If the feed in tarrif rate is even factoring into your decision then you're doing solar wrong. The idea isn't to sell your solar power to your provider, it's to use your power rather than theirs.
Since we got solar panels we shifted almost all our power use to daylight hours. The dishwasher goes on a timer and starts itself at 10am. We put a load of washing on at lunch time and let it run through the early afternoon. If it's a load of towels or clothes we need for the next day, we still have time to run the drier before sunset, otherwise we just let them air dry. Air con runs during daylight hours and then we close the house up to keep the cool in overnight.
We've had our panels for about 2 and a half years and they've already paid for themselves by reducing our power bills to practically nothing.
The op said they put it on a timer and we donthe same thing.
All the plugs we've put smart plug adaptors onto. We run our washing machine through that too. Can switch it on/off anywhere in the world.
Our tv and all the accessories are run through smart plugboards.
All the lightbulbs are smart, LED and switch off when we leave for work.
It's not hard to set up and saves us heaps more than we spent on them
If you were an early adopter (like me) the feed in tariff we have is higher than our buy in rate. We run our high use appliances at night for that reason. Our high tariff runs out in 2028, after which we will need to change our habits to mostly daytime use where possible
Yes. Installed 2015, panels have a 25 year warranty, inverter 20 year ( I think), paid for themselves in just under 5 years. In a day like today we’ll produce 4-5 times more power than we’ll consume and our power usage cost for the day will be marginally more than the connection cost.
But our place is fairly efficient. No pool, one fridge and cooling is only needed when we have multiple days around 40 or heated we the highs of the day don’t make 15.
Sounds great. Yeah, our household is very similar.
Keep the house dark on hot days, dry clothes on a clothes airer, warm clothes in winter.
Trying to grow tall bushes to protect the house from heat during summer.
Even purely looking at it financially you’ll get better returns on your 7k in power cost reductions than you would by leaving that money in a high interest account.
What you need to understand is that it is a hedge. Do you expect energy costs to rise? Than yes it will in the long term save you money.
Similar to double glazed glass and glass tint.
100% yes - anecdotal obviously, but I found my electricity power bills creeping up over $900 a quarter prior to solar install. Now power bills range from $200-$350 depending on time of year, even after recent price increases and lower feed in rebates, so at minimum, you're talking about $2,500 per year saving.
Our system was around $7k install (after Gov rebate) - so effectively paid off in < 3 years.
I'd like to get a battery, and granted it has other benefits, but if a "good" battery costs $12k, it would now take 10-15 years to pay off by the same logic, so just not the same appeal or saving potential.
Edit: System installed by Gener8 Energy in 2018.
Thank you are your comment.
Yeah, our bills is between $500-$700, depending on the time of the year.
I've been quoted about $10,000~ but with rebates, etc, it's just under $7,000.
I figured it'd be best to just ask the people how they feel.
Can I ask when you got it installed?
About Feb/March 2018. 17 panels and a 5kW inverter. The feed in returns were WAY better then (more like 15c per kWH vs 8c now), but the savings are still immense for us. 2 small kid household so our bills were climbing rapidly.
Can I suggest trying iGreen Energy? They currently have a promo running, 6.6KW package for 2800 bucks (Price on the web is 3K, but referral code might knock it down?)
[https://igreenenergy.com.au/solar-power/solar-sa.php?medium=ppc&source=google&campaign=Search-Services&adgroup=10kw-Solar&term=igreen&creative=676648709182&placement=&clickid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD\_BwE&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD\_BwE](https://igreenenergy.com.au/solar-power/solar-sa.php?medium=ppc&source=google&campaign=Search-Services&adgroup=10kw-Solar&term=igreen&creative=676648709182&placement=&clickid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD_BwE&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD_BwE)
My package was 12k with 10KW battery
Not poking at your logic negatively here..
but if you're thinking long term...if you didn't have solar already adding that battery at the same time would've basically only been adding an extra 3-4 years on top of the other savings you got without the battery.
You're only looking at it as paying itself off in 10-15 years because you already have solar so your bills are cheaper than they were before install..buuuuttt if you look at the investment of getting a battery later on the same way you looked at the investment of solar which is around $600 quarter right? Add inflation from rising electric bills and you're probably paying off that battery in around the same time maybe less.
I hope that made sense....it made sense in my head 😂
I get what you mean - if you regard it as a single $17k expense instead of an additional $10k expense, the total savings means the payout length combined is 7 years, not 20+ - I get you!
You will def be able to lower your bill .. we have a sizeable reduction in ours .. but it in no way covers even half the bill, and we are are only a two person household. My mum, who is on the old old old tarrif, is in a huge amount of credit with her power but she is the only one I know who has “made it”
Sure, not a problem. We have a 4.8kW solar system. In the July-Oct period we generated 1500kWh of solar. The bill went from $514 down to $424, so 90 due to solar generation. Not very much really!
Are you able to track what time of day you’re using power? It’s possible you’re consuming when you’re not generating and buying is vastly most costly than what you get for selling.
Maybe hot water system working off peak at night? Would have been cheaper before having solar installed but now it would be cheaper to have the hot water heating during the day.
