Pleasant Solar suprise

[Seymour Butts]

Late last year I had a 3Kw Solar System installed.
Probably purchased it too late as the Feed in (here in Victoria) changed from .30 to .18 cents just days before my installation.
On the 21st of November my system went live and I started feeding back into the grid.
So today I got a bill from Red Energy based on 50 Days from the 21st of November 2012 through to the 10th of January 2013
I used in this period a total of 493kWh - at the Peak rate I used 209kWh @ .270 for a total of $56.43,
and in the Off Peak period I used 284kWh @ .126 for a total of $35.78
There is also a service to property charge of .720 cents per day and this equals $36.00
An all up usage total of $128.21 for the 50 Days

I also feed back into the Grid over the 50 day period a total of 447 kWh @.30 per kWh $134.10

So my total bill for the 50 days = -$6.48

Needless to say the April read and subsequent bill will be an interesting read

Has anyone else been pleasantly surprised ?

[efab]

if you could capcha your own gas then all your energy costs would be minimal hehehe

[Seymour Butts]

Awww mate, that's harsh ;(
Your right, but it's still harsh
I have a sneaky suspicion your latest delivery may well go missing in the post

[RGS]

Following is my experience with Solar Power generation, for 2 years till end Nov. 2012
Size 1.5kw, Installed 26 Nov 2010
Power exported 3951 kwh.
Power imported 3637 kwh.

Credit from supplier $1231.30

We do not use candles, or kero lanterns, However:

1 We are retired, only two in house.
2 I designed the house, using passive solar principles
3 The supplier and the government pay a total of 47c per unit exported to the mains.
4 The cost per unit varies for on-peak, off-peak, high shoulder and low shoulder times each day.
5 This cost ranges from 12.7034c/unit (off-peak) to 41.7076c/unit (on peak)

[Seymour Butts]

I can't say I'm in the same situation RGS (Except to say there are only the two of us in the house) but we both work (Tried retirement but I got bored and the GFC ensured I needed to go back to work) and I made the conscious decision years ago that I didn't care how much it cost to see at night and I didn't care how much it cost to keep warm when it was cold.
I'm really unsure what the solar is might return over time but like I say the next read and result will be interesting.

[lsemmens]

I also have a 1.5 KW system and have yet to see any real savings, however.... There are now 6 living in the house. When we installed it, it was just two of us. Son and his family moved in for a while. I'd like to hope that there is a real benefit, but do not have the time to analyse the bills to check it.

[efab]

for any one in WA who wants to see how big a setup can get, just go to the Perth zoo
there is a huge amount of panels and they actually had to get Western Power to put in a switch which is controlled by the authority
this way when the need arises they can actually supply power to the circuit in the street

[Philquad]

we put in a 3kw i think, 15 panels
its generated nearly 1000 kw in the last \ 1st 3 months
problem is we used about 3000 kw so it really only took the edge off the bill

[Seymour Butts]

we put in a 3kw i think, 15 panels
its generated nearly 1000 kw in the last \ 1st 3 months
problem is we used about 3000 kw so it really only took the edge off the bill

This is more along the lines of where I expect to be on the next full read. I really can't see any enormous savings but will be happy if the edge (perhaps 30%) is taken off