How many people, like me signed up for solar panels for their home in WA between mid 2010 & mid 2011 partly due to the govt promise of 40 cents per unit Feed In Tariff for 10 years?
The idea was to allow homeowners to generate some power to take pressure off the power stations and get a reward for reducing the need for PS upgrades.
Well, the plan was too successful and due to unprecedented uptake, power supply demand reduced such that the power co's were not making enough money.
What do we, as a Liberal Govt do? We go back on the promise and slash the tariff from 40c to 20c.
We put solar panels in 6 months ago, it has halved our bills. As we are selling soon and buying something smaller, it means it wouldn't be worth adding solar to our next house, but that also means we will struggle to pay the bills each quarter :(
In NSW they dont pay you anything at all for power generated by new solar installations, but if you use electricity at night when you are not generating any they still charge full price.
We don't like it at all either Grams.
I understand that new installations are not paid but when we put ours on they WERE paying 40c per unit supplied to the grid above your usage. This was contracted for 10 years.
Now they are tearing up that contract and dropping the price to 20c per unit which is less than what we pay for power.
Try more like 8 Cents KWH then you buy it back at 32 cents I can see that working out well, I think Not. The next thing to go will be the off peak rate, I have solar hot water and it's next to useless in the scope of things
-- Edited by Wombat 280 on Friday 9th of August 2013 11:00:22 AM
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Pets are welcome but children must be leashed at all times
Here in sunny QLD, I get 44c per kwh, but there has been some talk of dropping it to 8c . If Ergon, The local supplier drops the price, I will take legal action. I signed a contract til 2020, and want them to honour it.if I broke a commercial contract, I would be penalized, so I would expect the same from Ergon.They, and the govt, can,t have it both ways. Bill
The reduction in feed in tarrifs has been happening, or is about to happen across all states.
Some people are now taking advantage of the vastly improved batteries (LifePo4) and smart technology to store the power they generate (or buy cheap off peak), to then use it in high usage periods. So rather than sell it back, just store it an reduce the amount you uy when you need it.
With the introduction of smart meters we will soon see variable tarrifs, where the cost per Kwh varies through out the day, and today;s tarrifs may be different to yesterdays (they call it discounting, so they do not have to advise you about the changes).
The smart meter always knows what you are being charged, and there is now smart technology around that reads the smart meter, and when power is cheap it buys and fills the batteries, then uses the power from the batteries as and when you need it.
Expensive to set up, but in some markets it is already worthwhile.
My sister however had gone 'off grid' she has no power connection at all just a pile of cells, a windmill and a few massive batteries.
They run a generator when the washing machine is on otherwise you wouldn't know.
It must be remembered in this debate, that here in Qld. its the non solar user that pays extra in their electrical bills to cover your solar rebate. Many of us didnot get any Gov. help paying for our panels because we live in caravans/motorhomes even though classified by Centre Link Pensions as our own homes.
Peter
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Cheers Peter and Sue
"If I agree with you we'll both be wrong"
No, I'm not busy, I did it right the first time.
Self-powered wheelie walker, soon a power chair (ex. Nomad)
The terminology they use to group us varies as the day rolls on. One minute your a pensioner the next they are classifying you as a self funded retiree depends which is the best way they feel will screw you to the wall. I think we all new that when Julia /Rudd came up with the solar scheme that we were not going to come out in front
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Pets are welcome but children must be leashed at all times
I'm with you Bill we signed a contract to
last 3 bills I've got nearly 1000 dollars back but that has to pay for the repayments for what it cost me to setup the system
@ Wombat 280
as for Solar hot water thank God I've got it, it safe's me I think an 150 dollars a quarter
still think Solar is a good thing every house should have it
the whole system pays it self back in more or less 6 years here In Qld
its the initial out lays that hurts
CC As a Queenslander tell me why once your over the divide out around Longreach that we don't see a lot more solar panels With so much sun most days you see very few solar collectors
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Pets are welcome but children must be leashed at all times
I am now on the way to putting batteries in for when they drop our rebate and will not be suppling or using their power. No sun no worries have a 4kv genset. Couple of the neighbours are looking at that method as well. Stuff the power grabbers they always want it their way or no way.
Pete
snip.....The terminology they use to group us varies as the day rolls on. One minute your a pensioner the next they are classifying you as a self funded retiree depends which is the best way they feel will screw you to the wall........
It's the state government that is doing it in WA, like they were encouraging everyone to take public train transport to work leaving their cars at the station carparks which had free (unsecured) parking and secured (fees) parking. This was to ease congestion in the city and on freeways, now they are going to charge for parking in all these outer suburb stations whether secured or not.
We were all encouraged to go onto natural gas when building new homes etc which was a lot cheaper than power, then once enough of us were on gas jacked the prices up. Can any of these governments be trusted irrespective of their colours etc? No !
Why haven't the Newspapers of this country gotten onto this blatant lying scum bag Government I'm sure the Editors and staff have Solar panels..I had 12 at the old house...lets see them Debate this......Clive palmer can you help /
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I always leave my camping area cleaner than I found it.
Just got our bill last week, still getting the 44cent feeding the grid but Ergon have put up incoming rate from 23c to 26cents. so it looks like they will slowly get it all back. ( this is central Qld.)
I think you may not be able to convert an on grid system to stand alone as they will say that you MUST give them the power irrespective of what they pay you.
Any power generated in a zone can not I believe be sent out that zone so often more power is generated than can be used. This is becoming relevant in areas where solar has been popular. Apparently the power cant go BACK through the transformers at the moment.
It is possible and in some instances cheaper to go off grid and as yet I don't think it has been challenged.
I know several that have done this (bought their panels and batteries and then changed their house to use the batteries in stead of the grid) but I think when the power companies find it is becoming popular they will find a way to stop it.
This is why the on grid system was pushed so hard as they wanted to ensure that the off grid idea did not get off the ground.
Many with very large setups will find they will loose out in the near future when the take a way the credit value.
I have a friend who is often challenged by his power company as he uses little power and they know he has many panels on his roof but has no on-grid contract. Just as well most of the people they send around to talk to him don't have a good understanding of English so they usually leave shaking their heads LOL
You may be able to use the grid for night time charging or you can use a small generator for top up if and when needed as you usually only need a generator to run you charger as with the right batteries you can still draw loads from the batteries while charging.
Regards
Brian
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11 Mtr house Boat based at Mannum hoping to travel up the Murray as far as I can get then drift back again