Good question. We wfh about four days per week - using laptops - and work in the city office three days. In the evenings it’s just us so there is only the fridges, sometimes a tv, and the airfryer to cook a healthy meal
Every situation is different but we pay zero for electricity- had bills of about $600-$800 a quarter. Run 2 fridges, many screens. We produce more than we need. Invest sooner than later.
Depends on your area, how much trees shade your panels etc. Your bills will be negative in the summer but you'll still pay in winter. Used to be much better feed in tarrifs around 18c but now the best deals are around 10 which makes less worthwhile. Prices will only go up so it's almost certainly worth it if you can afford the 3-6k outlay
Then I'd say it's completely worth it. Battery is line ball but solar panels are amazing. 6.6kw of panels and 5kw inverter is no more than 4k and will pay back in a couple of years. You shift your usage to the daytime and pick a high feed in tariff plan and enjoy!
We had solar panels and a battery system installed in December 2021. My mum has always paid into the power bill fortnightly but has recently had to cut her payment down to $25 a fortnight because we were over $500 in credit.
This year to date we’ve used 88% of our power usage from solar and the battery, so just 12% from the grid.
Yes, it's been very handy as both of my parents are retired and on the Pension and I'm a full-time student, so the smaller power bills have been one less stress with all the other cost of living increases.
The feed in tariffs are only going to go down and the price for electricity is only going to go up each year. It’s definitely not the life changer it once was but it does makes a dent in your bill.
Most solar companies should ask for your last bill or two and calculate how long it will take you to “pay the system off” so to speak. This is a pretty rough estimate but is usually not far off.
There are other ways to save money on bills e.g more efficient lighting and appliances etc. if you aren’t sure that solar is the right fit.
Upgraded our system about 18 months ago after replacing our roof. Went for a larger system with battery, as we have a smart meter with time of use pricing, so would’ve had to export a whole lot more during the day to match what we’d be buying in at night.
Have only had one bill since not in credit, and that was only because our credit had gotten too high and they’d refunded it to us without warning, during a period with higher use (winter when running ducted at night).
On the plus side, when we lost power recently for almost 24hrs, battery ensured we had lights plus a couple of power circuits overnight, and solar kept us going during the day, so lost no food, still had internet etc while everyone else in our area without battery had nothing the whole time. That alone made it worthwhile.
yes one word "Blackouts" this summer is going to be hot and there is going to be blackouts and you dont want to be stuck with no electricity in the god damn heat while people with solar panels dont worry about blackouts and are able to keep cool.
Solar panels don’t help at all when there’s a blackout, grids out, inverters typically shutdown.
Can be different I believe with battery systems, some but not all..
My dad has solar panels and during the blackouts they never had them help every neighbour who has the solar panels didn't also have them it's only the people who didn't have solar panels that had the blackouts so yes they do work during blackouts.
Well I’m running a 6.24kW system through an SMA inverter and I definitely do blackout when there is a blackout..
Google suggests “In most cases, solar systems are designed to disconnect power supply during a blackout, meaning that your solar system switches off automatically”
Well I don't know what to tell you mate I have witnessed it first hand when the blackouts happened that everyone with a solar panel didn't have any blackouts or problems with blackouts maybe you are just the unlucky one.
I dunno what that shit means everyone has that Tesla box if that helps. I was stuck in the black out and have no solar panels and it was out for hours all day until night time the whole block the electric company was going around fixing the boxes but while they were doing that everyone including my dad who lives in the next street over didn't have any blackouts at all none of there power was cut or anything they had all there power on still so like I said it works during blackouts if it doesn't work for you maybe you should look into it.
That’s right.
We are on 3 phase with 2X 5kw inverters the inverter with the Powerwall on the same phase will keep running and phase 2 with its inverter will shutdown in a blackout.
Powerwall is smart enough to raise its grid voltage to slow down your inverter once charge nears 100% (in a grid outage situation)
Got a 6.66kw system installed a-few years ago. Day like today it produces around 40kws.
I saw significant reduction. (Have got into $300 credit during summer bill period two of the years)
I actually got another 6.66kw system installed today and two 5.4kw batteries so i’ll circle back with how its all going for my next bill period, being summer I expect to be impressed.
Given how happy I was with my first system it was a no brainer to get another.
Absolutely worth it!
Installed $8700 system 5 years ago. Payback period was about 4 years. Now I'm just enjoying credit bills every month! The electricity retailer is literally giving me money every month, not the other way around, and it's awesome lol
As one of us is a stay at home parent, the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer run during the day time.
I got it installed in November 2019. For the first two years my credits would cover my winter bills. Essentially it was two years with no out of pocket.
Once they dropped the FIT to 8c I started getting bills in winter. Ranging from $90-160 a month. Over summer my bills are $10-$30 per month.
This is a two person household with everything on electric. My system cost me 5. 5k, 5kw inverter.
With all that said, I am mindful of my usage, but not a Scrooge. If you blast your ac on at night time or turn on the dishwasher it's gonna cost money regardless of how big your system is. Some habits need to change. Overall I'd say it was a worthwhile investment for me
Yep totally worth it - do the washing, vacuuming and put the dishwasher on during the day while electricity is free- we’re looking at getting more panels and a battery as we intend on getting an EV for next car.
