Skyrocketing Power Bills
Every time you look at your electricity bills, do they just keeep going up and up?
Unfortunately this seems to be a pattern. If history is anything to go by the last 30 years ago electricity costs have seen prices double every 7 to 10 years. The good news is we reduce these bills quite considerably – Both with solar and with electrical knowledge.
We are a little different – When completing a site inspection of the property if we can assist in reducing your bills without even installing solar we will. We have knowledge on what products produce excessive electrical costs, things like panel heaters not running efficiently or having 3-4 fridge’s connected but only using 2 of them, we can offer suggestions to change habits and look to replace items that are costing too much money. Even something as simple as looking over an electric bills advising if the retailer is not looking after yourself. All these measures can save you money and reduce your bills without even installing solar!!
So how does solar help and what does it cost? Taking into account federal incentives and state rebates it’s one of the best times it’s ever been to install solar. As an example only if you’re looking to install a $10,000 solar system when you deduct the federal incentives and the state rebates the actual out of pocket cost to the end user may be only $5,000. Note not all rebates and incentives are applicable to all applicants.
A lot of our systems have out of pocket costs of around this amount and this would give clients a standard good quality 6kW solar system. A system this size can make a real difference to your power bills. As a general guide, solar on its own typically pays for itself in about 5 to 7 years, solar and battery in about 6 to 8 years, and a battery on its own in about 10 years. Payback is subject to many factors such as usage, tariff and system size, so we’ll give you an honest estimate for your home.
For current prices, see our solar and battery price guide.
When the sun’s out the more power that the solar system produces that can be used internally inside the house will give a better return of investment. The power from the solar system will power the house first so that you don’t have to buy power in from the grid and if there is any excess power this power is fed back into the grid but most likely at a reduced cost therefore the more power that you can use inside the house when it’s nice and sunny the better return of investment you will receive.
Due to economies of scale a 2 kW system as an example may cost $4,000 and a 6 kW system may only cost $8,000. This making the first two kilowatts of solar worth $2,000 per kilowatt and the remaining or kilowatts of solar costing only $1,000 per kilowatt.
Due to the pricing and economy of scale any system between 3 and 6 kW May serve your purpose. There is no right or wrong answer to which system serves your purpose the best but we can help clarify this by asking you which example best suits your purpose,
- Example 1
You’re looking to put a solar system on your roof to minimise your utility bills, you would like to take advantage of the financial incentives from both federal and state government’s, you don’t want to over capitalise and you want to do your part for the environment.
- Example 2
You’re looking to make your electricity bills as low as humanly possible not just for now but the future, you’re looking to live in the property for a long time you have a bit of extra cash available today to put a slightly larger system in knowing that in the long run a larger solar system will give you greater reward.
If example 1 fits your thought process best then a smaller system around about 3 to 4 kW may be the right choice and alternatively if example 2 is more inline with your thoughts then you may look to install a larger solar system. The good news is there is no right or wrong answer to this
