Power bill

[grubstake]

We have 10 panels and inverter, where or how do you find info on how much solar power being produced. Nothing shows on our bill?

With Synergy (WA), details of your imports and exports are on page 2:



What the metered bill cannot show you, is how much solar power you are producing and using yourself - the meter only registers power that you import from or export to the grid. With only a 10 panel system, you may not be exporting a whole lot.

If you want to know more details of your installation's performance, most modern solar controllers have wifi and a website and/or phone app, so you can view and report on exactly what's happening in great detail.

Panels are cheaper today that they were when solar power first became available for households and each panel is more efficient too. ie. produces more electricity from the same amount of sunlight. Hence, it is worthwhile having plenty of panels, even though you are restricted to a maximum 5kW export to the grid. More panels means more power produced, even on cloudy days and during winter when the days are shorter and the sunlight is less direct. A 20+ panel installation is common nowadays.

 

[axtyr]

Grubstake, you need to blank out the supply address on page 2.

 

[grubstake]

Grubstake, you need to blank out the supply address on page 2.

Thank you for noticing and flagging that.

I'd spotted my error after posting, deleted the pic, edited my JPG and reposted, but the original version was still retained in the post along with the replacement. Lesson learned (I hope).

Cheers, mate - I owe you one.

 

[Ridge Runner]

RR, your brother need more solar panels

we have 14x400w = 5600w and a 5kw inverter

next step is a big battery to harvest and store the excess power during the day and use it at night time so we won't have to buy back our own power we export to the grid during the day at 12cents a unit and buy it back at night for 34cents a unit.

and like you say the standing daily charge to have the metres is now outrageous at $1.65 per day

Yeah I told him that but the place is surrounded in tall Trees,

I did find some 540w 40v panels today, I reckon half a dozen of them would fix the problem,

 

[davsgold]

even though you are restricted to a maximum 5kW export to the grid.

WOW, that is a bit restrictive, but if you can use as much as you can yourself then ok.

We can export way more than that, some days in mid summer we were exporting upto 30kw, mostly easyily sending 25kw of course this is on sunny days, even on reasonably cloudy days this system still mostly makes 20kw or so and so nearly 10kw goes to the grid.

We want to be able to harvest and use more of the power we generate as we get 12cents for what is exported and we have to pay about 34cents for what we buy back at night time .

Not sure about the cost of a big battery is economical yet but as the cost of power goes up the gap is closing

 

[RuddyCrazy]

Dave if you going to buy a battery go for a forklift traction battery as they will outlast everything on the market and probably a bit cheaper to buy too. Now a Melbourne Company Selectronic make inverters and in '04 we got one as part of the package and it's still going today so thats where one should look. They now make a gridtie/ offgrid inverter where when a battery is in place and solar on the roof it run your home off the grid, if the sun isn't shining and the battery needs a charge it will use the grid to charge it. Bang for buck these inverters will stand the test of time and with the features they really are on their own. It really is a shame all those fly by night solar companies don't support them

 

[Ridge Runner]

At 2pm today I took a Sogen outside and using a 120w folding panel I got ZERO watts, I even tried a Charge enhancer that boosts the power and still got nothing, Not 1 watt, Thats typical of how Solar works here with white rain cloudys in the Sky, My Brothers 2X 260w panels in series can produce up to 60v ( 2x 24V ) and over 500watts, But on days like this they will only produce 1 to 3 watts, This is why Solar is such a big Con over here, Which means he would need over 66 panels just to make 100w an hour, That's around 17160 watts of Solar.

Either way I can't find a sollution to charging these SoGens without using the Grid or a Genny or from a Vehicle, And a Wind Generator is out because of the Laws where you have to have them 2 and a half times their Height in Distance from a Boundry fence or a Highway which is impossible in 99.999% of UK Homes So a Wind Turbine is Out, Plus you need planning permission to have one,

And running a Genny in the Burbs is going to present all types on noise pollution Laws, So with all of the above staying off the Grid is way harder than people think,

I have all the formulas on how to workout a persons Solar Needs but they will only work in the Summer months, In October last year A big Solar company in the US contacted me to review one of their New all singing all dancing Solar panels, Well they sent it to me in November and I have only had One day that I could test the thing and that was with blue skies and patchy white clouds, It worked Great better than any others on the market where even with shadows on it late in the afternoon it still put out over 75% of its overall power, but since then the weather has been useless for Solar Power, with either rain, Hail or Snow and subzero temps,

One thing I have learned with all this is that You can not Charge SoGens from wind turbines, The only way you can do is to have the Turbine feeding a Lead Acid type Battery Bank and then have an inverter that you can plug the SoGens charger in to, Although one or two companies are now working on a turbine that will work with SoGens but that is a long way off before we see it in person.

J.

 

[mbasko]

We're sitting at about mid 20's average for March.

Annual chart shows the production cycle over the year really well here. Pay next to nothing October to March & bulk of our yearly cost ~$2k> is April to September (ducted reverse cycle heating at night). Like davsgold we need to get a battery set up so we're not buying back our own power at near 3 times what they pay for it.

 

[nucopia]

Our solar was installed September 2022.
This is today’s app reading on an overcast day…



We are with Red Energy and the last bill came in about 10 days ago for $103.68.
Bill before that was for $212.01.
Don’t know if thats a good result or not as we have only had two bills since installation.
Electricity charges from back of bill.
Looks like we get 7c per kWh credit fir what the system produces..
Service charge 93.500c per day .


