[mum2jp]

If you have installed solar at your house do you think it was a good investment? I am just not sure how it works. A few questions in particular i have are:

Are you still connected with an electricity company and recieve bills/ or credits depending on how much solar power you generate and use? Thats my understading of how it works but not sure if i am on the right track.

How much of your power usuage does your solar cover each quarter if you were all elecric before having solar? We are all electric including cooking and hot water (no gas in this area) and our bills average about 300 a quarter now. We don't have a pool or anything major to run just the basic household use.


Do you need to get a new hot water system when you install it so that you can use the solar for water as well?

What size do you have for a basic 3 bed 1 bath home and was it super expensive to install?


TIA for the info. I know very little about it and would like to be armed with a little knowledge before i make contact with any companies to get quotes.

[qak]

Things have changed since we installed ours, I would head over to whirlpool.net.au (see the Green Tech sub-forum).

Anyway - we are in NSW on a gross feed in tariff. So everything we generate goes off to the grid, and we get 60c/kWh (this rate is much lower for new installs). I believe net feed in tariffs are available now so you can use what you generate, and export the rest.

Every quarter we get a refund of between $150-$300 from our electricity account (and the account is also paid in full IYKWIM).

You would not need a new HWS. I *think* (not 100% sure) that the rebate system works (or was) as either a solar or HWS system. So you could get govt rebate for one but not the other.

Ours is 3kW system and cost >$10K - but rebates and pricing are completely different now too.

Do your research and get several quotes, and I would also recommend you use a reputable installer who will be around in the future!

If you are in Sydney i can recommend someone if you want to PM me. Our original installer went out of business and our inverter died - I had no-one to make a warranty claim from until I found these guys (thank goodness).

[Rachel70]

We are in the ACT, and I know that these tariffs no longer apply to new customers.
We are still connected to the grid, we pay 17.5c per Kwh we use and are paid 47.5c Kwh we export back to the grid. On a gross feed tariff, so well sell it to them for 47.5c and then buy it back at 17.5c. This is a 25 year scheme
We make a profit of around $650 a quarter, this credit we then get paid to us each year and used for rates, water etc
We have a 3.6kw system.
But we watch what electricity and I am the electricity nazi around the house.
Not sure of the cost, but we brought it when the government was giving out rebates, so systems were more expensive then.
We have friends in NSW who have just put in solar and they only get 1:1 tariff.so they sell it to the electricity company for the same price they pay it for.

This post has been edited by Rachel70: 15/02/2013, 03:14 PM