Search Results for: northern territory

When Electricity Price Hikes Don’t Improve The Economics Of Batteries

May 30, 2017 2017-11-01T19:43:26 by 16 Comments
batteries and bills

Do rising electricity prices always improve the economics of batteries? No. Read on to discover why. (And don’t stand on your roof without wearing an approved safety harness – especially if you are balancing giant golden scales on your head.)

I’ve already written on how electricity prices are set to rise substantially.

Because Australians will soon have to shell out like an evicted hermit crab when it comes to grid power, both the good and bad mainstream media are declaring that rising power costs make buying batteries more attractive.

Unfortunately for fans of shock boxes this is unlikely to be the case. Counter-intuitive I know. But bear with me. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices Tagged With: ,

Natural Gas Blamed For Rising Electricity Prices But Is Not the Main Villain

May 16, 2017 2017-10-04T10:13:44 by 9 Comments
lady looking at electricity price rise graph

Is the rising electricity price really all down to gas prices?

Last week I wrote about how electricity prices in Australia are about to shoot so high the International Space Station will have to take evasive action.  It appears it’s not enough for the electricity sector to make Australians pay ridiculous prices, they are going to force us to go right to ludicrous. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices Tagged With:

Solar Owners Secure As Electricity Prices & Solar Feed-In Tariffs Rise

May 10, 2017 2024-01-25T16:04:58 by 20 Comments
solar owner

If you own a good-sized solar power system, rising electricity prices are not a worry, in fact some solar owners will see their bills decrease thanks to rising feed-in-tariffs.

Australians don’t pay the highest electricity prices in the world, but we’re working on it.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With:

South Australia Is Actually Second Cheapest State For Household Electricity

May 3, 2017 2024-01-02T15:45:46 by 14 Comments
Malcolmnocchio

Not true Malcolm! A typical house in SA pays less per kWh for electricity than any other state except NSW.

Grid electricity is not cheap in South Australia.  Here in Adelaide it’s never a happy time when I get an electricity bill.  My last quarterly bill was $203 for 389 kilowatt-hours of use.  All up, that means I paid over 52 cents for each kilowatt-hour of grid electricity. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices Tagged With: ,

Tesla Says Powerwall 2’s Return Will Be 8-15%. Really?

April 11, 2017 2024-10-01T10:41:42 by 55 Comments
powerwall spruiker

Is it reasonable to expect a “8-15% return on investment” on a Powerwall 2?

Last month, Lyndon Rive, Tesla’s Vice President for Energy Products, stood up in front of a large group of people, including me, and promised the Powerwall 2 will deliver a return between 8% and 15%. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With: , ,

Solar Air Conditioning Vs. Heat Reflective Paint

April 5, 2017 2024-01-25T10:36:50 by 32 Comments
heat reflective paint vs solar

If your house is getting too hot should you invest in heat reflective paint or solar panels?

It can get bloody hot in summer thanks to the sun blazing down on our roofs and making them hot enough to not only fry an egg, but some bacon as well.

This post is about stopping the summer sun heating your roof, turning your home into a metaphorical oven. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With:

Unwitting Warranties: A Ticking Time Bomb For The Battery Industry

November 30, 2016 2016-12-19T16:05:13 by 13 Comments
dodgy battery sales guy

As soon as a battery manufacturer says this, your battery magically gets a 20 year warranty in Australia. No matter what the warranty document says.

The other day a salesperson give me the rundown on a home battery system he had on display.  While it wasn’t cheap, it certainly appeared to be a very impressive piece of technology.  The salesperson clearly had a lot of confidence in it because, even though its written warranty was only for 10 years, he very generously doubled that to a 20 year warranty without batting an eyelid.

Ben Affleck had his eyes batted for two hours a day in preparation for this role.

Ben Affleck would bat his eyelids for two hours a day in preparation for this role.

We weren’t related, so nepotism wasn’t the reason for his generosity.  And it wasn’t because I saved his life in Nam…bour.  (That sugar cane train could be really dangerous.)  We weren’t old schoolmates, and as hard as it may be to believe, he wasn’t taken in by my charm and good looks.

No, the reason why he gave me a 20 year warranty was simply because he didn’t realize he was giving one.  Or possibly, he did realize he was giving one and really hates his company.

He gave me a 20 year warranty when he told me the battery system had a design life of 20 years.  According to Australian Consumer Law, if a salesperson makes a statement that a reasonable person would conclude to mean that a product can be expected to last for 20 years, then that counts as a 20 year warranty.  It doesn’t matter that this warranty was given verbally or that it is twice as long as its written warranty, legally it still counts. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Battery Storage Tagged With:

East West Facing Solar Panels On A Single Inverter Input Can Work Well

July 15, 2016 2021-04-06T23:25:41 by 57 Comments
east and west facing solar panels

Is it OK to put East and West facing panels on a single input inverter?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Inverters Tagged With: ,

Standard Tariffs Vs Time Of Use Pricing. Which Goes Best With Solar?

July 8, 2016 2021-08-09T15:46:56 by 25 Comments
time of use meter

What will give you the lowest bill, a standard or time of use tariff? What if you add solar? What about batteries?

Australians pay for grid electricity in two ways.  The most common way is a standard tariff. But you can also choose a time-of-use tariff.

What is a standard tariff?

This is where you pay a fixed rate for each kilowatt-hour used, plus a hefty supply charge.  Australians have been paying for electricity this way since the the electricity meter, invented in 1888, was developed into the ‘spinning dial’ type in 1914. So Australians have been using standard tariffs for over  a century. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Electricity Prices Tagged With: , ,

ET Solar Panels win government support

February 4, 2015 2017-10-25T09:40:00 by Leave a Comment
commercial solar installation

Government backed CEFC has joined forces with ET Solar Panels to power large Aussie businesses.

What do ET Solar Australia and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) have up their sleeves to promote ET solar panels for large commercial businesses in our country?

There’s more than one way to skin a cat. And more than one model for financing solar energy. This was amply demonstrated last week with the release of the CEFC’s plan to stump up $20 million with the solar energy provider ET Solar in a new innovative partnership that has proved radically successful in overseas countries. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics Of Solar Tagged With: , ,
Get the latest solar, battery and EV charger news straight to your inbox every Tuesday