Why Not Send Solar Export To Appliances On AutoPilot?

When you are NET metered your solar power if not used by your appliances, is simply exported back to the grid. And in some cases for little financial return ie four to six cents!

Now whilst you can turn appliances on / off to use this power off the roof instead of exporting, in some cases it is simply to hard.

To hard due to you being at work or you do not have the time whilst at home for such a task. So what about if you could get this to happen on autopilot?

What we mean here is you direct the excess power ie exported power to a switched outlet in your home. Now this switched outlet could be connected to a long list of appliances such as:

• Tumble dryer
• Washing machine
• Portable air conditioner
• Electric heater
• Heated towel rail
• Storage heater
• Air to air heat source pump
• Small immersion heater
• Electric slow cooker
• Water pump
• Charging electronics / 12 volt car batteries
• Charging a golf buggy
• Charging an electric car
• Hot tub
• Pool pump cleaner
• Pool heater

Each 10A switched outlet is limited to a maximum power rating of 2400W. Meaning that is 2.4kW of export being used smartly. Importantly maximising your solar power investment's financial return.

Now if your exporting 10kW a day, that is only 60 cents return @ 6 cent per kW. Though powering your appliances via the 10A switched outlet, that same power has just saved you $2.20 off imported power costs [based on 22 cents per kWh]

As you can see that is a SMART POWER SAVING idea! Now if that was the case for only half of the year, it compares to:

• An export return of $109
• Or an import offset return of $400!  

Now if your interested in such an idea, then why not visit our SMART SOLAR POWER Dashboard for all the information?

Diverting Your Excess Power

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

Are You Being Screwed By Your Electricity Retailer?

This is an interesting question which unfortunately Aussie householders cannot answer. Simply due to them not having a clue about their current electricity billing, due to not spending anytime looking at their electricity bills! 

It seems 'Paid and filed' is the norm and then to await the next electricity bill.

Great for us, as it keeps us busy with our ELECTRICITY METER & BILLING ANALYSIS SERVICE. 

Though the question still arises. We would have to say for you to know if your not being screwed, you would have to know:

• If you are on a tariff suited to your usage patterns, ie Time Of Use V Flat rate or tiered rate
• If your tariff cost is the best you can get, with or without any discounts

Now what electricity retailers will not do is call you! To offer you a better deal. It is up to you to ask for a better deal or do some homework on other retailers offers.

Sometimes simply a phone call to the electricity retailer will result in a 20% discount or more off usage charges. 

You importantly need to makesure the initial cost of the price per kWh is not being marked up first though, as this does occur! A little bit of Bad Faith we would have to say....

Now whilst some of you may think 20% is not a lot, it can be. A large home in Sydney recently analysed, could have:

SAVED $4800 Off electricity bills over six months

Simply if they had had a 20% discount applied! In fact there was no discount at all being offered and this is by one of the big four electricity retailers. Bad Faith again we would have to say, when this home was spending considerable funds on their electricity costs for their home.

So what do you need to do is homework! Or call us to analyse your electricity bills for you and get you a better deal.

Visit our ELECTRICITY METER & BILLING ANALYSIS SERVICE page for all the information.

Now whilst the electricity retailer is not obviously trying to screw you, they could be offering you better deals on autopilot a bit similar to what some of the mobile phone carriers do. 

We know for sure the electricity retailer's Client Loyalty Officer is often away from his desk! But what about that Client Retention Office whom hounds the hell out of you, when you mention you are looking for a switch for a better deal. Funny that!

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

BEWARE : AGL Electricity Bill Scam

Looks like the online scammers are now trying it on, with the electricity billing system here in Australia! 

You need to be aware if you are an AGL client, there is a scam going around asking for payment of fake electricity bills. 

A few basics will show you the email is a scam, these being:

• The sender of the email is not AGL
• Hovering over any links with your mouse, will clearly show you a non AGL address. In our case a Russian based link

The best thing to do in all cases if you are not sure, is simply DELETE the email.

AGL are aware of the SPOOF and advise you HERE dated 1st June 2016 on what to do.

See the report via The Herald Sun HERE with a clear example of what the email looks like.

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

Electricity Prices Set To Rise July 2016

Don't be to concerned as this forecast is only for a small rise of 1.5%. To put that into perspective, only $75 on $5K worth of electricity costs for the year.

