I nearly love the Brumby government as much as the Gillard Government.
Look Here -> |
Won't be long and we will be following England and America's lead.
Pre Paid and Pay as you go power accounts.... Mmmmmm i wonder what those new smart meters can really do???
Pay as You Go power been in Tassie for ages now..... smartcard ...simillar to goldie,you just go to your local shop,servo,newsagent or whoever supplies Aurora,...tell the person how much worth you want on your card....go home home...slip it in your smartcard reader at your meter box and the total on your card gets added to amount already on meter.
Best way to go i think.....you get no big bills and you know what power you are using day by day
Cheers
OMFG.... It is here already.
I have heard that the power companies are looking at scrapping the off-peak system as well. Same or slightly modified power charges around the clock. The diary industry (which is a big off-peak power user) is already aware of it and preparing for it apparently.
Mmmmm what a turn around then if thats the case, as it wasn't that many years ago that the Power Companys were bending over backwards promoting Off Peak use, so as to balance out their generation loads.
You were rewarded for using in the Off Peak times, special tariffs for Heat Banks, Hot Water Services, basically any storage device. Anything to remove load in Peak times.
Wow, if that comes in... it will have a massive effect.
My off peak hot water storage unit is nearing the end of it's life, If it can just hang in until the state government decides what penalties they're going to impose for using electricity to heat water it may become economically feasible for me to install an instantaneous LPG water heater.
Here in Country SA, for now, the price of a bottle of gas is $109.00, who knows the price next week.
LPG is a rip off in that the price is related to petrol prices and the Singapore price, additionally, it's not regulated by the Essential Services Commission.
However, when petrol drops LPG doesn't move.
Ho! I forgot to include the $70.00 annual rent for my two gas bottles.
Last edited by oldsalt; 14-08-10 at 06:37 PM.
With these sort of energy increases you can start to see how alternative technologies may start to pay for them selves pretty quick - i.e. heat pump heating & hot water services, Solar hot water, grid connect inverters and solar panels etc.
Off peak tarrifs have been scrapped ages ago, check your bills.
The company I work for negotiated their tariffs a while back and have a quota system which means once reached the price goes up.
And that company is OneSteel formally SmorgonSteel which is a big power user.
The days of using more power at a cheaper rate are long gone.
In NSW as far as I know if your current electric HWS needs replacing and natural Gas is available or a new home, you now by law cannot install an electric HWS.
Fot years I used to boast that I had a small coal fired boiler/donkey that cost me about a $1 a week on average for all the hot water we needed untill I tried to by a load of coal last month and was told unless I have a 'Coal Ticket' the cost for a Tonne of coal is $500, FIVE HUNDRED Dollars and I live in the Western Coal fields of NSW with 2 major power Generators 20 ks away.
This 'Coal Ticket' was given to miners by their company as a 'Perk' but unless your actualy employed by the mines, not a contractor as so many are today, NO ticket.
Plus the holding tank started to leak and with the recent lousy weather I havent even bothered to try to repair it if I will at all.
I bought a small LPG instantanious HWS and so far so good. It has made me look more carefully at a solar HWS with this unit as a booster.
This 'Prepayment' is going back to the days of the 'Penny/Shilling' in the slot meters that were used up to the late 50's.
Also I have friends who 'Prepay' an amount fortnightly towards their power bills so its not new, just not so commonly done.
Last edited by gordon_s1942; 14-08-10 at 09:21 PM.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
Godzilla (16-08-10)
officemanager: We still have off peak here in Sydney. I pay 6 cents per kilowatt for off peak 1 and 20 cents for all other electricity. Off peak 2 is 10 cents per kilowatt.
gordon_s1942: I had a $900 bill for over christmas and decided then to set up a fortnightly amount automatically deducted out of my account towards my bills.
You can learn alot using Google, and the search button.....
You can learn alot using Google, and the search button.....
QUOTE : gordon_s1942: I had a $900 bill for over christmas and decided then to set up a fortnightly amount automatically deducted out of my account towards my bills :UNQUOTE
I just got my last quarter bill and there have been some changes re our Electicity useage since last quarter, it dropped by $120 which is better but not good.
The one real change we did was to stop using an electric jug and use the LPG gas to boil water where required which is paid for.
I also use our wood burner to keep 3 kettles warm, one is a whistler we put on the Gas preheated to bring to the boil.
The water in all of the kettles is generaly too hot to put your hand so their good for those jobs like washing the dishes,your hands or the floor.
I was thinking of the old City of Sydney slogans of 'Living Better Electricaly' and how today its 'Go Broke Quicker Electrically'.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
I expect the electricity retailers will start applying their main price increases to the service charges as a lot of the water companies seem to be doing of recent. This ensures that they still get to slug those who take pro-active action to reduce their consumption.
gordon_s1942 (15-08-10)
First country that converts its economy into one that doesn't need to burn fossils wins.
Simple solution fro Australia is solar thermal, the only on going maintenance is the man who cleans the mirrors sun is free.
The only way to make this possible is a carbon tax.
Last edited by Dishtrackted; 17-08-10 at 06:03 PM.
I am still very curious how these generators work when the Sun sets each day ???
What we need to go TRUELY Solar is a continuous belt of Solar panels (thermal/cells) built along the Equator and as the Earth rotates you would always have 1/3 facing the Sun.
I do realise there is a bit of water to make construction a bit difficult but I am sure some one will find a feasible way to waste money getting it up and running.
I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!
"Molten" salt technology is advancing rapidly. One Australian company in California -- Ausra -- believes it can soon extend 'storage' of solar energy to 24-hours through molten salt technologies. if it succeeds, it will open the door to round-the-clock generation of 'solar' energy.
Australia's electricity needs could be met by a mirror field 50 kilometres on a side
Um...I just changed power companies and they asked me if I needed variable rate (off peak) for an electrical hot water service (I didn't because I have a gas hot water service). I have friends in country Vic who have a dairy farm and they still have off peak rates...thats why they get up at 4am to milk the cows - to finish milking before the dearer rates kick in. Off peak is still alive in Vic.
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