Do You Save Much by Having Solar panels

jodie1980 on 30/06/2017 - 07:37
Last edited 30/06/2017 - 09:32 by 1 other user

We have a 3kw solar panels on our roof. When we first had them installed, we had an electricity bill of approximately $40 in summer and about $120 in winter.

Now our bills are approximately $500. I'm wondering if we are saving any money by having solar panels. And now, as of the 1st of July, Adelaide customers will be paying a lot more for our electricity bill. This scares me because it's already jumped up in price so much.

Can electricity company's charge as they please and do you think this price will continue to rise.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • renster72 on 30/06/2017 - 07:53
    +1

    You should have a breakdown on your bill, and it should compare over the last bills and mine even has the last year. how many kWh do you use a day?

    Having 3kw Solar will help, depending on your feed in tariff should determine if you do washing, dishwasher etc.. at day or night if you have a good feed in do it at night otherwise do it in the daytime.

    Also do you have Electric Hot Water?

  • jodie1980 on 30/06/2017 - 07:58
    +1

    We have gas hot water system gas heater and gas stove top.

  • jodie1980 on 30/06/2017 - 08:02

    If my solar panels are generating lots during the day. Should I do all my washing then. I thought everything you made got sent to the grid and you get money back per kw. ? Or does what you made in kw get used before sending to the grid.

    • Euphemistic on 30/06/2017 - 08:17
      +2

      It depends on what your feed in tariff is. If your system is a few years old you may have had it installed under the original generous feedback tariff of 60c/kWh, that has now expired and you'll be back to around 6c/kwh. If your bill has changed that much it probably is. You might also need to get your meter changed from gross metering (all your solar goes out to the grid) to net metering (only what you don't use goes out to the grid).

      Look at your bills to check the feed in tariff difference. Then see if you need a new meter.

      Our 4kw system has reduced our bills. Our comsumption is down around 7kwh (using what we generate) and we get some cash back for excess, around $40/qtr I think. For our system we need to use the power we generate during the day. The pool runs mornings. The washing and dishwasher, some AC etc run daylight hours. We sell at 6c, but buy for 20 or 49c depending on time of day. So far it doesn't seem like a fantastic investment, but prices are rising.

      • KBZ on 30/06/2017 - 08:40

        Do you save much by having a solar panel since you have a pool running as opposed to not?
        I'm just in a dilemma thinking about getting some solar panels/battery cause our pool is making up a huge bulk of our electricity cost.

        • Euphemistic on 30/06/2017 - 13:29

          As I said, our consumption is down around 7kwh on average daily figures. The system generates up to 20kwh per day, so we could save more by using it more effectively, or getting a battery to store what we don't use.

    • boccos on 01/07/2017 - 08:08
      +1

      You probably have an electronic meter which is a able "siphon" off the electricity your house is currently using before it registers the amount of any extra power being feed back into the grid. This is generally how it works. I don't think it measures how much you are consuming, but it does register how much you sell back to the grid.

    • pjcook on 01/07/2017 - 10:49

      Short answer, do as much power hungry tasks as you can during the day, you should then be saving the maximum amount, any you are feeding back will be a low percentage of what you would be paying if you used power hungry devices at night.

      • Euphemistic on 01/07/2017 - 18:12

        Only start getting stuck into your daytime power usage AFTER you work out if your meter is gross or net. Otherwise you could end up with an even bigger bill.

        I'm happy with our current system, but if I we had more gods at home during the day it would be even more cost effective.

  • Cheeper on 30/06/2017 - 08:51
    +2

    Any "savings" with solar only begin when the unit has paid for itself. This fact is often overlooked by many.
    Some elec retailers (maybe all?) charge more or exempt solar users from special offers.
    Factor in the cost of replacing components as they have a limited life.
    The performance of solar panels reduce over time.. some say up to 10% per year.
    Is it worth it? Depends… if you are home all day and can utilise the direct input during high production time it may be more beneficial than for those that are not. Low fit's kill solar benefits.
    One day when personal storage costs become reasonable the story might change?