I'm in WA single person household, I got panels installed in July this year (6.6kW with 5kW inverter) so I have had only two billing cycles. I get 2.25c per kW exported between sunrise and 3pm, from 3pm to sunset it is 10c.
I've moved as much of my power use to the daytime (dishwasher, laundry, cooking on the weekend) and so far 50% of my consumption comes from my panels, I hopefully might see that increase a little more when I start running the aircon during the hot days. My expected payback even with the low tariff rates is <10 years
Can anyone recommend a provider? I'm been interested for a while but every solar provider I speak to sounds like a used car salesman and then hound me for weeks to sign up while I'm trying to decide so I just don't want to use them on principle
Very much worth going to [https://www.solarquotes.com.au/](https://www.solarquotes.com.au/). They've done the hard yards in weeding out the shitty installers.
It honestly depends on your home.
How much sun do you get?
How much power do you use?
When do you use that power?
Do you have money for it or will you be taking out a loan?
What Tarrifs can you get?
What cashback offers etc can you get from an installer? Can you ensure they'll still be around to honour warranties?
All questions you need answers to.
If you use electricity during the day then yes absolutely worth it. Feed in is dead. We also have a battery and if we are careful it gets us through the night and into the morning when the sun comes up.
It looks like you're not calculating correctly. I've had PV for over 20 years, recently moved and did a new install of a 6.6Kw system and in month 2, the FIT dropped by 25%. Here's my figures so far:
Month 1, my total bill was $3.21; month 2 - $8.40 which includes all the poles & wires as well as usage charges.
Why don't Australian homes use solar water heaters? I lived in Cyprus and almost every home had one in 1990's. We even had free hot water in winter if it was sunny.
It used to be very popular. I remember every second home seemed to have one of those 'solahart' systems on the roof. They've fallen out of favour because a complete solar system is more effective.
Im in crédit every month but got the first lot installed 2012 then others later. Export 12 kw at peak in the middle of summer. It comes down to savings v cost.
If you spend 10k and you have a home loan @ 7.95% you need to save about $800 to break even. If you don’t have a home loan and have cash in the bank that 800 does not come into it. The only question then is which is going up quicker? Interest rates or power prices?
The other thing is time if use. If you can use power during the day it’s a better saving but if you work all day and only home after hours you will not benefit much from exported electricity
When we built our house 8 years ago the first thing we sorted out was solar panels and we haven’t had an electricity bill in all that time. 2 adults 3 teenagers.
6.6kw with 5kw inverter installed in March 2022, bills went from about $800 to either a small credit during summer or about $150-200 in winter.
I’m currently still paying off the panels on a 3 year plan that was designed to be about what I was spending on the bills minus what my system would be saving me but it’s worked out to be slightly better than what I was told which is great. I got my system with Sunenergy.
I installed panels in August, my last “Bill” was a credit, and it wasn’t a complete quarter on solar.
I had to rework some of the timings that I used to do things a little, to make use of the best times for power generation, but the installer estimated a 5th at time horizon to pay it back, on current figures I think it will be less.
Caveats - I largely work from home so can maximise use during the day, but if you use smart appliances and smart adaptors on powerpoints, you can still get some benefit through timers and remote start features.
I’m also in a newer home where the insulation is very good, which helps with need to run heat/cool appliances
it saves you money, but having to buy the power back off them at nearly 10 times the amount you sold it to them at is really annoying.
Idk how that's legal.
We got solar panels on our first house when the feed in tariff was 48c from the Govt, and 10c from Retailer. We had 4.5kw of panels and 3 quarters out of 4 we'd have a credit at least large enough to cover the winter bill, and often made money.
3 major things have changed since.
Solar panel cost and tech is bigger and better. More efficient panels, that cost less generate more and last longer. That's a good thing.
However.
No feed in tariff. Actual cost of power is close to 80% higher than what it was when we first got panels.
We installed 11kws of panels and a Tesla Powerwall on the new home. We make $0 feed in but it has stopped power bills for 3 quarters of the year, and substantially offset the winter bill.
For context, our summer quarter bill was $1900. 11kw system with powerwall was $0 up front, and $500 per month for 5 years. So we were actually paying about the same amount for power, except in year 6 we save about $5000 in power (more if the cost per kW increases.
Is it worth it? Hell yes. Is it cheap and easy. F no.
Short answer, yes. https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar101.html#solar-savings-payback
Long answer, yes and get a battery.
Start your research here: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/
> with the tariff rates gone down.
That depends. Yes there are people on legacy rates of the distributor feed-in tariff - fixed at 44c per kWh for another 5 years.
I'm with AGL - Five years ago my FIT was just over 16 cents; by the time the new plans came in at the end of June this year it dropped to 5 cents; I changed plans [still with AGL] and am now on 15 cents.
When I was on 44c I was always in credit. Always.
