Hi all,
I’m moving to new house which has 3kw solar power installed on the roof, appreciate if you can help me with the below questions:
1: Is 3kw solar enough for house hold usage?
2: Which energy supply company is the best for us?
House is located north of Brisbane and current owner had contact with Energy Australia for supply power.
Thanks in advance :-)
Thanks gor your message,
How big is your panels?
don't have panels - though do have a solar water heater. that makes a huge difference (I think).
the gov website allows you to input your solar panel size into the calculations.
Is 3kw enough? It depends on your usage and panel orientation. I have 4kw and it doesn’t quite make enough for a family of 5 with a pool but very little heating and cooling by electricity. It generates up to 23kwh in summer and we usually use around 26kwh per day. Of course our bill is higher than. 3kwh because we don’t have battteries.
I think Energex offers 14c feed in tariff, Alina does 11c.
We have a just over 6kw solar system for a family of 4, we make sure that we set the dishwasher for during the day and use the washing machine/ dryer during the day.
You need to see how much extra solar you produce, compared to how much electricity you use to see if you should go for the higher feed in tariff or lower actual electricity costs.
It can be very confusing some days our feed in is over 30kw other days it's lucky to be 4kw, depends on weather and usage. We stayed with alinta but they have stuffed us around a bit. Also if your energy provider offers pay on time discounts, the discount is added after they take out your solar rebates.
My solar is installed facing East and we plan to use most of our usage in the morning.
Don’t think our solar making any in the afternoon( haven’t moved in so don’t know yet)
Energy Australia charging 29c per KWH and buy 16c.
This is rubbery!!!!!
For an average Australian home, a 3kW solar system will generate the equivalent of about two thirds of total electricity usage. But if you have ducted air-con, a pool pump and a home automation system in your house then it's not going to make much of a dent in your electricity bills!
We have a 5kW system for a 2 adult 2 kid household, pool pump but no aircon. The only time we ever consume significant amounts of power is running the pool pump (1kW) and using the dishwasher (2kW peaks during heating bits of the cycle).
A 3kW system would have been fine for us.
have a look at https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/
put in your data/info and it spits out recommendations.
I'm in Bris and with AGL. AGL has the best price for my circumstance - I have a pool.
last month my electricity bill was $64 (with pay on time discount). that's pretty good - especially with a pool pump. - though I don't have air con.