Electricity Retail Offer Comparison Spreadsheet

In the search for a better electricity offer for our own office, we decided to create a simple spreadsheet. This software allowing us to cut through all the marketing hype and compare apples with apples.

Our satellite office had an electricity bill of $312 which we have now got down to $250. That is not a bad saving for a couple of hours investigation. 

If you too are also having problems cutting through the marketing hype of electricity retailer's offers, why not take a copy of our spreadsheet for test drive.  

You simply enter the details from your last electricity bill, including tariff rates and daily service charges and two other retailer's electricity offers. The software easily shows you the cheapest offer, allowing you also to include all discounts and bonus offers.

The spreadsheet supports all tariffs, flat and tiered rates along with time of use and controlled loads. Now you can easily see who is charging what and where, importantly finding truly the best deal for your home. 

This spreadsheet is suitable for all of you trying to find a better electricity deal, no matter where you live. 

We will be adding this software to our website soon, but in the meantime why not give us a call on 02 8064 3992 to get your copy.

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

When Is An Oil Heater Not An Oil Heater?

Oil Heater With Good Oil Quantity

Have you ever owned an old oil filled radiator? They weigh a ton right? Well take a look at the new oil filled heaters in the shops right now.

They still have the same kWh ratings such as 2000W. Now if you remember how heavy those [back breaking] old oil heaters were, these new ones are light as a feather!

With the common modern manufacturing principle of using less metal, there is one obvious other big difference. There is simply a lot less oil! 

The inner volume of the heater is far less along with the oil inside the fins of the heater. Thus the heated oil will be hot for a far shorter period of time. Meaning the heater is on more and is moving more towards a normal convection heater and away from the old principles of how an oil heater works and performs. 

Wikipedia reports an oil heater as being designed to use the oil as a heat reservoir, the heating element heats the oil, which remains warm for a LONG period of time while the heat is transferred to the metal wall through convection, through the walls via conduction, then to the surroundings via convection and radiation. And we would agree with this 100%. So why reduce the oil content, which affects the way the heater works?

Well one reason for the manufacturers change is the old oil heaters take to long to heat up! And modern customers do not like this fact! Interestingly this design change seems to have taken away the advantage of the oil itself!

Surely the marketing is incorrect here where if you want fast heat, go for a fan heater and not an oil heater. Which when of the old design of having more oil, according to our in-house tests used far less electricity than the new light as a feather oil radiators.

Read more about oil filled radiators on WIKIPEDIA.

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

The Real Truth About Electricity Retailer's Discounts

Electricity Discounts Differ Greatly!

With the PAY LATE and be FINED offer as we call it, so commonly now installed in householder's electricity bills across Australia, you would think you only need to pay attention to any rate on offer YES?

Well NO as the offer can be quite different and easily save you less or more depending on your final choice. It certainly pays to read the fine print here!

So let us take a look at six explanations for discounted offers, all 'cut n pasted' directly from the Government's Energy Made Easy website electricity retailers listings:

• You will receive a 11% discount off the consumption and supply charge components
• Discount off total amount payable on your bill, before concessions are applied
• 10% discount will be applied to the total billed amount when the bill is paid by the due date
• A discount off your usage charges for 12 months when you pay on time
• Guaranteed to save at least 16% (instead of 4%) off our Standard Power rates for your entire bill
• A 18% Pay On Time discount off your usage charges

OK PAY LATE or PAY ON TIME it is all the same, you lose one way and gain the other. But what is any discount really including? We will assume the electricity retailer's have written the offer correctly here. So let us look at each offer as they are listed above:

• A discount off your usage and supply charges - OK CLEAR
• A discount off your total amount before concessions - NOT CLEAR Pre Post GST?
• A discount off your total billed amount - NOT CLEAR Pre Post GST?
• A discount off your usage charges for 12 months when you pay on time - NOT CLEAR as one could pay one bill on time and is the discount then applied to all others over a 12 month period, irrespective of paying the other bills on time?
• A discount off your power rates - NOT CLEAR as what are the Standard Power rates and does this include usage / supply?
• A discount off your usage - OK CLEAR

So as you can see NOT SO CLEAR! Now we did pass this list around a few clients for a better understanding of what they thought was on really on offer. And we were all confused a little with some of the explanations.

The term 'total' and 'total billed' can be confusing to some householders, as it may be thought to include GST! As that is the total billed we would say. We think it does not though, but how about some clarity please Mr. Electricity Retailer!

So as you can see the discount can be off the usage and include or not, the daily supply charges. Now if your supply charges are $1.40 per day for example, this is going to make a very big difference, especially on a small bill where the daily supply charges are in fact more than the usage! And that is the case with our electricity bill.

One day we hope to see standardised bills across all electricity retailers with some form of regulation to keep the electricity billing across Australia accurate and in order. It is about time Electricity Retailers showed more Good Faith!

Now if you are having issues with your electricity billing, yes we have a page of ELECTRICITY BILLING ERRORS and also offer you a METER & BILL CHECK SERVICE.

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 Choose Your Electricity Monitor

Choosing A Home Power Monitor

After five years of testing, configuring, benchmarking and supplying power monitors, to a large selection of householders and small business owners in Australia, we know everyone has a slightly different set of needs from any power monitoring solution.

The electricity monitors we offer work in a similar manner, whilst having slight variations on certain features and benefits.

You will find our CHOOSING YOUR POWER MONITOR page clearly explains what you need to know, to be in a situation to make the best choice. 

See our electricity monitor comparison table to further assist you. Of course your welcome to give us a call or drop us an email. 

For those of you wanting a quick power monitor quote, please use our ELECTRICITY MONITOR QUOTE form, also found our website. 

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

Electricity News Headline Feed Australia

World Electricity News Australia

Looking to keep in touch with electricity and power news related headlines?

We have created a news feed, which you can easily subscribe to via RSS feed and email.

Alternatively visit WORLD ELECTRICITY NEWS.

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

Multiple Appliance Monitoring Connection Diagram

Multiple Circuit Monitoring

Installing an electricity monitoring system for multiple appliances / circuits does not have to be a nightmare. 

If certain procedures are followed correctly, it can be set up quickly with no errors.

See our SUPPORT page for our MULTIPLE CIRCUIT MONITORING INSTALLATION DIAGRAM, where we detail the easy way to install a multiple appliance / circuit monitoring solution.

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