Re: Solar Power
 

Not the best offer, pretty crap really. Just got off phone with Origin o/p 21.55, p 11.4543 , 54.1 supply charge (all exc gst)

Simply energy who are our supplier at the moment are a total NO NO!!

Re: Solar Power
 

I do.

Re: Solar Power
 

Having read the amount that some are paying, thought I'd post our costs.

We are with Neighbourhood Energy. Possibly they only operate in Vic, not sure.

Our last bill, which includes the most recent price hike shows these figures:

.2101 peak

.1055 off peak

.5810 standing charge.

Plus we get 12.5% pay on time discount on a two year contract.

If you pay 3 monthly, it is done on a meter reading. Pay monthly and it's estimated (but still read every 3 months) and they DO overestimate quite a lot.

Compared to some on here, they seem quite low charges. Hope this helps.

A. :)

P.S. - I'm lead to believe that Vic has the lowest elec charges at the moment.

Re: Solar Power
 

what does the average solar set up give you in electrical terms. does it run just the lights and a kettle per day say? or does it give the whole house a blast?

Re: Solar Power
 

I had overlooked that to some degree, however the plans I see charge around 29 cents peak once you have solar installed, so you would only be saving 50 pct of your usage, when your usual evening habits kicked in. TV, Kettles, hair dryers, lots of lights and computers. It would definitely be sensible to useful if you could combine the panels with new appliances, like Dishwashers and Washing Machines with the timers built in.

I've half an idea that you can save more money on a new build...Particuarly in Melbourne where the summers are prone to very hot days, in investing in large water tanks linked into your showers and dishwashers and toilets.... by large I mean 10,000 litre plus.

Our Water bill is 275 bucks per quarter usually...over the year. Our Gas Bill which is solely used for hot water in the summer period would be around 160 bucks during that quarter.

I need confirmation of a supposed little known fact on top of all of this. We had a meeting with the Moreland Council enviornment guy. We discussed all manner of energy saving issues, from insulation to Solar. The really interesting part to me was I managed to get out of him begrudgingly... that from a heat value point of of view and god knows how they work it out... that Gas Heating v the latest Inverter reverse cycle Air con runs at approximately the same price. Reason being that an inverter system produces 3 times the heat value of the energy it uses IE : 2kw of power produces 6 Kw of heat value ... I've scoured the internet re this fact, and have seen some complex explanations about this, and wondered if anyone can explain this in simple plain English :confused:

Re: Solar Power
 

Mate, have a look at how much of that bill is actually water usage vs standing charges. I don't think you will save very much with a water tank because of this. We have a 5000L one connected to the toilets but its mainly for watering the garden. It has never gone empty this year.

Hi Al, thanks for your PM. I'm sure Rob and I will be looking around, the general advice is that you should stay with your current supplier until they have sent you the first bill post solar install. Some suppliers have lower charges, but don't pay you as much for the power you sell back to the grid, or they charge you or make it harder to get your payment from them, so there's lots to consider.

BB

Re: Solar Power
 

I'm guessing you are not on a Smart Meter (which everyone will be sooner or later). Solar adopters are being fast tracked for this (ie: being put at the front of a very long queue) therefore once you go on this meter your fees will go up to around the 30c. It may be another year before you are on this meter, however you will eventually be put on it, which would explain the discrepancy in what you are paying compared to Rob

Re: Solar Power
 

Basically a reverse cycle air con is a heat pump, shifting heat from inside to outside.

Operated in reverse, it shifts heat from outside to inside.

Since its not using power to heat the air as such, just move it around, it can deliver more energy than it takes to run (particularly if you design it with that in mind). The more efficient it is, the higher the Coefficient of Performance, CoP (CoP of 4 is quite doable). The energy comes from the air outside, so the colder it is, the less efficient it tends to be. Obviously there are major icing issues if the temp of the cold air pushed out as a result is below 0C.

As to if its more efficient for you, it depends on your electricity cost, the cost of gas, and the CoP for your device, at the temperature you'll use it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pu...rce_heat_pumps

Re: Solar Power
 

>>Obviously there are major icing issues if the temp of the cold air pushed out as a result is below 0C.<<

You can say that again! The rental we had while we built (brand new) was typical Aussie - no insulation, single glazed, minimum water heater and A/C performance and so on.

We froze during the winter - had to go to bed early with the electric blanket on.

The heat exchanger would freeze after about ten minutes' use, then go on a defrost cycle for 9 minutes. Result - almost zero heating.

Re: Solar Power
 

It depends on the size of the system and how much sunlight you get.

The Clean energy council website gives approximate figures for each capital city and the size of system.

For example, up here in Darwin, a 3 kW system will produce around 13kWh of electricity per day, on average. My daily kWh usage is 16, so if I fit a 3 kW system , I will produce most of the electricity I use per day.

The electricity produced is not used directly by the house, it is fed through a meter into the grid and shared out. Generally, the meters show what you used and what you produced and you pay the difference.

Re: Solar Power
 

Thats sounds ok to me,so the more sun your system gets the more power it will give you, or do they max out at a certain limit?

Re: Solar Power
 

Sun is part of it , but heat will decrease the output .

Your panels although rated at (for arguments sake ) 190w ,will only return 85% of this at peak hours 10am to 2pm because of heat generated.
This is with Perths current 30c temperatures.
Approximate only , some are better , some are a lot worse.

Re: Solar Power
 

4 guy's currently outside getting together to put me 1.5kw setup in.

Will throw a pic or 2 up when done.

Re: Solar Power
 

Hey BS you asked to let ya know how it went...

Well 4 guy's here at 8am and gone by midday. VERY impressed with them which was one main guy, a sparkie and 2 apprentices. ALL very friendly and nice blokes, had a good chat about it all with em for a while after.

They threw the panels where I wanted them, took down the bloody Foxtel dish in the way for me, don't need that, and yeah all went very smooth I think.

I'm a bit of a fuss pot with cabling and stuff, but am happy with all they've done ... :thumbsup:

$3,250 all in as I opted for the Sharp over pot luck for $2,990 with Origin.

$150 odd paid already, and 12 x interest free payments of $270 odd starting August.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMG_1842.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/IMG_1848.jpg

I'm happy ... :)

Re: Solar Power
 

Cool! Mine's getting installed tomorrow! (I hope....)

BB