonus rate of 60 cents/kWh (incl. GST if any), from the date of the metering change or installation. If you are an EnergyAustralia retail customer, from this date we will also provide you with an additional payment of 6 cents/kWh (incl. GST, if any) giving a total credit of 66 cents/kWh (incl. GST, if any).

Again this is a gross payment, not a net payment.

Yes, I understand that different states have different regulations ect. I did say that I was in Brisbane and therefor what I said applied to my situation.
A couple of years ago the way we were paid for power produced was changed and I'm pretty sure that it was changed to a net scheme.
At the time I didn't have solar and so didn't take much notice of the change.

A gross payment changes my calculations and I wish we still had it here.......

 

[marty]

i put in a 6Kw system with 2.4 Kw of panels on the roof (will add more later) and went with solar hot water as well. before these changes our power bills where between 800 and 1200 a 1/4 ( no kids, just the wife and myself). soon to get my first bill so i will be looking forward to seeing the difference.
according to the inverter reading i am averaging over 1.25Kw per hour of operation. still waiting for the gross meter to be installed, but it's nice to see the meter turn backwards.
i disconnected the heating power to the hot water backup the day after we had the solar hot water installed. that was 8 week ago and i'm not even looking of running cold.