2023 – Suppliers Scoop the $ >>>
Our report for Spring 2022 is pretty much ‘more of the same’.
Our electricity usage from the grid has dropped and our solar feed-in to the grid has increased, but our bills have still increased, thanks to an increase in the cost of grid electricity per kWh and an increase in the daily supply charge.
In 2021:
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- we used 788 kWh of grid electricity in the Spring quarter (9 kWh per day) – that’s an 86% decrease in electricity consumption from the grid since 2007;
- we returned 464 kWh of electricity to the grid from our solar panels;
- the cost of grid electricity from the grid was 22c per kWh;
- the feed-in fee from our solar panels was 5c per kWh;
- we were paying $1 per day grid supply charge;
- the net cost of our electricity (including solar feed-in rebate) was $236.
in 2022:
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- we have used 656 kWh of grid electricity in the Spring quarter (7 kWh per day) – that’s a decrease of nearly 17% in electricity used from the grid since this time last year;
- we returned 627 kWh to the grid supplier – that’s a net increase in solar-generated electricity of 35% compared to the same period last year;
- the cost of grid electricity from the grid was 25.25c per kWh;
- the feed-in fee from our solar panels was 5c per kWh;
- we were paying $1.21 per day grid supply charge;
- our net cost of electricity for this three month period (September, October, November) was $240 – that’s an increase of $4 -nearly 1.7% – since this time last year.
So, despite reducing our consumption from the grid by 17%, and increasing the electricity we are returning to the grid from our solar panels by 35%, our bill has increased nearly 2%!
This is due to an increase in the cost of electricity from the grid from 22c / kWh to 25c / kWh (+14%), and an increase in the daily supply charge from $1.02 per day to $1.21 per day (+19%).
With much steeper increases to come after 1st July 2023!
How about a battery?
We are selling (donating?) our excess solar-generated electricity to our grid supplier for 5c / kWh, then buying it back at 25c / kWh. Very generous of us! (Update 2024: 7c/kWh feed in and 34c/kWh grid supply)
So, rather than feeding that electricity back into the grid, why don’t we feed that excess electricity into an on-site battery, and then use it ourselves, rather than paying our supplier 25c (34c) to buy it back?
We have investigated a battery, but we are advised that we don’t have enough ‘spare’ electricity to keep a battery more than 80% charged (when calculating night-time usage) – which apparently voids a battery warranty.
We have 4.2 kW of solar capacity, but need at least 6.5 kW to generate enough excess electricity to keep the battery charged. Only problem is that our available roof area is completely covered – no space available for additional panels.
However new panels have around 440W output, compared the the 250W output of our existing panels. So replacing the 17 old panels with 17 new panels would boost our solar generated output from 4.2 kW to 7.4kW, which could make a battery a viable option. Though given the costs of replacing the panels and installing a battery, probably not worth it yet.
Our best battery option at the moment would appear to be waiting for the availability of a community battery.
More to come.
2023 – Suppliers Scoop the $ >>>