Solar Panels

[NM]

I have been surprised to see that my generation has not really dropped much this last two weeks. The smoke has been horrendous at times.

Oh, @NM, I am surprised to see that you did not take the time to explain the difference between left hand and right hand smoke. I.e. the reason that appliances work in the first place is the smoke changing from left hand to right hand as it passes through. Which is why it is so important to get an electrician to hook up the pipes to make sure the correct handedness of the smoke in the first place.

That is certainly the case for Rotationally Polarised Appliances (RPA) or when using Direct Circulation (DC) Smoke. The last thing we want is the washing machine spinning in the wrong direction and making the clothes dirty, or the blender running backwards and ending up with a frog instead of a kale smoothie!

Its less important for Ambidextrous Circulation (AC) Smoke devices such as dark suckers, which can work both left and right handed. Ambidextrousness is a wonderful attribute - I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

I thought it best not to mention the some of the complexities as it can confuse some of the logic-challenged in the community.

 

[amaroo]

Energy Australia sent me 3 letters (for the same account) to say the FiT will reduce from 12.5 to 10.5c/kWh

I think this reduction will not be the last.

12.5c/kWh = $125/MWh
During the solar period, the spot prices for generated electricity are lower than this. Currently spot prices between 9 and 3pm are usually about $80/MWh = 8c/kWh

Let's hope Governments will remember what overzealous hype and silly schemes will do...

 

[Quickstatus]

Let's hope Governments will remember what overzealous hype and silly schemes will do...

They won’t due to very poor short term memories

 

[tgh]

Just wanted to say that NM's description of electricity basics was very clever and downright hilarious...
Next time I try to explain excited electrons to a newbie, I will know exactly what to say

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Ambidextrousness is a wonderful attribute - I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

No you have that all wrong. If you give your right arm you will be left handed.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I was hoping we could get a hailstorm thinking that maybe that would clean the panels for me. Everything around here is covered with dust combined with smoke and only 4 mm of rain for the last three months.

So you are the one to blame for the hail

my panels are beautifully clean now!

Just received my bill for the last quarter and a credit of $106, in spite of generation dropping significantly over the last 5 weeks with smoke issues.

Our Fit drops as well from today, as we are with Energy Australia, however I was half expecting that and it’s not a huge drop. For 4 months we come close to consuming everything we produce and draw from the grid, so I am happy we are keeping our 30% discount.

 

[Quickstatus]

Our Fit drops as well from today, as we are with Energy Australia,

From 12.5c to 10.5c?

Anyone from Energy Australia got this proposal:

PowerResponse

PowerResponse is EnergyAustralia’s Demand Response program, in which we ask selected participants reduce their electricity consumption for a short period when demand is particularly high.

www.energyaustralia.com.au

They pay you between $10-20 if you can reduce power consumption by an agreed range during periods when the Grid is at max capacity.
They SMS you and ask if you can do it in a 4 hour period. If you agree (having previously agreed to be part of the program) and your power consumption is reduced they give you $$. The comparison is the 10 day period prior to the power response event.

Not a lot of $$ IMO to be worth being involved especially when solar is reducing what the meter "sees" and sometimes the consumption (import) from the Grid is zero.

Esseentially for $10-$20 per event would you be happy to turn off the aircon for a few hours?

 

[Flying mermaid]

From 12.5c to10.5?

Yes 12.5 to 10.5

 

[RB]

Came across this company a while ago, had never heard or read about them. Home | ReAmped Energy

Not sure how they compare in different areas.

 

[cove]

Our Adelaide largest inverter is going to be replaced in a few days under warranty. I think it is an ABB model and has stopped working. We have had 3 different ones fail over the last 4 years out of 20 units so failures do occur.

 

[NM]

From 12.5c to 10.5c?

Mine has dropped from 16.1c to 11.5c, so that is quite a drop. The whole reason I moved to Energy Australia in May last year was the FIT being offered. Feeling like a bit of bait-and-switch marketing going on with such a large change mind-way through the 12-month "contract". Of course the FIT is excluded from the guaranteed rates in the contract.

Anyone from Energy Australia got this proposal:

PowerResponse

PowerResponse is EnergyAustralia’s Demand Response program, in which we ask selected participants reduce their electricity consumption for a short period when demand is particularly high.

www.energyaustralia.com.au

They pay you between $10-20 if you can reduce power consumption by an agreed range during periods when the Grid is at max capacity.
They SMS you and ask if you can do it in a 4 hour period. If you agree (having previously agreed to be part of the program) and your power consumption is reduced they give you $$. The comparison is the 10 day period prior to the power response event.

Not a lot of $$ IMO to be worth being involved especially when solar is reducing what the meter "sees" and sometimes the consumption (import) from the Grid is zero.

Esseentially for $10-$20 per event would you be happy to turn off the aircon for a few hours?

No such offer for me.

