About Ronald BrakelsJoining SolarQuotes in 2015, Ronald has a knack for reading those tediously long documents put out by solar manufacturers and translating their contents into something consumers might find interesting. Master of heavily researched deep-dive blog posts, his relentless consumer advocacy has ruffled more than a few manufacturer's feathers over the years. Read Ronald's full bio.
Every second word from politicians and the media this election campaign seems to be about how Australia should double down on supposedly cheap gas. I’ve taken a deeper look at how much money Australian households could actually save by getting off gas, and the amount will make your head spin worse than a leaky stovetop.
Finnish company Peikkovoima held its Australian launch of a revolutionary new form of home hot water in Adelaide last night. Using a process called geological decomposition, the company promises their system will provide household hot water in a way that’s environmentally benign and affordable.
The bad news is out. Grid electricity price hikes are coming and likely to hit hardest in NSW, where bills are set to spike by up to 8.9%. With more financial pressure looming, many NSW homeowners are asking: “Is now the time to get solar and a battery?”
Hot water heat pump systems are great for saving energy, but there’s a major problem dogging them like an overly friendly labrador that has been rolling in fish guts. Most warranties stink! I can only think of four brands commonly sold in Australia with warranties I consider close to acceptable.
Switching from gas to an all-electric home can save hundreds of dollars a year, but if you’re not careful you risk copping some hefty fees. There’s one big decision to make that determines how much you will be out of pocket: should you abolish your gas connection or just disconnect it?
Image: GloBird
Update 24th Feb 2025: I mistakenly wrote that the Globird Zerohero VPP allows a household to use up to 0.3kWh of grid electricity during the two hour Zerohero peak and still receive a $1 credit. But the actual figure GloBird gives is 0.03kWh per hour. This makes for a total of 0.06kWh over the two hour period. This figure is low and has the potential to make it difficult for battery households to claim the $1 credit because it’s normal for battery households to still draw a small amount of power from the grid even if they never exceed their battery’s continuous power output. I called GloBird but wasn’t able to talk to anyone who knew details about the VPP. I have sent them an email and, hopefully, they will respond to it. Until I get clarification from Glowbird, I can’t recommend using their Zerohero VPP as it may be difficult for households to take advantage of one of its major benefits.
Update 3rd March 2025: GloBird have responded and said, for the batteries they have tested, households are able to get through the two hour Zerohero evening peak without exceeding the 0.03kWh per hour grid electricity consumption limit, so are able to receive the $1 credit. They also sent some bill information on four households showing this. However, this information was all from summer when small amounts of solar generation during the peak period could have helped the households avoid the 0.03kWh per hour limit. Until we receive information showing homes can receive the $1 Zerohero credit outside of summer, I recommend assuming you won’t get it any time your solar system isn’t producing a small amount of energy during the second half of the Zerohero evening peak. I have placed the bill information at the end of the post.
I’ve looked into the pros and cons of a range of Virtual Power Plants, and so far, I haven’t been impressed. But GloBird Energy’s Zerohero VPP stands out as the best of a bad bunch. Rather than providing inadequately meagre payments — so long as you have a suitable battery and electricity consumption patterns — its payments have the potential to be adequately meagre.
On December 27th, 2024, official notice was given that Perth-based solar installation company Sungain Solar had entered liquidation. That’s a fancy way of saying they’d gone bust. A number of their customers have been left in the lurch because they paid deposits for solar systems and now don’t know if they’ll get any of their money back.
We’re well into the first month of 2025, but before getting carried away by the fact we’re now obviously living in the future, I thought it would be a good idea to look back at which solar panels tested well last year, according to the Kiwa PVEL 2024 PV Module Reliability Scorecard.
Have you got a 7 year itch for free electricity? ACT company Reposit is offering a “Reposit No Bill” deal where they’ll sell you a solar system and a home battery with a smart controller and guarantee you’ll receive no electricity bills for 7 years.
Generally, home batteries can charge from the grid – but not always. Discover those that will, those that won’t and batteries we’re not sure about. [Read more…]
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