  • ausdday on 30/06/2017 - 10:20

    Hope this help: https://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/which-electricity-retail…

    If you fall on the 0 cents category, maybe installing a Tesla PowerWall isn't a bad idea. ~$9k
    https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/powerwall

  • CyberMurning on 30/06/2017 - 10:27

    if you installed long time before 6 years ago then yes because the payment scheme has changed around that time.
    the new ones are not so attractive.
    still, you get benefit if you have whole family stay at home during daytime.

  • Savas on 30/06/2017 - 11:35
    +3

    Under the new agreement it is costing us money to feed the grid.

    Screw you government

    • Euphemistic on 30/06/2017 - 13:32
      +2

      So you need to rethink your comsumption. The new system is designed so that you get the best benefit by using your own power from your panels, rather than buying it from the grid.

      Totally agree that the old system was better. We had a 1.5kw system for about 3 years and left that house with $120 in credit. New house, new system - not as good.

  • Brucet on 30/06/2017 - 12:28
    -2

    Never waste your money on it.

  • tassieeagle on 30/06/2017 - 13:03
    +1

    Hard to put a number on it, but I would say we save about 1k a year with our 3kWh system. I am home all day every day and run most appliances like washing machine and dishwasher then which helps. I also turn the heat pump off on Sunny days and open windows on hot days rather than running the AC.

  • renster72 on 30/06/2017 - 13:45

    If you have a pool the pump is a big energy user, I switched to a robot pool cleaner (mains powered) and dropped the pump to 2- 3 hrs a day, also just use liquid chlorine only and occasional Hydrochloric acid which has saved $$$ on pool chemical bills.. If you

    is a bit strange seeing a live power cable floating in the pool but the cleaner does a good job,

    If your feed in Tariff isn't great do pool pump at day and washing etc.,

  • sweatyjockey on 01/07/2017 - 09:23
    +1

    In my experience, we do save with our system, but it comes down completely to time of use rather than feed in tariffs. The feed in we receive is so little it makes absolutely no difference to our bills, but we are fortunate enough to have someone home all day, so we can turn things on or off depending on what the panels are generating at the time.

    We also have a monitor attached to the system which tells us exactly how much we are generating (or using) at any given time, so we can turn the dishwasher or washing machine on for example when the system is exporting back to the grid. This means rather than sending excess power back to the grid to get paid next to nothing for it, we actually use it ourselves.

    I believe most if not all new solar setups have offset/time of use built into the systems or meters when installed now, so the old decent feed ins are long gone. If you want to save with solar, you have to use the power as it's being generated (or get batteries which are still too expensive).

    But even doing this, if we run too much stuff all at the same time, even on a sunny day, we can still go over what the solar is generating (and start importing from the grid again), so it comes down to a little juggling act of turning stuff on and off to get the most from it. For some that's too much work, but we are happy with doing this, and it is reducing our bills.

  • DavidG on 01/07/2017 - 16:21

    We recently signed up for a $10K 'investment' in solar panels but decided to pull the pin within the 10 day cooling-off period for 2 reasons. I did the numbers myself as opposed to just using the sales persons savings quoted, and it was simply not affordable for us. But more importantly, I had a chat to a good mate who is an electrician about whether it was a good idea and a good saving opportunity for us. His answer pretty much decided us on it being a bad idea and I quote his exact words "Hahahah………why do you think pretty much 100% of electricians don't go down the solar path for their own houses, let alone suggesting it to customers? A waste of money given the tiny rebate you get for selling back to the grid, as well as a huge up-front investment cost which might get paid off in savings over about 15-20 years…..if you're going to still be in this house in that time. There's no real value until such time as you can buy Tesla style battery storage solutions at a reasonable rate" So bottom line is, it takes way too long just to pay off the up-front investment cost through monthly bill savings as a result of installation. After those 15-20 years, you start saving money. Not worth it!!!!!!!

    • [Deactivated] on 02/07/2017 - 07:58
      +1

      But you'll be saving co2 output
      so you'll get a warm fuzzy feeling while you're gov owned electricity wholesaler reaps the rewards$$$
      I live in a semi rural area in QLD near Bris ,on a very very long dead end road with lots of solar
      When demand is peaking in summer heat they'll turn off the power for a few hours to subsidize the grid.
      They even installed remote control monitoring(? so the SEQEB linemen said) at junctions on the transfomers

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