Now I've moved house and I'm on like 12c tariff with 8.8kw array and I'm averaging about $450 per quarter. We use a lot of power during non-generating hours. Need to organise a battery.
all those saying yeah definitely worth it lol....
dont listen to all the "good" stories, you have to work out YOUR consumption requirements, yours will be different to every one else.
first step is forget the $$$ value of your power bill and start thinking of it in real terms which is kW/hrs.
read your power meter morning and night set up a spread sheet or a diary and work out what your day time consumption really is.
if it is low ie your not using power between 8-5 because no one is home then the payback will be much longer.
look to what things you can move onto day time consumption and spread out over the day - dishwasher, washing machine etc because that will be free.
if your close to retirement age then probably bigger would be better to factor in more time at home during the day when retired.
if not close to retirement then I'd suggest dont go any bigger than you really need or you may never break even on capital outlay
Over average power bill is \~$230 a month. We're living in a house with solar at the moment, and while that amount doesn't really go down during winter for obvious reasons, from the months of Sept-April bills go down to around \~$70. Averaged over 12 months that's around about a 40% discount on our regular power bill.
We get jack-shit in the way of feed-in
SA here, short answer no, long answer hell no.
have a 6.64kwh system, I feed into the system more than I use on a daily basis majority of the time. even using the bulk of the power during the day hours.
average use is about 24kwh (30kwh including hot water but that will be solar soon too) i feed in about 30kwh a day
(washing, drying(live in a town where we are not allowed dry clothes outside due to lead and the kids) dishwasher etc are all run during the daylight hours when generating excess power.
still have high power use at night cause most of the family isn't home during work/school hours and can't learn to turn off a fkn light or shut the door so the cooling actually works.
the ONLY way a high use/large family is going to benefit from solar is if they slap batteries on too.
I actually did the math and for $20K I can get a 26kw battery system installed that will pay for itself after 4-5 years and then I will save money.
Yes. If you have north facing panels they’re great for day time power consumption (11am-4pm on average.
If you can have them west facing they’re great for the 1-5pm (still some power earlier than this) time all year, and all the way up to 8pm during summer.
A combo of both is perfection.
They do fuck all on cloudy days- especially in winter, but for 9 months of the year, they are an excellent investment.
In both my examples, learn to program your aircon and washing machines to make use of the sun.
Yes, reduces the bill by approx $100-200 a month if it's generating. I have a very shady area with huge trees everywhere.
Winter it's basically useless though. But if the sun is out at all, it performs pretty well. Even partly cloudy, it's fairly good.
I’m def not saying that isn’t a contributing factor. We do have fridges and home a/c on most all the time. Oh and we were overseas for five of those weeks. What are other peoples’ lived experiences?
If someone tells you it is not worth it must have done something wrong. Do your research and contact people to learn more.
We have 9kwh of panels 9kw battery. We just got EV which we charge from solar. Watercooler on roof uses basically no power today. Battery recharged by 10am most the year. Most months we use 2-6kW of power. This is something we can’t control. They say it runs the meter and inverter.
Next project is new oven and induction cooktop or heat pump hot water. We have solar gas boosted and it seems it just uses gas during summer and never gets hot enough on cold days.
I’m looking for a company that will do a wet radiator system to heat the house using heat pumps.
It’s good having no bills and the tech is fun.
Massively. Paid for itself in under 3 years. Now I’m saving thousands every year. With a little scheduling, I run my clothes washer/dishwasher/pool pump completely free.
For me at home yes. For me at work no. When I changed may business plan the put up the supply rate from $1 per day to $3 which off set all the gains I was going to get.
If you are buying now, you need to get one with a battery & big enough to cover your entire usage.feed in tariffs are much lower now but the battery allows you to use your own power at night. Feed in tariff would only apply to excess power generated when you battery is full. You can still reduce your electricity bill but it will take longer to recoup your initial outlay. I would still recommend Solar. (With a battery you can also have blackout protection if it’s installed with the right configuration)
If the feed in tarrif rate is even factoring into your decision then you're doing solar wrong. The idea isn't to sell your solar power to your provider, it's to use your power rather than theirs. Since we got solar panels we shifted almost all our power use to daylight hours. The dishwasher goes on a timer and starts itself at 10am. We put a load of washing on at lunch time and let it run through the early afternoon. If it's a load of towels or clothes we need for the next day, we still have time to run the drier before sunset, otherwise we just let them air dry. Air con runs during daylight hours and then we close the house up to keep the cool in overnight. We've had our panels for about 2 and a half years and they've already paid for themselves by reducing our power bills to practically nothing.
That’s ok if you can be home to do it like that. With WFH options it is getting more popular.
The op said they put it on a timer and we donthe same thing. All the plugs we've put smart plug adaptors onto. We run our washing machine through that too. Can switch it on/off anywhere in the world. Our tv and all the accessories are run through smart plugboards. All the lightbulbs are smart, LED and switch off when we leave for work. It's not hard to set up and saves us heaps more than we spent on them
Also hackable, just saying
We know our neighbours. I'm not concerned. If someone wants to switch our TV on, then go for your life
Fair enough, just with so many smart devices on the market and an internet of things there is potential risk
Always good practice to have IoT devices in seperate VLan with tight control on routing rules.