 

[NM]

The reduction in FIT from EA is going to cost me considerably more. Comparing my usage for my current bill cycle (last 84 days), I would be $134 worse off. So could cost me up to $500 annually. So its time to revisit the plans on offer from potential players.

Any suggestions on likely best combination of:

• Low daily supply charge
• Low daily solar meter change
• Low single-rate usage charge
• Highest FIT

or any decent sign-up bonuses or other deals on offer right now?

Its easy for me to set these variables in my detailed usage spreadsheet to compare how my bill would look based on previous usage (about 21 months of raw data available).

 

[Quickstatus]

That’s a huge drop @NM
I don’t think you will find similar FiT anywhere else
Some providers are quoting 8c

part of the reason is I think with the new easier to understand and comparable elec plans. The default plans are now cheaper so they have to look for savings somewhere.

 

[NM]

That’s a huge drop @NM
I don’t think you will find similar FiT anywhere else
Some providers are quoting 8c

part of the reason is I think with the new easier to understand and comparable elec plans. The default plans are now cheaper so they have to look for savings somewhere.

Origin has a plan offering 15c. But its always the combination of rates and my consumption usage that needs to produce the best overall outcome. No point having 18c FIT if the daily service charge is $2.00 or usage rate is $0.35/KWh. A 10c FIT might be a good option is the daily service fee and usage rates are low enough.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I agree it depends on your usage. A friend of ours is getting 20c FiT and he managed to toss them to keep it last year when they tried to bring it down. When we did our comparisons with him there wasn’t much difference between our deals. He got a giant FiT but a small discount off higher rates, we went for 12.5 FiT but a big discount. He was working so out all day, so the FiT was important to him, whereas we are retired and home a lot and are careful to run appliances in the day to consume as much of our own energy as possible.

 

[Quickstatus]

Have you looked at time of day tariff?

My EA "Energy Saver" only has peak tariffs for the 8 months of winter and summer. (approx Nov-Feb, May-Aug)
The rest of the time it is only offpeak and shoulder tariffs.

These are my rates after discounts and GST inclusive

Supply daily $1.0285
Off peak 2300-0700hrs everyday : $0.121935
Shoulder 0700-1400, 2000-2300 for weekdays. 0700-2300 for weekends and the 0700-2300 weekdays of Mar-May, Sep-Nov :$0.19973
Peak: 1400-2000hrs weekdays only in months of Nov-Feb and May-Aug: $0.4393
FiT $0.105 from March.

Whereas previously the Fit of $0.125 was more than the off peak tariff,and therefore better for me to run night time loads at night, now it will be cheaper to timeshift it to the daytime. The saving due to moving night time off peak loads to daytime shoulder will be 1.69 cents per kW. Hardly worth it assuming there excess generation to cover this timeshifted load - sunny day not cloudy day.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Will have to look at time of day tariffs - not sure if that’s available

we used to have FiT of 12.5


Daily .8184
Rate .23595

(gst inclusive)

moving to

FiT 10.5

daily .832303
Rate .2399606

we also have a really good discount on gas and our central heaters are gas so we use a heap in winter. The whole package works well for us.

 

[amaroo]

Have you looked at time of day tariff?

My EA "Energy Saver" only has peak tariffs for the 8 months of winter and summer. (approx Nov-Feb, May-Aug)
The rest of the time it is only offpeak and shoulder tariffs.

These are my rates after discounts and GST inclusive

Supply daily $1.0285
Off peak 2300-0700hrs everyday : $0.121935
Shoulder 0700-1400, 2000-2300 for weekdays. 0700-2300 for weekends and the 0700-2300 weekdays of Mar-May, Sep-Nov :$0.19973
Peak: 1400-2000hrs weekdays only in months of Nov-Feb and May-Aug: $0.4393
FiT $0.105 from March.

Whereas previously the Fit of $0.125 was more than the off peak tariff,and therefore better for me to run night time loads at night, now it will be cheaper to timeshift it to the daytime. The saving due to moving night time off peak loads to daytime shoulder will be 1.69 cents per kW. Hardly worth it assuming there excess generation to cover this timeshifted load - sunny day not cloudy day.

Those rates seem very stiff!

My AGL (QLD) rates including GST ... only have two rates

General - $0.2101
Off peak - $0.1804
Daily supply charge for both rates & solar - $1.1649
FIT - $0.546 ..... $0.1060 is AGL, QLD Gov share is $0.44

 

[NM]

Have you looked at time of day tariff?

I don't think TOD is going to work for our current consumption pattern. While we try to move as much consumption to the peak generating time, we still have a lot of consumption between the afternoon generation drop-off and mid evening. The TOD tariff "peak" times are defined as peak for a reason. 40+c peak consumption usage charge would result in higher bills.

And I don't think EA offer TOD tariff in my area.

 

[moa999]

From what I've seen staying off TOD is beneficial for most families who often have high energy loads in the evening