Solar or Mains Power?
Posted by: tRicci
26th Dec 2011 04:44pm
As Mains power increases in cost, why does not the government subsidise the cost of installing Solar upfront instead of after you have paid for it? Many people cannot afford this.( pensioners, unemployed and lower paid workers)
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Comments 27
s
What about people like my parents who have had solar power for hot water since the early eighties.?
They do not receive any incentive from the government because it was before any government incentives they just save money on their hot water bill.
Gerry1945
l have heard the electricity companies are not making enough money from solar customers and want to increase the rates. l think it is hard to win these days even if we want to help the planet and slow the building of new power stations.
Anonymous
its nice toppic its very important for our great life solar system is good source for our environment.even we have to use this type of system in minimum cost.
natural sources will not harmfull for environment
Anonymous
i agree i think that the souring cost in energy, it should be a standard and compulsary fixture to all new homes and to government housing
Mersie
There was something on A Current affair the other night about a man who had put up his own wind turbine, like the big ones you see only not as big. He bought it from over seas and now generates all his own power for his own personal use, he was out of town, it was really expensive but in the long run would pay for itself, so maybe thats the way to go, we will all have our own wind turbine in our back yard, I think not though.
Kasa
we recently built a house in QLD and are stand alone sola - it was going to cost more to have Ergon connect us and the nearest pole was 150 mtres up the road!
But we have not had a bill for 2years - and do not have black outs when our neighbours do - there are some little problems for example we can not have hoovers going at night or toasters and have a generator to back up on cloudy days - we come from the city and now living in the country on stand alone one realises that using toasters, hoovers, hair dryers and switiching off unused points is very important to keep to a minimum - my how we waist energy?
wojo12
I would love to install solar power, but I just do not have the money. You have to have (spare) money in order to save money and the environment.
tangles
spot on timbo.xmas hail storm destroyed all my solar panels.i'm never going to recoup the replacement costs.Friends of mine have had to replace 4 blown globes on their panels in a 2yr period at a cost of $500 a globe(not covered by warranty)
Timbo
Photovoltaic Solar Panels may be OK for providing electricity in locations which are not served by the grid but generally they are a very expensive way to produce electricity. They are only viable because of huge government subsidies and over-generous feedback tariffs. We can produce power from black coal (of which we have huge reserves) at about one tenth the cost of what we are paying the rooftop solar panel owners. The more people who install these panels and feed power into the grid, the higher our electricity prices will go.
There are a number of other problems to contend with including stability of the grid, hailstorms, reduction in efficiency by dust coating and in many areas like mine, shading from nearby trees or buildings.
ahd
To those that haev installed solar panels and been using them for awhile, has it made a big impact to your energy bills? We're also seriously considering solar energy! Can the rebates you obtain from the electricity provider be used to offset the gas bills?
Anonymous
Hi I know what you mean, I have got the solar on but only because our son lent us the money , I have had nothing but trouble since with the power company and still get the bill not as big as before but still have to pay them for the access fee plus even though the government pays them for the power I give back they charge me more to use it so not quite what I was told in the begining I thought you only paid for what you used over the amount you made not so its real complicated, as for the government paying you up front it would be nice but thats politics they just want to make it look like they care .So if you need to borrow to pay for it Dont bother you will never make it back as they charge say 26c and pay you 20c if you can stay under what you make from your solar its ok but you need to have a lot of panels very very expensive . Cheers
Shortstuff
We only have solar. Boy do we enjoy it when Morgan etc is out of power, we can still use it. No grids or such, just nature to supply us. Most electrical products work, and who needs the others.
Mersie
My husband and I are both on a pension and paying off our house, I would love to be able to afford to have Solar Power installed in my house. I wish the Government would make it cheaper so everyone could benefit.
melissammp
I am a single Mom on a pension with a mortgage. I also have my solar panels on a fnightly payment plan. All my panels are genuin german parts that cost me around $38 a week for 36 months with a 1200 deposit. This as after my $3000 governmentfunding. I would highly recomend this as it is afordable. My power bills where originally always under $200 as I have no airconditioning etc.Now all I pay is my payments for the panels. Do be careful of companies selling cheaper deals as most are not in fact german but cheap knock offs that don't last.
jjdrer
The panels used in some of the cheaper price brackets are not always near as good a quality and deteriorate much quicker.
Solar Panels have existed in the Adelaide Hills for at least 30 years (I know somebody who already had some up prior to Jan. 1983 when their daughter got married). Unfortunately during a very heavy hailstorm some of them cracked so after that were not very effective. I don't know how long they had been up.
I lived in the western suburbs of Adelaide. My girlfriend's Dad was a plumber and put some his house in the 1980s that did all his hot water (for a family of 7) and he had a gas one as back-up.
Melcharm32
Beware any company offering "interest free" finance. Our retailer quoted me $7000 for a solar pec system with "free finance", and $5000 for the same set up if we paid up front. No such thing as interest free, they just build it into the purchase price!
Anonymous
yes me too as they are all advertising get in now cause its cheaper,
Mersie
Thanks so much, I will look into it, as I feel you can only come out in front in the end. The government would have been better pushing this instead of the home installation, which I got by the way. I don't know why they don't make it a rule that all new buildings go this way and install solar panels.
Raksha
Hi Mersie
We live in Queensland so it might not be the same company that will install panels for you.
