“I HAVE a Solar System, but my bills are going up and we don’t use any more electricity than we normally do.” This is a common call we receive from both our own customers as well as other solar owners in our area. In this edition of Jim’s Gems, I will explain one of the main reasons for this problem.
To begin with, a few years ago you may have had a solar system installed to meet your electricity requirements at the time. You would have found that a reduction in your costs would have seen you save around 60 – 65% from pre-solar.
If you had a bill of, say $800.00 per quarter your bill may have been around $300.00 with solar made up of a cost of electricity of 23 cents kWhr and you selling excess electricity back to the retailer for 20-22 cents kWhr. There was not a lot of difference between purchasing power or selling it.
What has changed over the past couple of years is that the price of electricity has increased substantially, from 23 cents per kWhr to 35-40 cents per kWhr and at the same time your excess electricity will now only earn you around 7 cents per kWh.
Now that small difference of 3 cents or so between using electricity and selling it is about 28 cents plus! This difference is more than what it used to cost you before you had solar! (with the main difference you are still generating your own to use during the day).
So, suddenly your $300.00 electricity bill is up over $500.00, and it seems increasing every time you get a new bill.
In conclusion, your higher bills don’t necessarily mean you are using any more or that there is an issue with your Solar, it could just be the change in electricity unit buying and selling costs.
To learn more about how to maximise the benefits of your solar system, watch this video.
Please contact us for any questions re your solar and/or battery storage system and how to save more on your energy bills.
Let’s create a better tomorrow together!
Jim Hill
Founder & CEO Nepean Solar Solutions
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