Back when I had long hair, solar was pretty basic, and so were the electricity supply, metering, and billing.
It’s wistful thinking to imagine we’re going back to simpler times. But today, it makes sense to streamline and rein in your bills equally.
SolarQuotes Blog
Plug-In Solar: Has The Safety Problem Been Solved?
Plug-in solar has moved a step closer in Australia, with federal, state and territory energy ministers agreeing to explore pathways for its safe deployment. The UK now allows approved systems, while New Zealand is also moving towards legalisation.
But there’s an electrical safety problem SolarQuotes raised when we looked at balcony solar in 2024. Two years later, we finally have a much better answer. [Continue reading…]
South Australia’s Best-Rated Solar Installers: 2026
We’re launching our 2026 state installer awards in South Australia, where there’s a new number one in SolarQuotes’ annual rankings, knocking last year’s winner off the top spot. Here are the three installers SA customers rated highest in 2026.
[Continue reading…]See You At Everything Electric Sydney This Weekend
The giant Everything Electric show returns to Sydney Showground this weekend, Friday 18 to Sunday 20 September, six months later than planned.
[Continue reading…]Australia Has Installed Half a Million Batteries. Who’s Checking They’re Safe?
Peter Hannam quoted me in RenewEconomy on Friday, saying I expect there are hundreds of thousands of solar and battery systems out there that aren’t optimally installed or configured, some of them carrying real potential for dangerous outcomes.
[Continue reading…]CEC Double Standard On Budget Brand Delistings
Neovolt have been threatened with de-listing because their CEC approval paperwork isn’t in order. I find this curious because when I’ve asked about similar approval paperwork in the past concerning Growatt products, they weren’t de-listed. And the CEC refused to answer our questions.
[Continue reading…]EVs Outsell Petrol: What It Means For Home Electrification
Electric cars have notched up their biggest Australian milestone yet. In August, they outsold petrol cars for the first time, taking almost a quarter of all new vehicle sales. For households, that also means more transport energy is shifting from the petrol bowser to the electricity meter.
[Continue reading…]Unreliable Backup Power: The Mistake Everyone Keeps Making
We’ve seen a big change in the solar industry recently. With batteries becoming standard, everyone is getting backup. The problem is that poor design and sales misunderstandings are leaving people, especially three-phase customers, with a total oxymoron: unreliable backup power.
[Continue reading…]Slow-Charging Your EV Wastes More Power Than You’d Think
Carefully trickle-charging your EV with surplus solar instead of buying electricity from the grid sounds like the perfect way to charge. But there’s an uncomfortable truth: slow charging can waste considerably more energy than charging at higher power with a home charger. Spoiler alert: that doesn’t mean you should stop charging from solar. Cheap electricity […]
[Continue reading…]The Question Nobody Asks Before Selling You A Battery
Last week I was in Officeworks waiting for some printing. Next to me, a woman was buying a laptop, and the Officeworks bloke helping her knew his stuff. Processors, RAM, screen brightness: all of it correct. Then he asked whether she’d considered a Mac, which opened a second long conversation about MacBooks, and by the […]
[Continue reading…]
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