The NSW Battery PRDS Incentive is Now Available
The NSW Battery PRDS Incentive is Now Available
Posted 29 Dec
Welcome to 2025, another year of opportunity to take full advantage of the solar energy your property harnesses. Whether you’re an existing or potential solar owner, understanding 7 ways to lower your energy bill and maximise your solar will help you get the most out of your energy.
By using these 7 methods, you can make sure that your return-on-investment is as fast as possible to accelerate system payback time.
Most people already know that using solar energy is cheaper than buying electricity from the grid.
A good starting point is to try achieving 100% self-consumption for your property, to use as much solar as possible. By using your solar energy for the great majority, you reduce your overall energy bill.
Because current solar feed-in-tariffs are relatively low, there are a few other ways that will help you maximise the solar energy you generate.
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By taking a look at your energy consumption habits, it will indicate what the right system will be for you as each household will differ. By finding out when your peak consumption times are, you can see how to adjust your lifestyle to better suit the solar energy you’re generating, or if you need a battery put into the mix.
Installers like us will help you analyse your energy bill and discuss options that best suit your energy requirements and budget.
It’s also important to note that unless you’re completely off-grid, a solar system won’t make your bill $0. There are elements like weather conditions that affect production, variable consumption rates, and grid fees that will still affect your energy bill.
Whilst each energy provider will have their own names and plans for their available plans, there are 4 main tariffs that could affect how your energy bill comes in; Time-of-use (TOU), Single-rate, Controlled Load, and Demand tariff. Finding the best tariff that suits your lifestyle allows you to make the most out of your consumption. For a more in-depth explanation, we made an article around the right tariff plans for you.
Time-of-use tariff applies variable pricing at different times of the day, based on division between peak, shoulder, and off-peak periods.
On a single-rate tariff, there are no on and off-peak electricity periods. This means you pay a flat-rate price at all-times of the day.
A controlled-load tariff refers to when an appliance is charged separately at its own stand-alone rate, and often has its own electricity meter.
On top of regular consumption and supply fees, Demand tariffs are based on the consumption intensity of your property at any point in time.
You may not be aware, but difference electricity retailers pay various amounts for the solar you export back into the grid. Wattever.com.au is a good website for comparing providers in NSW. There are different plans that act differently to the amount you export. For example, some may pay you 10-12c per kWh for the first 8-14kWh you export, and then 1-5c every additional kWh on that day.
The other plans include just a simple flat rate tariff of anything from 3.3-7c per kWh, depending on who you go with.
If you’ve invested in solar power, but you still get expensive energy bills, then there may be some room for energy consumption timing adjustments.
Solar reaches its maximum performance through a sunny day, providing your home with renewable energy as it’s designed to do. However, if you find yourself using your high-consumption appliances during late evenings, there may be adjustments needed to fully take advantage of your solar power.
Whilst you can feed your solar energy back into the grid, it typically is better to consume that solar energy with something you’ll need to do later anyway, instead of just feeding that energy into the grid.
For example, say Nelly were to go out for coffee and spend the entire day out doing activities. Then she comes home and turns the air conditioner on in the hot afternoon, preheat the oven for dinner, puts a load of washing on, and unknowingly has her pool pump scheduled for 8pm at night. Even with an oversized solar system to what Nelly requires, her daily usage is mainly from the grid, with solar feed-in’s slightly reducing the bill. She would save more by just using those appliances throughout the day instead.
By adjusting your lifestyle and planning ahead in using high-consumption appliances like air conditioners, heating, pool pumps, and ovens during the day, you absorb the free energy you’re already generating and minimising your peak grid usage, which would otherwise be fed into the grid for cheap.
You can achieve this by using timers that can time automatic appliances like hot water heating and pool pumps to use energy throughout the day to consume solar electricity. This applies to both time-of-use and flat rate tariffs.
Selvin Esteban on Pexels
As obvious as it is, ensuring that your solar panels are clean is generally something people forget to do. By keeping your panels clean, your system can perform to its maximum generation.
Depending on your location, dirt, bird droppings, and growth can accumulate which negatively impacts your solar production.
If your solar panels are dirty, we only recommend cleaning them from the ground, or hiring a professional solar cleaner to service your system. Panels should be maintained and cleaned every 6 months to ensure maximum performance and longevity.
If your solar system consists of older panels, it might be an indication to consider upgrading or completely replacing your solar system to get the most out of the sunshine that hits your roof.
Expanding Solar: By adding more solar panels to your older system, you make up the
difference for the reduced production that occurs over time from degradation.
Expanding your system can also assist with higher energy usage over time. Lifestyles and situations change all the time, so upgrading
your solar can account for the higher consumption.
Replacing Solar: As older solar systems age, they degrade and lose efficiency which negatively affects solar generation performance. The older the system gets, the less it will produce and the less it will earn. By replacing the system entirely, it allows you to get more power with more modern panels, which helps you take full advantage of your roof real estate.
By adding a battery, you allow your property to store excess solar energy that would otherwise be fed into the grid for small returns. This means you can both rely on solar energy when grid electricity is its most expensive, and access 24/7 backup energy through grid failures.
It's basically like going off-grid, but having the grid as a backup.
With flexible options for capacity, as well as
Battery storage consists of different capacity options to best suit your energy requirements and goals. Understanding your goals can help find the optimal battery option for your needs.
If you are with Amber, you can supercharge your battery payback period and not just save money, but earn it.
What is Amber? Amber is an energy provider that gives power back to the user by giving them access to the wholesale price of energy. Using Amber SmartShift, you can automatically balance consumption and generation, which optimises solar value in conjunction with wholesale prices.
Amber essentially allows you to maximise your solar production by using your battery to trade on the wholesale energy market to earn rewards that not only save you money, but help you EARN it.
Members of the Elite Power Group team have joined Amber and are earning up to hundreds per day by exporting their self-generated energy to the wholesale market.
Whilst solar is a robust way of generating renewable energy for decades, there are a lot of methods of maximising the overall generation and efficiency.
By optimising the generation and efficiency, you maximise your returns and keep more money in your pocket.
If you’d like to know more about how you can save money through your energy and solar, our team would love to have a talk with you around finding optimal energy solutions that fit your requirements and budget.
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