Choosing the right electricity retailer & plan is an essential first step in keeping power bills under control. For Australia’s nearly 2 million solar households, the question is arguably even […]
Tag: electricity prices
Spectacular solar success in Europe
A new report out of Europe has confirmed that solar PV is by far the cheapest form of bulk energy in many parts of the world, even with the addition […]
Renewables sets new record generation in Australia
Australia’s wind generating capacity set new records across the National Electricity Market in July, and drove the grid’s share of new renewables – wind and solar combined – to a […]
Solar’s impact on the National Electricity Market
Australia’s solar boom that began in 2016 is having marked impact on the generation in the wholesale electricity market – even in winter, a new report has found. The report, […]
Is home solar battery storage worth it? (updated 2019)
This article has since been updated for 2019. Click here to see the updated version. Since 2015 Australians have been talking about home battery storage being on the cusp of […]
Solar Power in NSW: What are the benefits?
Solar power is still a great investment in NSW even in the absence a feed-in tariff incentive in the state. The fact that solar PV system prices have been declining […]
CHOICE launches energy savings service: Should you sign up?
Consumer advocacy researchers at CHOICE have launched a service which they claim will help to ensure that customers never pay more than they have to for electricity. The program, called […]
Victorian electricity prices on the rise in 2018
Whilst most Australian’s have been enjoying a break at the end of 2017 and in the first weeks of 2018, Victorian electricity retailers have been busy updating their pricing. It […]
Happiness is an electricity bill? A coda to 2017 (Solartopia #9)
I never thought I’d find myself chasing up with my electricity company to ask for an electricity bill, but two weeks ago that’s exactly what I was doing. I’d been […]
What if you sent all of your solar into the grid? Is it worth it?
If you’ve got solar, the way to maximise your electricity bill savings these days is to use your solar energy directly within your home (or business). From an investment point […]
Looking beyond solar feed-in tariffs: How to pick an electricity retailer
When solar system owners shop around for an electricity retailer, the first thing they tend to look at is the solar feed-in tariff rate that the retailer offers. The fact […]
Energy blindness: The anxiety of not knowing (Solartopia #3)
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the ‘Energy Awareness Factor‘ in household energy savings. This was prompted in part by having just moved into a house […]
Electricity prices to increase in NSW, SA and QLD: Why and what can you do about it?
As you’re likely to have read, there are significant electricity price rises coming into effect from 1 July if you live in New South Wales, Queensland or South Australia. Driven by […]
Is a solar lease or solar PPA right for you?
See this recent article on Solar PPAs.. ‘Solar leasing’ deals have been the main facilitator of residential solar panel uptake in the United States, with the majority of systems being installed […]
New report exposes myth around Australia’s “cheap energy”
Australia’s wholesale electricity prices have hardly budged in the last few decades, thanks largely to the impact of renewable energy, a new report has shown. The report, the latest of […]
Electricity price inflation: What it means for going solar
Grid electricity prices fluctuate over time – and usually they increase. This has important implications for anyone considering going solar. This article covers the basics of what you need to know […]
NSW retail electricity prices face a hike as networks fight to reverse recent cuts
Australia’s retail electricity rates could be on the rise again as networks push back against reductions introduced by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) last year. The cuts were a welcome […]
Half of Aussie homes could have solar-plus-batteries by 2025: Climate Council
A new report by the Climate Council has predicted that half of all households in Australia will wind up installing solar with battery storage, with the market potentially growing to […]
Federal environment minister: battery storage & off-grid living ‘clearly the future’
Federal environment minister Greg Hunt has repeated his vow to help accelerate the deployment of battery storage in Australia, after describing it as “inevitable” that significant numbers of consumers would […]
What do homes need to know to take advantage of solar-plus-storage? CSIRO study
A new report by the CSIRO has flagged the importance of engaging consumers in the transformation of Australia’s electricity market – a shift to distributed energy that is largely being […]
Government’s Energy White Paper focuses on coal, glosses over solar
The Abbott government has again shown its colours on renewables, using its Energy White Paper to describe interventions like the RET and solar feed-in-tariffs as “unintended disruptions” to competitive energy […]
Powershop aims to revolutionise retail electricity with interactive, data-on-demand approach to billing
Powershop, recently featured in an article in the Age, is an online electricity retailer that allows its customers to be active players in the retail electricity market in a way […]
Australia’s great electricity price swindle: How the networks got away with billions in overinvestment
Last year, Jess Hill of the Monthly published an enlightening but damning report, called Power Corrupts, on the state of the electricity industry in Australia. Her main topic of investigation is whether the sharp […]
Uncertainty about RET, already plaguing renewables investment, could also drive up electricity prices for consumers
Electricity prices could jump dramatically if the future of the Renewable Energy Target (RET) is not settled by the next election, according to analysis published by Bloomberg New Energy Finance […]
Solar grid parity comes to Chile, other countries not far behind
Large-scale solar has reached grid parity with wholesale electricity prices in one South American country, and will soon do so in other countries around the world, a new European study […]
Solar employs more people than coal industry, and keeps electricity prices down: Australia Institute
New research has shown that the fast-growing Australian solar industry is both creating jobs and pushing down electricity prices, despite claims to the contrary from power networks and the fossil […]
Colorado net metering fight reveals shifting utility attitudes towards solar
US solar advocacy group the Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC), in pointing out position reversal on the part of a Colorado utility towards solar net metering policy, has highlighted the ongoing […]
Florida woman evicted for off-grid living, while QLD utilities move to encourage it
A Florida woman was served orders to vacate her own home for not being to connected to water or electricity mains, according to OffTheGridNews. The woman, Ms Robin Speronis, made […]
ACIL Allen’s RET modelling shows homes & businesses could install 14GW+ of solar by 2040
Australian households will likely invest $30 billion in rooftop solar in the coming decades, assuming the major share of investment in the country’s transition to clean energy. Modelling conducted by consulting […]
How to get the most out of your solar PV system part 1: System sizing & power usage
Anyone who has done some investigation into having solar panels installed in Australia should by now understand that the whole endeavour only makes economic sense if the home in question […]
Queensland regulated residential electricity prices to increase 13% from 1 July 2014
The average Queensland home on a regulated electricity tariff will see its power bills increase by around 13% for the financially year 2014-2015, or $191 annually, according to the Queensland Competition […]
