Hi all,
just to provide some context: currently I have both solar (12kW) and a battery (30kWh). I was expecting this to reduce my power bills to next to nothing but was surprised to find that all my remaining costs were due to controlled load use. Even though controlled load is now supplied during daylight hours (when the solar is generating power), due to the way the metering is done, you pay for the controlled load even when you are exporting power to the grid. Essentially, the power you generate is metered on the primary load (in both directions) and the controlled load is completely separate.
As a result of this (and advice to others) I had the hot water moved over to the primary load so that I could benefit from the power I'm generating to heat the water (along with a timer to ensure that the water would be heated during the day). This solved the issue, but I was still paying 7c / day for the supply of the controlled load (of course, negligible but still worth removing).
As I have a Intellihub smart meter, I was naively expecting this to be a matter of a simple phone call. After being shuffled between various AGL teams, I ended up at new connections who informed me that the cost would be either $20 if it could be done remotely or greater than $200 if somebody needs to come out. I indicated that I was prepared to pay $20 but would certainly not pay $200. They said only the metering company (intellihub) could tell me of a site visit was required but I couldn't speak to them directly.
I was subsequently contacted by both Intellihub and AGL asking me for an appropriate date for a site visit but on all occasions I ask them to check first whether the procedure can be done remotely and if not, why not. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get any clarity.
Clearly, I am not going to even risk paying $200 for something that will save me 7c a day as it would take me 80 years to justify the expense. In the end I just cancelled the request. Buy why does it need to be this hard?