We went through a company called Maxi Solar. They did all the paperwork for us to have Ergon (our electricity supplier) install the new meter and for the loan through Certegy Ezi-Pay Pty Ltd.
Apparently this finance company does a lot of interest free loans. You can look them up on the net.
MaxiSolar are a Qld Company based on the Sunshine Coast. www.maxisolar.com.au
Certegy Ezi-pay www.certegyexipay.com.au
You can also get information from a website called Green Energy Australia.
The offer that was originally made to us was for 8 panels at a cost of around $60.00 per fortnight for 87 payments.
We have 12 panels as we thought that we would go for a larger set up than the standard one that was offered. As we live in the country everything runs on electricity. When we turn on a tap we use electricity to run the pump. Same when you flush a toilet. It cost us a bit more, but we thought that was the best way to go.
Hope that helps. I don't know what the situation is in other states but you should be able to get some information from those sites.
We didn't get a so.ar hot water system as we are saving up to convert our hot water to gas. We changed our Electric stove to a gas stove a few years ago and that made a slight difference to our bills.
If you need any more information let me know. I don't mind especially if it helps you to save some money on your power bills.
Mersie
Hi Raksha,
I would love to find out more from you, as I am paying centerpay $55 per fortnight on my electricity to avoid getting a bill.
Which company did you go through and what did they charge for installing the digital meter, and if you don't mind what was the over all cost all together.
I sort of never knew how to go about getting it all started, did you have to get a solar hot water service? and how many solar panels have you got.
Sorry for all the questions, but I am keen now to find out more.
Raksha
Mersie, My husband and I are pensioners too and paying off our house as you are. We have just had solar installed using the rebate and paying it off each fortnight on an interest free loan, provided by the Solar installation company.
It is the best thing we could have done. Our first bill included the Energy Company's charge for installing their digital meter to record our imput into the grid, but apart from that amount we didn't pay anything for our electricity usage for the quarter. Looking forward to next quarter when hopefully we may receive a credit.
Paulie
Hopefully the Carbon Tax may soon make possible both upfront grants and standardised rebates (which vary ludicrously from state-to-state) across Australia. We've installed solar electricity systems on seven of our WA rentals. Our tenants love 'em.
In combination with solar hot water systems, they've provided several of our tenant families with free power. My wife even received a $220 cheque* recently, because one of the rentals was empty, awaiting new tenants. As the energy crisis unfolds, Aussie governments will have to financially encourage more use of new energy technologies... .
*Yes, we'll be taxed on _that_ $220, according to our accountant. I guess the Tax Office must see us as a power provider... . :)
socker
That is a excuse put out by in our case the Queensland government to cover the massive increases in electricity prices. What they don't bother saying with the all the homes generating solar power the power stations do not have to generate as much power during the day thereby saving the burning of fossil fuel.
The government has also saved money aver a number of years by not conducting normal annual maintenance. This has now caught up with them and requires a large amount of money to cover the aging infrastructure.
paradox
Tats, Yes I guess we know and we know that have a seemingly endless supply of taxpayer funds that they can hand out willy nilly. Governments DO NOT have money of their own. You and I and every worker, business, shop and company have it and it is ripped of us in ever increasing amounts.
paradox
Hi Paulie, that.s very nice of you to install solar for your tenants. I bet though that you are reaping higher rents because of that. I do hope you realise that you are by that action increasing electricity costs for consumers that are not able to afford solar panels? Germany is now experiencing problems with the cost of electricity due to the unreasonably high price paid for the solar generated input. And why is it that these same houses are converting DC to AC current and then back again to power their down-lights throughout the house.
Why not make use of the "free" energy straight from your roof? Why not, because there ain't no sunshine at night and these same householders still need to power their various appliances during the dark hours of the night.
It is not the producing of electricity that increases the cost, it is the distribution network hardware that's at fault.
I am following a research project that will revolutionise the way we generate and utilise electricity. The prototype up and running fits into your garage, cellar or garden-shed and supplies electricity day and night, with plenty of capacity left over to feed into the general grid. All this without having to convert from DC to AC or back again. The prototype has an efficiency rate of 65% and it is hoped that version 2 will get to 90-95% efficiency when completed. This one is powered by solar panels but can be adapted to generate electricity from other renewable sources.
Thank you for helping to save our planet and looking after your tenants so well and I wish politicians would have the guts to legislate that all new dwellings have solar hot water units installed.
Tats
Has anyone worked out that the money the government pays you comes from working tacx payers
Paulie
For anyone interested in alternative technologies, there's a great vidclip here:
http://www.watoday.com.au/tv/show/innovators/clean-energy-pioneers-20120209-1rnlf.html
The theory is that, in the not-too-distant future, our homes will be perceived as 'refueling / refilling stations'. In my mid-sixties, I'm fortunate enough to be participating in the very early stages of that optimistic future. I hope to live long enough to see us producing _everything_ we need. My parents (who once jokingly complained they were unable to produce palatable toothpaste!) were inspirational in visualising an independent lifestyle. Despite that, my father could _never_ have foreseen the technologies we're personally employing today.
While some existing technologies have the power to corrupt and despoil, those which harness the sun, wind and oceans offer us real hope... and responsible governments must act to ensure these are both expedited and available more freely to everyone... .