Who do you get your electricity from?

[facthunter]

Some parts of Vic roads work well  But...THIS might work OK. We'll see.  Nev

[red750]

Victoria has voted to remove the mandate for builders to connect gas to new homes. The Greens have recommended a $2,600 grant to replace existing gas appliances with renewable energy appliances. It is expected that by 2030, gas appliances will be banned. We use gas for the stove, ducted heating and hot water. Only the oven is electric. We paid $4,500 to have a new gas ducted heating system installed, replacing the old one which was worn out, only last winter. Our hot water service was replaced in 2014.

[facthunter]

Things have changed rapidly. The surge in gas prices was a B disgrace. Calling it NATURAL gas is deceptive.. Fugitive emissions of methane are at a high level.  Nev

[kgwilson]

Many countries have either banned or set a date for banning of new gas connections. Even the days of LPG BBQs are numbered. This will creep up on us faster than we might think (but I will probably be dead then).

[Marty_d]

It's ridiculous, isn't it.  We really are the stupid country.  World's best environment for wind and solar, and what do we do - ignore that, dig up gas and coal, sell it all to other countries (note: not even keeping the profits, 96% of the money goes to offshore owners), and not even keep enough gas for ourselves when our ageing coal power stations go on the blink.

 

Forget the Irish, we are the butt of the world's jokes.

[Jerry_Atrick]

There's one or two pollies and publoc servants who have a plum, but token jobs for that,, thank's fellas!

[old man emu]

On 02/07/2022 at 9:38 AM, Old Koreelah said:

he Lucky Country,

You have to remember Donald Horne's 1964 book, "The Lucky Country"

 

Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise,  comes from the opening words of the book's last chapter.

[nomadpete]

10 hours ago, kgwilson said:

Many countries have either banned or set a date for banning of new gas connections. Even the days of LPG BBQs are numbered. This will creep up on us faster than we might think (but I will probably be dead then).

So, how are the thousands of caravanners, campers, and motor home dwellers going to cook? There is no way that they can fit enough solar panels to boil a jug, or run a cook top!

[octave]

38 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

So, how are the thousands of caravanners, campers, and motor home dwellers going to cook? There is no way that they can fit enough solar panels to boil a jug, or run a cook top!

 

This is from an article regarding the faze out of natural gas in NZ  

 

I use bottled gas to power my BBQ and gas canisters to cook on tramping trips. Will these be affected?

No, you’ll still be able to swap out an empty gas bottle at a petrol station or hardware store and buy pre-filled canisters. These are typically butane or propane, or a mix of both (LPG). The commission says this is a minor source of emissions, and there aren’t green alternatives yet – but the hope is the industry would see these moves as a signal to start investing in green gas (such as that made from rotting organic waste).

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/124626848/the-end-of-bbqs-or-a-load-of-hot-air-the-proposed-ban-on-natural-gas-connections

[kgwilson]

Most LPG (62%) actually is refined from natural gas & the rest from the petro-chemical industry. Currently it only provides about 3% of all energy consumed and burns very cleanly (mostly butane & propane) producing no soot, very little sulphur and no ground water pollutants but it does produce a lot of CO2 so is a source of green house gas. Like everything we will adapt to not having it so long as a race we survive till then. It has only been around for 100 years or so & in common use for less than 50 years.

[Bruce Tuncks]

Here's my current daydream...  buy some solar panels( about 9 ) and a 3kW wind generator and a battery pack and go off the grid.

We already are off the grid for water and sewage, and it is much cheaper than being exploited by foreigners as we used to be while getting mains water.

Together with sewage, I think we were paying  about $400 a quarter. Here on the farm, we only get bills when we buy something, so we can easily go a quarter for nothing. Mind you , the rainwater tanks cost a few grand.

I did the sums on solar charging for an electric car and it would require a lot more than 9 panels for that ( 17 for a full charge from flat in a day).

Right now, they are planning a big wind-farm in the sea off from Portland. There is a small possibility that power bills will be held down by this, and if this is so, then my plans will go on hold.

But a cheapskate like me just loves "free" stuff. In Alice Springs, we had free solar hot water and it was great.

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Bruce Tuncks

[kgwilson]

I have just installed a new water heater. The original that was installed when the house was built in 2010 was a heat pump and after 4 years the compressor unit failed. It was out of warranty but it was replaced for free anyway with a series 2 unit so credit to Rheem for that. It was still going but had a fault and the backup 3.6kw element was now operating. I only noticed it when making my monthly energy usage check & it had skyrocketed. The model I had got the worst rating from consumers of any on the market but when it was working properly provided about 2900 watts of energy for 800 watts of input. It had a 325 litre tank which is way bigger than needed by 2 people

 

The new one is far better and got many excellent reviews and came out on top of an industry test of a whole lot of different brands. It is from Brisbane company Evoheat and uses 450 watts of energy to create over 1700 watts with a tank size of 150 litres. It has all sorts of excellent features including a timer so I have set it to run only when my solar PV system is producing power so it essentially costs nothing to run. It is also hooked up to my wifi so I can change anything and check the water temperature etc from anywhere. Quality isn't cheap though & it cost $3,400.00 but I got just under $1000.00 by selling the STCs so the total cost was $2,400.00 plus the plumbers $220.00 installation charge.

