Why It Pays To Use Solar Power Versus Exporting The Excess

Use It OR Lose It!

It sure has been a challenge over the years, trying to explain to far to many Aussie householders, that installing the biggest solar system on their roof, is NOT necessarily the secret to making the most money, from solar power!

In A Net metered environment any home using little power in the sunny hours of the day, with little gain for exported power, simply has the solar power investment return on 'trickle feed'!

After talking to a couple of ELECTRICITY METER & BILL ANALYSIS clients this week, whom had no idea what Net metering was, we thought we would air some basic maths.

So for the remaining non-believer's and those whom simply have no idea, where often there is a belief BIGGER makes more money, here is the maths.

The maths is not new, as it has been on our website for sometime. It is though THE MISSING MATHS that never seems to come up, during any sales pitch! Now why is that? See the complete data table by visiting our page:

SOLAR NET FIT METERING AND BILLING

The data table shows you simply what you can expect to make, when using all or nothing of the excess solar power. The actual return will depend on how much of that excess solar power you can STOP returning to the grid, by using it.

Use IT OR Lose It!

As you can see clearly if you become smarted and use the excess solar power, against letting it trickle back to the grid for little return, you are clearly making:

 OVER $400% MORE!

Now that is quite a saving! What are you waiting for? Start getting more from your solar power investment! See the maths on our SOLAR NET FIT METERING AND BILLING page.

Imagine being able to send your solar power to appliances on auto pilot, instead of back to the grid for little financial return. Check out :

Easy Excess Solar Power Diversion

SMART Solar Power

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

Choose $85 Or $425 For Your Solar Generated Power

Why is it important to be in a position to easily see your imported and exported power? 

Well nobody wants to export their Solar PV investment! 

Without feedback as to what is happening with your solar generated power, you will simply know very little. 

Currently in NSW net metering means, exported power is worth little. For example 4 to 6 cents per kWh! And after recent rises in July 2016 you could be paying 30 cents or more, for your imported power.

At only 6 cents per kWh exported, each kWh of your solar power, exported over the year is only going to give you a small financial return of $85! 

Now with some feedback and a little action under the roof, you could see that that same 1 kWh of power, suddenly be worth $425 when used to offset imported power costs [based on 30 cents per kWh]!

So can you now see why you need INSTANT ENERGY MONITORING feedback?

We hope so, as you really do need to know what your:

• Consuming
• Generating
• Importing
• Exporting

Learn how to remove the guesswork today and start making educated decisions on your solar power investment. 

Visit SMART SOLAR POWER a real-time solar excess diversion solution.

Excess Solar Power Diversion

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

Monitoring Your Net Metered Electricity Consumption On PVOutput

What Are You Exporting?

If you are already successfully uploading your solar inverter's data to the detail rich online web portal of PVOutput, you will have noticed in a net metered environment, you really need to see your electricity consumption as well.

The reason for this is you need to know when you have excess power, so you can use it in realtime. Otherwise you run the risk of exporting it back to the grid for little financial return. Whereas if you use it instead of importing power, your power on the roof is worth a lot more.

By using your own power first you will be offsetting your normally imported electricity costs. Your solar power per kWh could be worth upwards of thirty cents, compared to six or eight cents your electricity retailer is paying you to return it back to the grid.

Possible 1kW ROI [NSW] @ 30 cents $427 @ 6 cents $85

This is why in a net metered environment it does not pay to oversize your solar system. As you can see using your electricity wisely will increase it's worth five fold! 

In fact to correctly size any solar pv system before installation, you really need to know exactly what you are using in the sunny hours of the day. Otherwise you or the sales person are guessing!

So how do you get your home's electricity consumption data online to PVOutput when your inverter's monitoring system does not include electricity consumption? Well you simply install a electricity consumption monitoring system. The electricity consumption data in your home will then be displayed alongside your current solar pv data. Allowing to see excess power and 'using it before losing it' for little return.

Showing Solar Power & Consumption Data

The electricity monitoring solutions we offer cover more than one hardware platform, giving you slight variations of features and the benefits.

More and more householders are contacting us day by day as they discover they know very little about their imported / exported power. And the only way to know this important information, is to install some form of electricity consumption monitoring system, it is that easy! And whilst you are monitoring your consumption you are going to learn ways to cut the waste.

So why not take a look at our page on CHOOSING YOUR HOME ELECTRICITY MONITOR. 

Sep 2015 : See our addition to this post, where we discuss a great SOLAR PV MONITORING ANDROID APP suitable for all net metering environments.

January 2018 : Current Cost home energy monitor users please note MyCurrentCost dashboard was retired 15th January. This alternative free real-time dashboard is a great alternative HOME ENERGY MONITOR dashboard solution, with auto upload support for PVOutput ie solar.

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

How To Make Solar Power A Successful Investment

Making Solar PV Successful

No one would argue that by installing solar power on the roof of your home, you are going to save off electricity costs.

It's not always the gross or net 'feed in tariff', that's reducing the home's electricity costs though. How much you save and how quickly, all depends on the correct matching and sizing of the solar system to your needs. 

Especially important when you are connecting to the grid via a NET meter, which is common now across a lot of parts of Australia.

Any home or small business around Australia can now directly offset the electricity used during the 'sunny hours' of the day. This offsetting of electricity is separate to any form of gross or net feed gain. It simply relies on you knowing what you use under the roof and what is using the power when the sun is shining.

The simple system of electricity offsetting seems to have been forgotten, or was not fully understood by many Aussie householders we visit during our ELECTRICITY AUDITING SERVICES. It is not uncommon to hear a householder complaining their solar system is not making money, especially when they are ONLY looking at the power exported, for a small six or eight cent return. This of course is a miss-understanding by the householder and should have been fully understood during the time of sale, yet it is not. Shocking is the fact it has often in the past not been explained by the sales person either.

Currently in NSW offsetting home electricity costs during the 'sunny hours, can mean a possible $641 per year off the electricity bill by installing a small 1.5kW solar power system! With a 3kW system generating a possible staggering $7000 of electricity above the roof over five years, based on a 5% increase per year on a 30 cent tariff.

Now that is something that needs to be understood you would think by every householder looking to save big time on electricity costs. And how long is the expected life of the solar system? Well we can say on average around twenty-five years. So that is a lot of free electricity from the sun, is it not? And as electricity prices rise so do those electricity savings!

It's a fact also that by offsetting your home electricity during the daytime, you can even save more $$$ off the electricity bill, compared to the recent NSW Government's 20 cent gross feed system!

You just need to understand the maths and be using the power under the roof in those sunny hours of the day to maximise your solar investment. To learn more about making solar power into a successful investment visit our NET FIT METERING & BILLING.

Sep 2015 : See our addition to this post, where we discuss a great SOLAR PV MONITORING ANDROID APP suitable for all net metering environments.

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