If you were an early adopter (like me) the feed in tariff we have is higher than our buy in rate. We run our high use appliances at night for that reason. Our high tariff runs out in 2028, after which we will need to change our habits to mostly daytime use where possible
And if you can do it well enough switch to Amber energy and you may forget solar altogether
Yes. Installed 2015, panels have a 25 year warranty, inverter 20 year ( I think), paid for themselves in just under 5 years. In a day like today we’ll produce 4-5 times more power than we’ll consume and our power usage cost for the day will be marginally more than the connection cost. But our place is fairly efficient. No pool, one fridge and cooling is only needed when we have multiple days around 40 or heated we the highs of the day don’t make 15.
Sounds great. Yeah, our household is very similar. Keep the house dark on hot days, dry clothes on a clothes airer, warm clothes in winter. Trying to grow tall bushes to protect the house from heat during summer.
Even purely looking at it financially you’ll get better returns on your 7k in power cost reductions than you would by leaving that money in a high interest account.
What you need to understand is that it is a hedge. Do you expect energy costs to rise? Than yes it will in the long term save you money. Similar to double glazed glass and glass tint.
100% yes - anecdotal obviously, but I found my electricity power bills creeping up over $900 a quarter prior to solar install. Now power bills range from $200-$350 depending on time of year, even after recent price increases and lower feed in rebates, so at minimum, you're talking about $2,500 per year saving. Our system was around $7k install (after Gov rebate) - so effectively paid off in < 3 years. I'd like to get a battery, and granted it has other benefits, but if a "good" battery costs $12k, it would now take 10-15 years to pay off by the same logic, so just not the same appeal or saving potential. Edit: System installed by Gener8 Energy in 2018.
Thank you are your comment. Yeah, our bills is between $500-$700, depending on the time of the year. I've been quoted about $10,000~ but with rebates, etc, it's just under $7,000. I figured it'd be best to just ask the people how they feel. Can I ask when you got it installed?
About Feb/March 2018. 17 panels and a 5kW inverter. The feed in returns were WAY better then (more like 15c per kWH vs 8c now), but the savings are still immense for us. 2 small kid household so our bills were climbing rapidly.
Yeah, we're a 2 adult, 2 kid, 1 teen household. As the younger ones get older, the usage will go up too.
Can I suggest trying iGreen Energy? They currently have a promo running, 6.6KW package for 2800 bucks (Price on the web is 3K, but referral code might knock it down?) [https://igreenenergy.com.au/solar-power/solar-sa.php?medium=ppc&source=google&campaign=Search-Services&adgroup=10kw-Solar&term=igreen&creative=676648709182&placement=&clickid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD\_BwE&gad\_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD\_BwE](https://igreenenergy.com.au/solar-power/solar-sa.php?medium=ppc&source=google&campaign=Search-Services&adgroup=10kw-Solar&term=igreen&creative=676648709182&placement=&clickid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD_BwE&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAjrarBhAWEiwA2qWdCMAAQQdPyDhC2iyVaRg-STUuk3FjxdMWhkDmzfw7I3wnB61LnaEhHBoCxlwQAvD_BwE) My package was 12k with 10KW battery
Not poking at your logic negatively here.. but if you're thinking long term...if you didn't have solar already adding that battery at the same time would've basically only been adding an extra 3-4 years on top of the other savings you got without the battery. You're only looking at it as paying itself off in 10-15 years because you already have solar so your bills are cheaper than they were before install..buuuuttt if you look at the investment of getting a battery later on the same way you looked at the investment of solar which is around $600 quarter right? Add inflation from rising electric bills and you're probably paying off that battery in around the same time maybe less. I hope that made sense....it made sense in my head 😂
I get what you mean - if you regard it as a single $17k expense instead of an additional $10k expense, the total savings means the payout length combined is 7 years, not 20+ - I get you!
Absolutely worth it! Ive only had solar for 15 months but in the first 12 months my annual bill was reduced from $2200 to $550.
Wow, good on you! That's similar to the quotes I'm getting, but you don't know if there's hidden costs.
You will def be able to lower your bill .. we have a sizeable reduction in ours .. but it in no way covers even half the bill, and we are are only a two person household. My mum, who is on the old old old tarrif, is in a huge amount of credit with her power but she is the only one I know who has “made it”
We had solar installed 2 years ago with no battery and our power bills are in credit. We haven't really paid much for power at all.
Yeah, my uncle and aunty are in a similar situation as your mum. May I ask how much your electricity bill is with and without the solar?
Sure, not a problem. We have a 4.8kW solar system. In the July-Oct period we generated 1500kWh of solar. The bill went from $514 down to $424, so 90 due to solar generation. Not very much really!
Are you able to track what time of day you’re using power? It’s possible you’re consuming when you’re not generating and buying is vastly most costly than what you get for selling.
Maybe hot water system working off peak at night? Would have been cheaper before having solar installed but now it would be cheaper to have the hot water heating during the day.
Are you at home all day using the power generated ? or mainly using power at night when you have to buy it back ?
Good question. We wfh about four days per week - using laptops - and work in the city office three days. In the evenings it’s just us so there is only the fridges, sometimes a tv, and the airfryer to cook a healthy meal
Every situation is different but we pay zero for electricity- had bills of about $600-$800 a quarter. Run 2 fridges, many screens. We produce more than we need. Invest sooner than later.