[old man emu]

What you have left out of the equation is the cost of getting the power from the junction to your house's transformer. I'm talking about rural properties. Plus, dare I say, the environmental cost of producing the copper for teh long distance of power lines, and the destruction of trees to provide the poles to hold the wires up.

 

Bruce paid $1600 per annum. KG got a water heater for $3,600 (less trade in). I don't know how old these costing are. They include a European-made inverter such as the Fronius Symo, premium tier-one solar panels such as Trina Split Cell modules and a standard installation.

 

A 9kW Solar System – The Key Numbers

9kW System

Number of Panels25 x 370W Panels

Output35 kWh a day average (see below)

Potential Savings$700 – $900 a bill depending on your cost of power

Average Payback Period3 to 5 years

Cost From around $9000 to around $14000

Repayments From around $185 a month over 5 years*

Suited to Medium to large homes using on average around 35 kWh a day during the daytime (or over 24 hours with battery storage)

 

The average cost of a single storey four bedroom houses is $255,808. which is 25 squares, so an extra 10,000 or so is not such a price hike.

[spacesailor]

OME 

How old is your house pricing? .

Not much below half a $million for '3b1bath 1car' in Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane. 

Grandson paid $450,000 for ' 2bed 1bath 1 car ' "townhouse " this year.

spacesailor

[old man emu]

29 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

How old is your house pricing? .

Spacey, that price is simply for the materials and construction costs. The rest of the $800+K that you have to fork out for in the capitals is for the development of the farmland into residential land and all the bibs and bobs you have to pay the Government.

 

I just looked up the price of a block at Oran Park (near Camden NSW) Priced at $770K and you get 330 sq metres. And you probably would have to build a 2-storey on it, and that would take you over the $1M level.

[spacesailor]

In that area, & mine it will be over the $1 million for a '3b1bath1car ' on a standard block,

Last three houses in my street were $ 1.25 m.

spacesailor

 

[Marty_d]

Even just talking about the cost of electricity connections, it can be far cheaper to set up solar.  These days you can get what, 6kW system + battery for less than $20k?  Our neighbours wanted to get power when they built, but the company wanted $80k to run a line to their house.  They got solar and batteries (went real cheap, they only have 9 panels - I don't know how they do it).

[onetrack]

We installed a complete new 6.6Kw solar system (which is 3 phase) last October for a grand total of $5000. The installers even took down our 10 yr old 1.5Kw system in the price.

But I kept the old system, because it still works just fine, and the installers wanted $500 to dispose of it!

 

The previous system was 8 panels mounted on the NE-facing rear slope of the house roof. This time we have 12 bigger panels, and 8 are where the previous system was, and 4 are on a NW-facing side section of the roof.

Surprisingly, these NW facing panels are very effective, and they generate power right up to 5:00PM even on Winter days. They generate power to around 7:00PM in Summer.

We get 10c a Kw feed-in tariff, if the power is generated and fed into the grid after 3.00PM and before 9:00PM. Power fed in between daylight and 3:00PM earns us 3c a Kw.

 

We can't install anything bigger than 6.6Kw with a 5Kw inverter, because that's the maximum size you're allowed to install in a residential building if you want to stay connected to the grid.

Even at that, I've seen up to 5.3Kw being generated here at times during Summer - so the inverter is producing more than its nameplate power. 

The whole system comes with an app that allows you to check on it, via your smartphone. The new solar system has cut our total power bill down to a bit over $100 month on average. It goes up a bit in Winter and drops in Summer.

 

We've got 3 RC air-conditioners for cooling and heating - one 3HP and 2 x 1HP - plus I use a portable electric oil column heater in the office occasionally. We use electricity for all our cooking, and natural gas only for the hot water.

Somewhat surprisingly, these solar panels produce more power when they're at a hotter temperature - so on hot Summer days they're really pumping out the power.

The installers advised us the panels performed better when they were hot.

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by onetrack

[octave]

Speaking of where people get their power, I thought I should remind any Victorian forum members of the $250 bonus payment from the Victorian government.    All you have to do is submit your power details which are then compared to see how your power deal stacks up to other possible deals.   We have done it, $250 for 5 minutes work!

 

Welcome to Victorian Energy Compare

[facthunter]

My Missus has already done it. Whoopee! I can fill the car up. Nev

[spacesailor]

Octave 

I get my power from " RED " l think it,s Victorian !.

BUT

I live in NSW, will l still get that bonus !. LoL

spacesailor

[octave]

7 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

Octave 

I get my power from " RED " l think it,s Victorian !.

BUT

I live in NSW, will l still get that bonus !. LoL

spacesailor

Unfortunately you have to be a resident of Victoria.

[spacesailor]

I tried it on in Queensland, with their " diesel discount for power ".  had to get other boaties that had Queensland 

driving licenses to pay my fuel bill. After l had payed them. Most were happy to oblige .

I don,t think the queenslanders would be happy if they had to pay extra $ on their NSW fuel bills, 

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

4 hours ago, facthunter said:

My Missus has already done it. Whoopee! I can fill the car up. Nev

... to run the generator!

 

2 hours ago, spacesailor said:

Octave 

I get my power from " RED " l think it,s Victorian !.

BUT

I live in NSW, will l still get that bonus !. LoL

spacesailor

I can see the custommer service rep (or automated version) responding...

 

HA HA HA HA HA HA.................................. no!

[facthunter]

Isn't this sort of thing spivving the system?.. Nev