Best Energy Company with Solar Plans QLD

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  Chandler on 14/12/2020 - 12:51

  https://www.energymadeeasy.gov.au/

  It tries to make it too simple - I personally would prefer a listing of rates - but it really does compare the market. It is also a lot easier to compare now with the various discount structures out the window.

  I recently switched to ReAmped Energy - significant savings (~$350 p.a.) over our previous provider. May not be the cheapest for you/your area, but worth a look.

  Main points of difference (apart from $):

  • Monthly billing (you may/may not like this)
  • After-sales support may be lacking (all online chat/email only) - sales support was great, and I haven't needed to contact them since
  • Not fixed price - I personally haven't had any rate changes yet, and when I asked sales advised they don't change too often

  Happy to give you a referral code ($50 off for both you and I) if you do choose to go with them :)

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  cheaplee on 14/12/2020 - 14:33

  Earlier in the year there was a Origin Solar Boost plan on OzB.

  15c FIT
  23% off supply and usage - works out to be (GST incl.)
  85.86c/day supply
  6.7c/day solar meter charge
  18.43c/kWh

  Best I could find at the time. Haven't shopped around since

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  avoidfullprice on 14/12/2020 - 17:26

  I really have no idea what my usage will look like, but it'll be 2 people in a 3 bedder

  So until you install solar, which will take a few months from when you move in, try to organise a free smart meter upgrade. Pick a provider which provides TOU plan that has low supply daily charge (note 1) and a website which gives you daily usage pattern (hourly interval of how much kWh you consumed) . Once you figure out what solar system size you going to get, which will give you an estimate of annual solar energy export, then you can use the energy made easy to do a comparison and recommend you a better plan

  Note 1: low supply charge plan usually has high usage charges .. but if you don't think you two will use that much energy, like your new place will have good thermal insulation that you won't need AC or heating , then your bill should be fairly decent until you have solar installed.

  Now if your new place uses electric hot water tank, then prob grab a plan that strikes good balance between daily supply and usage charges

  • 

    dsp26 on 16/12/2020 - 12:42

    with the last point above, can use electric hot water as effective 'energy storage':

    1) get the electrical person to crank up the hot water heating to maximum for the tank (ie, 90deg). the tempering valve will always reduce in-house hotwater to 60deg
    2) replace the hotwater fuse with a timer fuse instead, set to only be on during effective day/solar times
    3) forget TOU and go to single tariff

    If you use half your hotwater at night, will still average out to around 60deg when it refills

    • 

      avoidfullprice on 16/12/2020 - 13:59

      Do you use that approach? I'm keen to know the difference in cost, especially in winter time. Sounds like anyone can benefit regardless of solar.

    • 

      cannibal on 16/12/2020 - 16:54

      Do you need to get the electrician to change any physical circuits to go to the single tariff? e.g. my bill talks about "Dedicated Circuit 2 Consumption" in relation to the hot water component.
      Also, do you have any idea of the costs to get these changes and the timer fuse installed?
      Thanks.

    • 

      dsp26 on 17/12/2020 - 11:22

      +1

      @NeutralName
      Hard to measure between quarters that overlaps seasons. It's a no breainer though and a known 'trick'. Heat is after all a form of energy storage.

      @cannibal
      As for the tariff, you change that via your energy supplier. Your quote simply means you are on a CL2 for your hot water which may or may not be on time-of-use rates, and what you are doing is going back to Single tariff and effectively eliminating 90%+ of your hot water tank electricity use at night time. The bigger the hotwater tank the better.

      The actual work on the hotwater tank heater element itself is via a qualified sparky/solar contractor who, i believe must send paperwork to your distributor for that particular work, hence, its more convenient to get it done at the time of getting solar done.

      Not sure, what the standalone cost is, but i got billed an extra $190 on my solar install for this particular part and labour and the part looks something like this:
      https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/time-switches/8215014/

      • 

        cannibal on 27/12/2020 - 15:34

        Thanks for that. I think I will leave things as they are as my new feed in tariff will be 14cts / kwh, my off peak hot water is heated at 18 cts / kwh and I only use 3 kwh to heat the water, so it is only costing me an additional 12 cents per day.

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  CrocDundee on 17/12/2020 - 23:29

  +1

  My advice - get the largest system you can afford! You wont regret it.