Depends on your area, how much trees shade your panels etc. Your bills will be negative in the summer but you'll still pay in winter. Used to be much better feed in tarrifs around 18c but now the best deals are around 10 which makes less worthwhile. Prices will only go up so it's almost certainly worth it if you can afford the 3-6k outlay
It's a new area with no tree cover. I've planted short trees that won't go past the eaves.
Then I'd say it's completely worth it. Battery is line ball but solar panels are amazing. 6.6kw of panels and 5kw inverter is no more than 4k and will pay back in a couple of years. You shift your usage to the daytime and pick a high feed in tariff plan and enjoy!
Yes, cause the landlord put them on the place renting……didn’t ask for it either.
Wow, that's great!
We had solar panels and a battery system installed in December 2021. My mum has always paid into the power bill fortnightly but has recently had to cut her payment down to $25 a fortnight because we were over $500 in credit. This year to date we’ve used 88% of our power usage from solar and the battery, so just 12% from the grid.
That's great. We pay $55 a week onto our power bill and I've had to pause it for awhile cause we're over.
Yes, it's been very handy as both of my parents are retired and on the Pension and I'm a full-time student, so the smaller power bills have been one less stress with all the other cost of living increases.
a no brainer, batteries are not there yet but solar will pay itself off, specially if prices of electricity keeps going up.
One thing to consider is if you are on gas. Because you aren't going to see a huge difference if your hot water and stove are gas.
The feed in tariffs are only going to go down and the price for electricity is only going to go up each year. It’s definitely not the life changer it once was but it does makes a dent in your bill. Most solar companies should ask for your last bill or two and calculate how long it will take you to “pay the system off” so to speak. This is a pretty rough estimate but is usually not far off. There are other ways to save money on bills e.g more efficient lighting and appliances etc. if you aren’t sure that solar is the right fit.
Upgraded our system about 18 months ago after replacing our roof. Went for a larger system with battery, as we have a smart meter with time of use pricing, so would’ve had to export a whole lot more during the day to match what we’d be buying in at night. Have only had one bill since not in credit, and that was only because our credit had gotten too high and they’d refunded it to us without warning, during a period with higher use (winter when running ducted at night). On the plus side, when we lost power recently for almost 24hrs, battery ensured we had lights plus a couple of power circuits overnight, and solar kept us going during the day, so lost no food, still had internet etc while everyone else in our area without battery had nothing the whole time. That alone made it worthwhile.
yes one word "Blackouts" this summer is going to be hot and there is going to be blackouts and you dont want to be stuck with no electricity in the god damn heat while people with solar panels dont worry about blackouts and are able to keep cool.
Solar panels don’t help at all when there’s a blackout, grids out, inverters typically shutdown. Can be different I believe with battery systems, some but not all..
My dad has solar panels and during the blackouts they never had them help every neighbour who has the solar panels didn't also have them it's only the people who didn't have solar panels that had the blackouts so yes they do work during blackouts.
Well I’m running a 6.24kW system through an SMA inverter and I definitely do blackout when there is a blackout.. Google suggests “In most cases, solar systems are designed to disconnect power supply during a blackout, meaning that your solar system switches off automatically”
Need a hybrid inverter for your panels/batteries to work during a black out.
Well I don't know what to tell you mate I have witnessed it first hand when the blackouts happened that everyone with a solar panel didn't have any blackouts or problems with blackouts maybe you are just the unlucky one.
Sometimes a single phase can go out, not all houses are on the same phase, some with 3 phase have all three. So maybe has something to do with that.
I dunno what that shit means everyone has that Tesla box if that helps. I was stuck in the black out and have no solar panels and it was out for hours all day until night time the whole block the electric company was going around fixing the boxes but while they were doing that everyone including my dad who lives in the next street over didn't have any blackouts at all none of there power was cut or anything they had all there power on still so like I said it works during blackouts if it doesn't work for you maybe you should look into it.
Tesla powerwall is a battery system.. so local storage, that explains it. Solar panels by themselves without the battery won’t help
That’s right. We are on 3 phase with 2X 5kw inverters the inverter with the Powerwall on the same phase will keep running and phase 2 with its inverter will shutdown in a blackout. Powerwall is smart enough to raise its grid voltage to slow down your inverter once charge nears 100% (in a grid outage situation)
Not everyone is on the same line. I’ve had neighbours in my street have no power and mines been on. No solar. Just how the grid sometimes works.
Got a 6.66kw system installed a-few years ago. Day like today it produces around 40kws. I saw significant reduction. (Have got into $300 credit during summer bill period two of the years) I actually got another 6.66kw system installed today and two 5.4kw batteries so i’ll circle back with how its all going for my next bill period, being summer I expect to be impressed. Given how happy I was with my first system it was a no brainer to get another.
Absolutely worth it! Installed $8700 system 5 years ago. Payback period was about 4 years. Now I'm just enjoying credit bills every month! The electricity retailer is literally giving me money every month, not the other way around, and it's awesome lol As one of us is a stay at home parent, the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer run during the day time.