The AEMC Australian Energy Market Commission released their Electricity Price Trends Report late Dec 2015 and this is an interesting read for all of you concerned about electricity prices in NSW.

The report looks at the factors driving residential electricity prices over the next three years, to 30 June 2018. Detailing what makes up the costs and why they rise and fall.


Download the AEMC's NSW Report from their website HERE.

For other States go HERE.

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

Reducing Solar Net Metered Export When Paid 4 To 6 Cents

Did you know each kW of solar power exported back to the grid in NSW, is only going to show you a financial return of $85 per year, when exported @ only 6 cents! 

This is based on the Clean Energy Council's figures for averaged solar power over the year being 3.9 kW, for each 1 kW of solar panel. Hardly enough to justify any investment! 

Importantly in a net metered environment you make more money by offsetting imported power costs.

Our research is currently showing, there may be a drop to 4 cents at the start of 2017 for each exported kW, [we are already seeing 5 cents in electricity retailer's current offers]. It appears there is no minimum limit set by the Government as to what electricity retailers can offer!

Each exported kW then will only be worth $56 @ 4 cents. 

Now this same amount of power which over the year is 1423.5 kW, if you consumed it and offset your imported power at 25 cents, would be worth $355 off your electricity costs!

So how do you reduce the exported power under your roof? Well you need to pay attention to activating appliances whilst the sun is shining. This can be done by:

• Manually turning the appliances on
• Programming the appliance
• Adding a timer
• Using a smart switch to turn the appliance on when exported power is detected

The main issue for any net metered household, is how do you know if you are importing or exporting at any time? Well you don't unless you are camped out in the powerbox! The only way to know if your exporting  / importing in realtime, is to install energy monitoring on your consumption and solar power circuits.

Once you have that missing data, then of course you can see what your generating and make an educated decision on what appliances to turn on to use the power, offsetting imported power.

The secret is to use as much of the solar power and import as little as possible, thus keeping your costs to a minimum.

Of course not everyone has the time to work all this out. You may be able to program the air conditioner or add a timer to the tumble dryer. But what happens if those appliances turn on when under a cloud and your not home? Of course your now importing and unable to do anything about it.

So here is the solution!

Why not install a smart switch into any 10A socket of your home, whereby the appliance plugged into it, will turn on when exported power is detected. And amazingly turn off when exported power stops.

No it's not rocket science it is an easy solution that we are working on.

If this Solar Export Reduction Solution appeals to you we want to hear from you. 

Please email our office with the subject 'Solar Export Reduction Solution' and we will keep you updated on developments.

We reckon such suitable appliances would be:

• Tumble dryer
• Washing machine
• Portable air conditioner
• Electric heater
• Heated towel rail
• Storage heater
• Air to air heat source pump
• Samll immersion heater
• Electric slow cooker
• Water pumping
• Charging electronics
• Golf buggy
• Electric car
• Hot tub
• Pool pump
• Auto pool cleaner
• Water pumping

Appliances would have to be capable of being turned on / off and not have a manual switch needed for activation. Currently the rating for a 10A socket is 2.4 kW.

Visit SMART SOLAR POWER for all the information on this exciting new home energy monitoring addition.

Excess Power Diversion

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.

Get Ready For The End Of NSW Solar Bonus Scheme 30/12/16

130,000 Gross metered householders in NSW are about to switch to Net metering at the end of the year, when the NSW Solar Bonus Scheme finally comes to an end on 31/12/16. 

Meaning households receiving 60 / 20 cents per generated kW fed back to the grid, will have to make changes.

Some savvy householders are already researching their options and making any required adjustments.

Let us hope everyone does their homework well before the end of the scheme on the 31st December 2016. 

Everyone meaning distributors, retailers and householders, so as to reduce any unwanted bottlenecks from occurring. 

It will certainly pay to be at the front of the wave for meter changeover requests!

According to our research it looks like:

• NO NSW SBS Gross metered household [as from 1st January 2017] will receive a cent for exported power, unless they have made changes to their metering

Making changes prior to 31st December 2016 is going to be the best idea! Changes such as these found listed on our NET FIT METERING page.

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia

Get The Power To Switch Electricity Plans The Smart Way

BEWARE Electricity Plan Minefield!

Australia is in the middle of an electricity plan minefield! Where Aussie householders do not necessarily have all the knowledge, to be in a position to make the best choice for low electricity costs.

