Solar Panels first bill

**Peekaboo** · February 24th, 2014, 01:23 PM

I'm hoping someone out there may have a similar setup to us - we had 10 solar panels installed late last year. We've just received our first full bill since then.

It says we were credited for 226 units @ 8.8c = $20 credit
It says we used 1147 units @ 23.55c = $270

This is over 63 days. We are in WA so we have only 1 power company.

Do we actually use any of the power generated from the panels? Or are we just sending it all back to the power company for 8.8 cents, then being charged 23.55c for what we use from them?

It's almost like we need to generate 4 times more than we use, to ever get ahead on our bills???

We signed up through S0lar Gr!d with finance - the sales guy said our setup would save us approx what our fortnightly repayments on the finance would be. But ughhh... it's not even close!

Does this sound right at all?

**onthefly** · February 24th, 2014, 01:46 PM

you would have used some of it, yes - what was your bill like before the panels? That will give you a rough idea of how much solar power you're using. (Would your panels have been in and "on-grid" for the whole 63-day period?)
On such a low feed-in tariff, you're probably best off using as much power as possible during the day when the sun's out.
I'm not sure what ours is, but we got in before they cut the tariff from 47c so we always make money.

ETA - oh, and to figure out how far 'ahead' you are, you need to consider your savings on power you're not paying for. You won't 'make' money out of the panels.

**Floweryfields** · February 24th, 2014, 03:37 PM

I have 10 panels also. However mine were installed a long while back so I get 58c per unit generated credit. I don't get a bill, though I anticipate possibly over winter this year as the electricity prices have increased so much and winter is a less generating time of year.

When did they installed the special meter that you need yet? My first 1/4 with the panels wasn't that great because for over half of it, I didn't have the new meter installed which tells them how much they have to pay you.

Unfortunately I think at 8cents, that's as about as good as you're going to get. I can't imagine how they'd think you'd cover your electricity costs at that tiny rebate.

You won't 'make' money out of the panels.

Actually you can, I know several friends who get cheques every so often because they have large credits. You are supposed to declare on tax as this is income.

**2CheekyMonkeys** · February 24th, 2014, 04:07 PM

We have 11 panels with 5 kW converter. We got $500 credit last quarter. It generated $1000 worth of credit but the power bill was $500 so we got 500 returned as cash. I didn't know you had to declare it as income for tax purposes though? No one ever told us that.

We get .4c 5 feed in tariff plus .10c from elec company.

We were told to use your electrical goods, dryer etc at night to maximize solar panels. Hubby explained it to me but it went in one ear out the other. So can't help with the why of it. Hehe.

**onthefly** · February 24th, 2014, 04:45 PM

At 8c feed-in, it's unlikely you'd make any money, though, that's what I meant. As I said, we make money out of ours, but on a much higher tariff (so for us it makes sense to use as little as possible during daylight hours).
There are lots of variables, but the differential between the feed-in and off-grid rates is a big one, as is overall consumption and timing of this consumption.

**MummyNaomi** · February 24th, 2014, 07:07 PM

We were told to use your electrical goods, dryer etc at night to maximize solar panels. Hubby explained it to me but it went in one ear out the other. So can't help with the why of it. Hehe.

Are you sure you have this right? We have solar and the way it was explained to us is to use the bulk of our electricity during the sunlight hours while the system is generating power, then we are using that rather than buying it back from the grid when we aren't generating power at night. I'd check if I were you as this would significantly change the bill you will get

We have 33 panels, we have a huge house and reverse cycle air con, we had a credit last Qtr and moved it to the gas bill to pay for that. We will likely be in credit most years (however this years heat wave has meant our energy usage has been quite ridiculous, so the next bill will be interesting). We get 25.8c which is pretty decent, we've had our system just over a year. Peekaboo if your bill isn't what you'd expect, I'd ring your solar provider and ask them to go through it with you. I know our first bill was confusing as I didn't realise at first that the electricity we used during the day wasn't factored into the bill, so in essence the 'credit' we received wasn't reflected of the drop in electricity due to us using it during the day while we were generating it - hope that makes sense

**AnyDream** · February 24th, 2014, 08:24 PM

We were told to use your electrical goods, dryer etc at night to maximize solar panels. Hubby explained it to me but it went in one ear out the other. So can't help with the why of it. Hehe.

Surely that depends on what amount they are paying per unit vs what you pay to them. On a really good feed in tariff, it makes sense to pump as much electricity in to the grid as possible during daylight hours. But if they are paying you only a fraction of what you pay them (per unit) then it's more cost effective to use as much as possible of your own free energy during the day and as little of theirs?

**2CheekyMonkeys** · February 24th, 2014, 08:09 PM

I think it was something like banking the solar power up ( by not drawing on it during sunlight hours) and then using the grid during off peak times at night so as to have more power from solar than power used from grid to get a credit. ( I think)