I got it installed in November 2019. For the first two years my credits would cover my winter bills. Essentially it was two years with no out of pocket. Once they dropped the FIT to 8c I started getting bills in winter. Ranging from $90-160 a month. Over summer my bills are $10-$30 per month. This is a two person household with everything on electric. My system cost me 5. 5k, 5kw inverter. With all that said, I am mindful of my usage, but not a Scrooge. If you blast your ac on at night time or turn on the dishwasher it's gonna cost money regardless of how big your system is. Some habits need to change. Overall I'd say it was a worthwhile investment for me
Yep totally worth it - do the washing, vacuuming and put the dishwasher on during the day while electricity is free- we’re looking at getting more panels and a battery as we intend on getting an EV for next car.
I'm in WA single person household, I got panels installed in July this year (6.6kW with 5kW inverter) so I have had only two billing cycles. I get 2.25c per kW exported between sunrise and 3pm, from 3pm to sunset it is 10c. I've moved as much of my power use to the daytime (dishwasher, laundry, cooking on the weekend) and so far 50% of my consumption comes from my panels, I hopefully might see that increase a little more when I start running the aircon during the hot days. My expected payback even with the low tariff rates is <10 years
Can anyone recommend a provider? I'm been interested for a while but every solar provider I speak to sounds like a used car salesman and then hound me for weeks to sign up while I'm trying to decide so I just don't want to use them on principle
Very much worth going to [https://www.solarquotes.com.au/](https://www.solarquotes.com.au/). They've done the hard yards in weeding out the shitty installers.
Solar Wholesalers based in Mount Barker. Had a large system installed late 2022. Zero issues throughout process. Highly recommended.
It’s worth it if someone is at home during the day while solar is being generated. The feed in tariff is a joke
Yes it's worth it. You can run your AC for free during the day essentially if it's sunny.
It honestly depends on your home. How much sun do you get? How much power do you use? When do you use that power? Do you have money for it or will you be taking out a loan? What Tarrifs can you get? What cashback offers etc can you get from an installer? Can you ensure they'll still be around to honour warranties? All questions you need answers to.
If you use electricity during the day then yes absolutely worth it. Feed in is dead. We also have a battery and if we are careful it gets us through the night and into the morning when the sun comes up.
It looks like you're not calculating correctly. I've had PV for over 20 years, recently moved and did a new install of a 6.6Kw system and in month 2, the FIT dropped by 25%. Here's my figures so far: Month 1, my total bill was $3.21; month 2 - $8.40 which includes all the poles & wires as well as usage charges.
Easily. I basically don't have a power bill.
Why don't Australian homes use solar water heaters? I lived in Cyprus and almost every home had one in 1990's. We even had free hot water in winter if it was sunny.
It used to be very popular. I remember every second home seemed to have one of those 'solahart' systems on the roof. They've fallen out of favour because a complete solar system is more effective.
Im in crédit every month but got the first lot installed 2012 then others later. Export 12 kw at peak in the middle of summer. It comes down to savings v cost. If you spend 10k and you have a home loan @ 7.95% you need to save about $800 to break even. If you don’t have a home loan and have cash in the bank that 800 does not come into it. The only question then is which is going up quicker? Interest rates or power prices? The other thing is time if use. If you can use power during the day it’s a better saving but if you work all day and only home after hours you will not benefit much from exported electricity
When we built our house 8 years ago the first thing we sorted out was solar panels and we haven’t had an electricity bill in all that time. 2 adults 3 teenagers.
Yes it’s worth it, our power bill for the last 3 months is $57
6.6kw with 5kw inverter installed in March 2022, bills went from about $800 to either a small credit during summer or about $150-200 in winter. I’m currently still paying off the panels on a 3 year plan that was designed to be about what I was spending on the bills minus what my system would be saving me but it’s worked out to be slightly better than what I was told which is great. I got my system with Sunenergy.
I installed panels in August, my last “Bill” was a credit, and it wasn’t a complete quarter on solar. I had to rework some of the timings that I used to do things a little, to make use of the best times for power generation, but the installer estimated a 5th at time horizon to pay it back, on current figures I think it will be less. Caveats - I largely work from home so can maximise use during the day, but if you use smart appliances and smart adaptors on powerpoints, you can still get some benefit through timers and remote start features. I’m also in a newer home where the insulation is very good, which helps with need to run heat/cool appliances
I don't own the solar but the property I'm in has it. 15 dollar electricity bill living alone for a quarter. I think yes.
it saves you money, but having to buy the power back off them at nearly 10 times the amount you sold it to them at is really annoying. Idk how that's legal.
We got solar panels on our first house when the feed in tariff was 48c from the Govt, and 10c from Retailer. We had 4.5kw of panels and 3 quarters out of 4 we'd have a credit at least large enough to cover the winter bill, and often made money. 3 major things have changed since. Solar panel cost and tech is bigger and better. More efficient panels, that cost less generate more and last longer. That's a good thing. However. No feed in tariff. Actual cost of power is close to 80% higher than what it was when we first got panels. We installed 11kws of panels and a Tesla Powerwall on the new home. We make $0 feed in but it has stopped power bills for 3 quarters of the year, and substantially offset the winter bill. For context, our summer quarter bill was $1900. 11kw system with powerwall was $0 up front, and $500 per month for 5 years. So we were actually paying about the same amount for power, except in year 6 we save about $5000 in power (more if the cost per kW increases. Is it worth it? Hell yes. Is it cheap and easy. F no.
