Hi Everyone,
we're in the process of trying to build a modest house - something that has been agonisingly slow and now apparently won't finish until sometime next year. When I was looking at electricity plans back in January or so (I did say the build process was agonisingly slow 🙂), the Solar Savers Plan looked great, but a relative who was looking recently advised me that there have been radical changes made!!!
Back when I was looking AGL were offering a Feed-in Tariff of 17 cents per kWh whilst charging 106.7 cents per day for supply. Now the Solar Savers Plan Feed-in Tariff is down to 8 cents per kWh (with a bonus rate of 15 cents per kWh for the first 9kWh you export each day) and a supply charge of 110.22 cents per day. In short the bonus will cover your daily supply charge and that's about it.
The 'Energy Made Easy' government site hosting the Basic Plan Information Document suggests there are additional costs including payment fees - 0.39%-0.79% of bill, plus a $2 fee for paying in person, plus $28.11 for solar metering plus ... am I missing anything?
So it looks to me as if costs have jumped, the FiT has crashed, and now I'm confused as to whether the Solar Savers Plan is actually worth it. Personally I'd prefer to rely on grid power over solar, but with electricity costs continuing to rise and the only question being how fast they will soar, I was reluctantly looking at solar as a necessary evil - enough panels to provide for our regular usage plus extra to allow for rises in usage and\or rising supply costs and other such charges. Now I'm wondering if maybe disconnecting from the grid altogether is the way to go? If solar batteries are still uneconomic, what are my options? Are there alternatives to the Solar Savers Plan, or AGL, which offer better return on investment as regards solar panels?
Any and all advice greatly appreciated! Given the 'speed' of the build process I likely won't be looking at electricity plans again until next year, but I can pass along any tips, hints, or advice to my aforementioned relative who is also now looking for a good plan.