Commonly an electricity retailer makes you offers down the phone, which are not always bursting with clarity, but more with the pressure of:

Switch Now! We Can Help You!

Well we say switching electricity plans this way is fraught with DANGER! Simply put there are far to many 'electricity plan mines' out there, waiting for you to easily tread upon!

So let us explain a few of them, so you can walk safely:

• The electricity retailer may be marking up the distribution network price, before offering you a discount! So 25% off one retailers offer may not equal 25% off another's
• It may NOT be 100% clear to you the electricity retailer is going to switch your tariff type. You may be on a tiered rate, then unknowingly get switched to a TOU [Time Of Use] tariff. This will for 100% sure change your costs based on usage
• Is there going to be higher daily service fees? This does not make much of a difference at the end of the day, unless you have a power bill for only a few hundred dollars
• Will you get stung for any ETC's [Early Termination Charges] from your current electricity retailer? You new electricity retailer may be willing to pay you the cost of this fee
• Agreeing to a market electricity plan offer for two years compared to a standard electricity plan offer, can often come with a bonus payment. For example $100 credit or a $50 voucher

Besides all of the above being very important 'Need To Know' facts when switching electricity retailer, one fact is SIMPLY MISSING! This is:

What Electricity Tariff Is Best Suited To Your Home?

And what we really mean by this is:

What Electricity Tariff Is Going To SAVE YOU THE MOST!

Of course when based on changes to your household's future usage. Once you know the BEST TYPE of electricity tariff to suit, then you can go about and get the BEST DISCOUNTS off your usage costs. Aim for 25% at least!

So firstly you need to know what types of electricity tariff are available in Australia. Currently there are three types of electricity tariff:

• Flat rate where you are charged the same for each kWh ie 25 cents
• Tiered / block rate where you are charged different amounts depending on your ongoing usage 1^st 1000 kWh @ 24 cents, 2^nd 750 kWh @ 25 cents 3^rd 30 cents thereafter. Though often now this 3^rd tier may cost less than the initial tier
• And finally the famous Time Of Use tariff, where you are charged differently depending on when [time of day] you are using the power. This tariff has in the past famously been marketed as a way to reduce costs! Though plenty of research shows differently, we say beware young families and the elderly

So if you are not 100% familiar with the above electricity tariff types, you need to be! OK so once you understand the way each electricity tariff works, back to that question:

What Electricity Tariff Is Best Suited To Your Home?

A very hard question for you to still answer correctly! You could do one of three things:

• Get out your electricity bills and start investigating costs and usage
• CALL US on 02 8064 3992 so we can perform a ELECTRICITY METER & BILL ANALYSIS on your electricity bills.
• Install a small electronic device in your powerbox and via an LCD Monitor in your home, easily display your usage and costs 24/7.

Now whilst we love helping clients with electricity bill analysis, we cannot help you with an future changes to your usage habits. 

So this is where the LCD Monitor comes into play when connected to a PC / MAC! A combination of the LCD Monitor's display and the FREE Software will mean:

• NOTIFICATION 24/7 of electricity usage and costs in realtime
• EDUCATE you on historical usage and costs, so as to make savings
• IMPORTANTLY compare electricity tariff types to suit your home

It is this latter benefit that is going to tell you 100% for sure, the answer to that question:

What Electricity Tariff Is Going To SAVE YOU THE MOST!

You will be in a position to know if the TOU tariff is costing you 15% more than a flat rate tariff.

Finally an answer to that question! And this is what most Aussie householders 'want to know' in the first place, when they are looking to switch electricity retailers / plans!

The problem is most householders still DO NOT KNOW the answer!

So here you have it, a 100% solution that will let you know what electricity tariff is going to save your household the most, OFF YOUR ELECTRICITY COSTS!

What you are looking for is our:

Monitoring System #2 LCD Monitor #2

You simply enter the electricity retailer's tariff types and rates into the FREE Software! Then sit back and let the device do it's job, before checking in at the weekend for an update. EASY!

Check out our SYSTEM #2 MONITORING and get your LCD MONITOR #2 today!

Our goal is to help you tread carefully amongst this dangerous minefield of electricity retailer's offers. Please share this page with others.

This blog post brought to you by Aussie Home Energy, a major player in the HOME ELECTRICITY SAVING SERVICE industry in Australia.