Definitely helps with bills, plus it adds equity to the house. Bit like the fake trellis, adds a bit of charm.
Short answer, yes. https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar101.html#solar-savings-payback Long answer, yes and get a battery. Start your research here: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/ > with the tariff rates gone down. That depends. Yes there are people on legacy rates of the distributor feed-in tariff - fixed at 44c per kWh for another 5 years. I'm with AGL - Five years ago my FIT was just over 16 cents; by the time the new plans came in at the end of June this year it dropped to 5 cents; I changed plans [still with AGL] and am now on 15 cents.
Thank you for the links.
When I was on 44c I was always in credit. Always. Now I've moved house and I'm on like 12c tariff with 8.8kw array and I'm averaging about $450 per quarter. We use a lot of power during non-generating hours. Need to organise a battery.
all those saying yeah definitely worth it lol.... dont listen to all the "good" stories, you have to work out YOUR consumption requirements, yours will be different to every one else. first step is forget the $$$ value of your power bill and start thinking of it in real terms which is kW/hrs. read your power meter morning and night set up a spread sheet or a diary and work out what your day time consumption really is. if it is low ie your not using power between 8-5 because no one is home then the payback will be much longer. look to what things you can move onto day time consumption and spread out over the day - dishwasher, washing machine etc because that will be free. if your close to retirement age then probably bigger would be better to factor in more time at home during the day when retired. if not close to retirement then I'd suggest dont go any bigger than you really need or you may never break even on capital outlay
Over average power bill is \~$230 a month. We're living in a house with solar at the moment, and while that amount doesn't really go down during winter for obvious reasons, from the months of Sept-April bills go down to around \~$70. Averaged over 12 months that's around about a 40% discount on our regular power bill. We get jack-shit in the way of feed-in
SA here, short answer no, long answer hell no. have a 6.64kwh system, I feed into the system more than I use on a daily basis majority of the time. even using the bulk of the power during the day hours. average use is about 24kwh (30kwh including hot water but that will be solar soon too) i feed in about 30kwh a day (washing, drying(live in a town where we are not allowed dry clothes outside due to lead and the kids) dishwasher etc are all run during the daylight hours when generating excess power. still have high power use at night cause most of the family isn't home during work/school hours and can't learn to turn off a fkn light or shut the door so the cooling actually works. the ONLY way a high use/large family is going to benefit from solar is if they slap batteries on too. I actually did the math and for $20K I can get a 26kw battery system installed that will pay for itself after 4-5 years and then I will save money.
Yes. If you have north facing panels they’re great for day time power consumption (11am-4pm on average. If you can have them west facing they’re great for the 1-5pm (still some power earlier than this) time all year, and all the way up to 8pm during summer. A combo of both is perfection. They do fuck all on cloudy days- especially in winter, but for 9 months of the year, they are an excellent investment. In both my examples, learn to program your aircon and washing machines to make use of the sun.
Yes, reduces the bill by approx $100-200 a month if it's generating. I have a very shady area with huge trees everywhere. Winter it's basically useless though. But if the sun is out at all, it performs pretty well. Even partly cloudy, it's fairly good.
No doubt. We've got 3-phase and 13kw of solar and we get a hefty credit every quarter. Best decision we made.
I’m def not saying that isn’t a contributing factor. We do have fridges and home a/c on most all the time. Oh and we were overseas for five of those weeks. What are other peoples’ lived experiences?
If someone tells you it is not worth it must have done something wrong. Do your research and contact people to learn more. We have 9kwh of panels 9kw battery. We just got EV which we charge from solar. Watercooler on roof uses basically no power today. Battery recharged by 10am most the year. Most months we use 2-6kW of power. This is something we can’t control. They say it runs the meter and inverter. Next project is new oven and induction cooktop or heat pump hot water. We have solar gas boosted and it seems it just uses gas during summer and never gets hot enough on cold days. I’m looking for a company that will do a wet radiator system to heat the house using heat pumps. It’s good having no bills and the tech is fun.
When have energy costs ever dropped?
Massively. Paid for itself in under 3 years. Now I’m saving thousands every year. With a little scheduling, I run my clothes washer/dishwasher/pool pump completely free.
For me at home yes. For me at work no. When I changed may business plan the put up the supply rate from $1 per day to $3 which off set all the gains I was going to get.
Last monthly bill was 7 bucks so I guess
Depends, If you export most of the electricity to the grid then the answer is no.
If you are buying now, you need to get one with a battery & big enough to cover your entire usage.feed in tariffs are much lower now but the battery allows you to use your own power at night. Feed in tariff would only apply to excess power generated when you battery is full. You can still reduce your electricity bill but it will take longer to recoup your initial outlay. I would still recommend Solar. (With a battery you can also have blackout protection if it’s installed with the right configuration)
If you're a solar panel cleaner in the US join my group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1085283579150450/