I think I need to shop around for a better deal.

 

[Mackka]

Nucpoia, be careful when you think about changing suppliers as we have just been through the exercise and it was going to work out dearer when exit fees ect were taken into consideration. We asked our supplier if they could do better as a long serving loyal customer and they came do the party with a very good discount. Sometimes things are not always greener on the.... Mackka

 

[user 4386]

Just got our first quarterly bill after installing solar. $45 instead of $430 (same quarter last year). Despite not a very sunny summer.

 

[LONEWOLF]

No solar here... Landlords too tight... Average bill is about $180 per quarter.... With 2 of us in the house, we are way under a dwelling with 1 person...

But if you add 1 Daughter that goes up to $300... Glad she has found another Den to live in...

LW...

 

[davsgold]

I think I need to shop around for a better deal.

we have just switched from Origin Energy to a NRMA members Simply Energy plan, the charges all work out a bit less because they give a 10% discount on everything in the bill, and pay 12cents for the power you export from your solar panels, and no lockin contract, and yes you still get the low income senior discount from NSW gov applied as well, so it seems like a good switch, will know for sure after a bill or two.

 

[Hillbill]

We have 8kw of roof panels and a 6kw inverter with a (about) 14kw Tesla 2 power wall installed June last year. We love it.
Being rural power goes out and seamlessly battery kicks in and we still have water.
We have gas (lpg) cooking, wood heating and the only appliance not run through the Tesla system is the hot water. We were a $500 a quarter customer now down to $35 a month mid winter and credit in peak summer. Runs the 7kw a/c in summer. And great for the same heating on those chilly nights and mornings no problem.
Our service provider is an online company that is by email only has a good feed in Tarif their daily supply charge is very low but we pay a monthly fee, still works out lower than other companies.
All we need is lpg instant gas hot water and we would be off grid.
Cheers Andy

 

[user 4386]

We have 8kw of roof panels and a 6kw inverter with a (about) 14kw Tesla 2 power wall installed June last year. We love it.
Being rural power goes out and seamlessly battery kicks in and we still have water.
We have gas (lpg) cooking, wood heating and the only appliance not run through the Tesla system is the hot water. We were a $500 a quarter customer now down to $35 a month mid winter and credit in peak summer. Runs the 7kw a/c in summer. And great for the same heating on those chilly nights and mornings no problem.
Our service provider is an online company that is by email only has a good feed in Tarif their daily supply charge is very low but we pay a monthly fee, still works out lower than other companies.
All we need is lpg instant gas hot water and we would be off grid.
Cheers Andy

Yes, the payback period (years to cover the expense of getting solar) was 7 years last year, but with new increases will be shorter. With ours (possibly most now) it also kicks in invisibly during a mains power failure.

 

[Hillbill]

Yes, the payback period (years to cover the expense of getting solar) was 7 years last year, but with new increases will be shorter. With ours (possibly most now) it also kicks in invisibly during a mains power failure.

I’m looking at a 10 year plan that my head worked out.
But more for us when the power goes out our pumps still work so we can flush toilets and have showers.

 

[Nightjar]

Most replies here mention power bills every quarter?
Our bills arrive here in the West every 2 months, more calculations required here to compare usage, quarterly opposed to bi monthly?

 

[jetz1984]

Increasing household power bills are in discussions frequently, interested to hear how members are fairing.
Synergy is our supplier in the West and they recently sent info for householders to compare their power bills in equal circumstances.
We don't skimp on airconditioner usage, washing machine and dishwasher, garden bore run for and hour on every allotted day & some.
Two adults, 4x2 with two bathrooms.
The average power bill for same number of occupants and home dimensions in our area is $350.00.
We were all smiles when our latest bill arrived $153.00.
For the gurus out there, how can the average bill be $200 more than what we runup. What could these other couples be running to boost their power usage?

Maybe a pool or spa? Massive TVs with lots of gaming consoles? Or perhaps they were not taught how to turn off lights when they leave a room?

 

[EVIE/BEE]

Most replies here mention power bills every quarter?
Our bills arrive here in the West every 2 months, more calculations required here to compare usage, quarterly opposed to bi monthly?

I'll stay with the grid Nightjar:
This is manageable for 2 of us + 2x 30kg dogs. A bit of frugality goes a long way.

By ditching the electric jug and the electric toaster (we now use a kettle on the gas stove and a camp toaster on the gas) it saves around $100 per bill.

This bill works out at $2.23 per day.

 

[user 23515]

We have 10 panels and inverter, where or how do you find info on how much solar power being produced. Nothing shows on our bill?

You should also be able to connect directly to the inverter via WiFi from a phone or tablet. Would need to install the app for the inverter first. There should be a label on the inverter with some default login details.
The screen on the inverter would also have that info. These are often not very user friendly.
Installer would normally help connect to a home network or directly via a mobile device.
(If you need a hand I may be able to help. If you would like to pm make and model of inverter that would be a start)

No power bill since March 2020. $825 cash from Origin when we changed to Powershop because of better FIT. Currently in credit for $85. 6.6kw of panels, 5kw inverter. Electric HW on timer to come on 11.30am to 1.00 pm. Try to put the washing machine and dish washer on during the day, but only if convenient, AC goes on if the house gets over 25 - if it is hot there is very likely sunlight. System has more than paid for itself.