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Electricity Prices up 20%
Electricity consumers in Victoria have had bad news once again. AGL, Origin Energy and Energy Australia have all announced price rises of around 20% with effect from 1st of July.
When low cost electricity with lower carbon emissions is the need of the decade, the exact opposite is not a welcome sign at all.
Can solar electricity be the answer to this concern?
Solar power in Victoria and Feed in Tariff (FIT)
Since the introduction of the original FIT scheme in 2008, there have been a number of revisions and the rates offered to solar electricity exports fell from 60 cents per kWh in 2008 to 5 cents where it stood till June 30, 2017.
With the new challenge, consumers began to look at ways of using the power they generate on their rooftops, to the maximum, as it would reduce the electricity drawn from the grid. They are considering installing batteries which could store solar electricity when the sun is available and use it later. There can be issues, though, such as the cost of the battery and its compatibility to the existing system.
New Solar Feed In Tariff
When the horizon was appearing gloomy for solar households, Victoria’s Essential Services Commission (ESC) came up with a revised feed-in tariff rate of 11.3 cents per kWh for surplus electricity exported to the grid, with effect from 1st July 2017.
The economics of your existing or planned solar system is suddenly much more attractive as a result of this increase in the FIT.
Though this is a 122% increase on the current rate and would bring a sigh of relief to most of the solar electricity producers, it is still much lower than the electricity rate they pay for drawing power from the grid. Hence, it is still worthwhile to use as much as possible power they generate and export if they have excess. Solar power storage, too, continues to be a wise option for existing solar households but newcomers will have to evaluate the longer payback periods.
How easy would it be for you to select the best FIT?
The new rate announced by the government is the minimum FIT. The retailers are competing against each other, offering different and often confusing prices and plans.
The consumers are left alone to decide their best plan.
The cheapest electricity plan is a combination of your purchases and sales and the rates you pay and receive for the electricity. We have found that Solar customers are some of the most exploited customers of all, with savings available of up to 50%, wile customers without solar save up to 30%.
You also need to keep abreast of when providers change the rates.
Is there an easy way to manage this?
Get the Best Solar Feed in Tariff and the Cheapest Electricity
Energy Umpire ticks the box and gives you answers to these questions. They compare your rates with all the plans from every provider. Energy Umpire are completely independent and don’t accept any payment from electricity companies. They continue to compare for you to ensure you get the best electricity plan, always.
Let Energy Umpire manage your electricity bill while you manage better things in life! It’s free to have your electricity prices compared.