8th May 2020

It’s amazing how little electricity Australians use when they are away at work or out and about away from home.  The kettle isn’t being fired up, the television isn’t on, the lights are out and no one is home.

Now with the Covid stay in rules in place, many Australians are finding that their new bills arriving to their inbox or letterbox are reflecting a much different story.  The kettle what would normally be sitting in the shared kitchen at the office or workplace is now the kettle in the household.  What was originally used once a day in the morning before departing to work is now used multiple times per day as one example.

Heating costs, lighting costs and appliance use in general are all increased with increased time spent “working from home” or stay at home rules.  Australians are seeing normal quarterly electricity costs of $300.00 increase to $4-500.00 per quarter or more.

So the cost rise is understandable and not surprising but can be managed with smart strategies including the involvement of a form of solar system to help with the electricity use.

Although many are finding their costs are rising with the increase of time spent at home, there are a large percentage of Australian households that are benefiting from the increase of time spent at home.  These people are the ones who have installed a solar array on their roof.

A typical grid connected solar array without batteries installed in Australia feeds back to the grid when the array is generating more than the house is using.  This is the likely scenario when Australians are away for the day at work or running everyday chores.  By the time Australians arrive back to the home from work or shopping, the daylight hours have finished and meal time cooking, laundry responsibilities and other home activities are all performed using power that is provided by the grid and not the solar array.

Now with most of Australia spending all of their time at home, Australians with Solar are finding they are saving a great deal.  Instead of having all their generated power fed back to the grid, they are actually at home using it.  This means that instead of selling every kilowatt to the grid for 6-11 cents each and paying 22-33 cents per kilowatt used from the grid, Australians are now able to move the costly electrical activities to daylight hours using the power directly from their solar arrays.  A true win!

So it’s clear that there is no better time to start performing the cost benefit of choosing to go solar.

Need help with the decision if solar is right for you?  Get in touch and we will be more than happy to help with the calculations and decision points.