Saturday, Mar 07, 2015 at 14:03
We put in a 1.5Kw solar system in June 2011. It cost us $8000 (a real rort, I reckon) - but the Gubbmint paid $3500 of it, so it actually cost us $4500.
There's only the two of us in a 3 bedroom house, and we don't have a
pool.
We got the free insulation deal from the Gubbmint, so that was a win.
We have 3 x RC Mitsubishi inverter aircons - 1 x 3HP and 1 x 1HP. We use them sparingly.
As with most of the older generation, and with myself coming from a background of rural and private minesite living, where we had to generate our own power, we are frugal with power use.
We turn off all unnecessary items such as lights constantly, and avoid high-power-consuming devices.
We managed to jag the 44c a Kw feed-in tariff (contract is for 10 yrs), so that was a total win.
Our power bill annually is virtually nil. We get a small bill at the height of Summer as we utilise the A/C on really hot days.
In Winter, we get a small bill for heating the house with the A/C's.
The rest of the year we get a substantial credit as the solar system pours the power into the
grid.
I've estimated our power bill would be
well over $1200 a year, based on the current electricity tariff.
On that basis, we've broken even in the next month - around 3.75 years into the deal.
After next month, we'll be into the 6.25 yr period where we will effectively get free power.
After the 10 yr contract lapses, we'll have to investigate what to do then, to keep our power costs down.
Hopefully, technology will have advanced to the point then, where we may be able to go totally off-
grid.
In my rented workshop, I've gone over to LED floodlamps for
shop lighting, and the power bill has dropped substantially. I sourced 50W LED floodlamps from China.
They put out the same amount of light as a 150W globe-type floodlamp, and they are excellent.
Can't do much about welders/grinders/saws using power, but I did buy a 200A inverter (stick) welder, which is excellent.
Cheers, Ron.
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