Electricity Supplier Recommendation with Solar FIT (Brisbane QLD)

Lkeejoonc on 21/01/2019 - 11:16

We are moving early next month to a house with solar panels (I believe it's a 6.3kw system).
Could people in QLD recommend the best deal that's available? I understand the best deal can be different depending on your usage etc. We are a small family with just myself and my wife + 1 dog and we used 645kw between Sep-Nov quarter in our current rental. Our deal with Origin (21% discount on supply and usage) ends pretty much at the same time we move to the new place.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • poboy on 21/01/2019 - 11:26

    The best energy plan for you depends on:

    1. How much grid power you use
    2. How much generated solar you use
    3. How much generated solar you export

    Recommendations without the above knowledge are meaningless. You could get the best solar FIT, but be exporting 1kW per month. Or you could be getting the best daily supply charge rate, yet incur the highest grid kWh tariff.

    Best to go to the comparator government site.

    • keejoonc on 21/01/2019 - 11:33

      Yeah, never lived in a house with solar so I have zero idea about how things will turn out.
      I figured I could find out a few top 3 supplier/contracts that are considered to get good deals as a starting point.

  • Prince K on 21/01/2019 - 12:37
    +1

    The best one I found are energy Australia and agl. Make sure you select their solar plan. Energy Australia comes out a few dollars cheaper, but if you want agl rewards the other might be better for you.

    There is also an excel made by a fellow ozbargainer and it tells you exactly which plan is best

    • keejoonc on 21/01/2019 - 14:09

      Thanks AGL Solar Saver is currently the best for me but haven't checked out Energy Australia so will see how they compare.

  • adam on 21/01/2019 - 13:58
    +1

    I haven't updated the Ozbargain Energy Prices Spreadsheet in some time, but you could update your own copy of it as a starting point. Energy Australia often come up tops for many usage profiles in SE Qld.

    • keejoonc on 21/01/2019 - 14:10

      Thanks. Will check the spreadsheet out.

  • moar bargains on 21/01/2019 - 16:04

    A couple of extra questions:
    - Is your solar system 6.3kW on a 5kW inverter, or 6-7kW inverter? If you don't know, it's almost certainly the former.
    - Are you and your wife working? Either of you at home during the day?

    Looks like you used about 7-7.5 kWh/day in Sep-Nov qtr. This will change a bit in the new place, but to me that's not bad. A system like that will probably be exporting 30-40kWh per day, compared to your usage of ~7.5kWh. I.e you're exporting about 3-4 times what you use in summer.

    Basically, if both of you are out during the day, and you don't change usage habits much (i.e. don't leave air-con (or similar) on all day), you will be exporting a ton of solar power most days, and using it mainly when the sun isn't shining. So what you are after is the highest solar feed in tariff (FiT) available, and then couple that with the lowest import costs. But given the balance is so far in favour of the export, highest FiT is the most important.

    E.g. Assuming a flat rate, if you have a FiT of 10c/kWh, and a usage tariff of 25c/kWh, you will pay ~$1.875 for your usage (not including supply charges), and get paid ~$3.50 so net profit of $1.625 on import vs export. If those numbers change to 20c/kWh FiT, and 30c/kWh usage, you pay ~$2.25, and get paid ~$7.00 per day so $4.75 net profit. There's all sorts of complications around this which makes it tricky to compare, but hopefully that helps.

    Hope that helps, and please feel free to ask more questions if you want to.

    Tl;dr: Get the highest FiT possible. AGL solar savers is probably your best bet.

  • brendanm on 21/01/2019 - 18:04
    +1

    Energy Australia worked out cheapest for me. Was with origin on the solar saver, average bill was $120 or so. Now with energy Australia, last bill was $18.

    Getting the highest fit or "discount" isn't always the best, you have to compare the actual charges for electricity and supply. There is a spreadsheet on ozbargain somewhere for doing just this, it's what I used.

    Edit- Adam has pointed it out for you

  • keejoonc on 21/01/2019 - 19:37

    Thanks all. I tried doing some calcs and ended up signing with Energy Australia.
    As AGL charges solar metering fee, it negates the 4c advantage it has over the FIT offered by Energy Australia.
    I nearly went with 2 year fixed plan but went with the variable plan in case I want to move.

    • brendanm on 21/01/2019 - 20:08

      Did you get the 30% discount? Plan break fee is it $30 or so from memory. I would be surprised if you are not in credit every month with only two of you. My bill is for a family of 4, AC on constantly, dryer used as we have a very messy development next door, and a teenager on PS4/tv constantly.

      • keejoonc on 21/01/2019 - 23:20

        No, I'm getting 28% discount under the variable plan. Fixed gets 30% off but dont think 2% is going to make a huge difference when you take into account the exit fee and you also get 50 dollar credit only under the variable plan.

        Having never used solar and not knowing what sort of system is installed, it's difficult to know for sure but I sure hope solar will make a massive difference. We are very frugal when it comes to things like aircon and we don't have a dryer either. We both work so that helps as well.

        • moar bargains on 22/01/2019 - 11:15

          Yep, you guys should be in credit all summer, and maybe autumn and spring. You'll likely get a small bill in Winter, but over the year, I expect you'll be net credit. How's that for a difference? ;)

          • keejoonc on 22/01/2019 - 11:41
            +1

            @moar bargains: difficult to imagine not paying much or even nothing for electricity. very much looking forward to it :)

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join