This was posted 1 year 3 months 29 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Tesla Powerwall $15,495 ($13,995 after 5 years) (Includes Standard Installation) @ Origin Energy

1213

Save $2,300 off the 13.5 kW Tesla Powerwall.

Plus sign up to the Origin Loop virtual power plant (VPP) and stay connected for five years to save a further $1,500.

You may choose whichever Origin Energy plan you like, however, the 14c FIT is only applicable to Solar Boost Plus plans.

Interested in everyone's thoughts around VPP and if the discount is worth the intermittent power drain.

Interest free plans available.

Not available in all areas. Price for a standard installation within 50 km of the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wollongong and Gold Coast CBDs.

Mod 26/7: Edited title. The $1500 off after 5 years is included in the $13,995 price (thus why it says 'from $13,995'), it is $15,495 initially ($2,300 off).

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  • +2

    It’s a 5 year contract with origin to get this price. Their rates, their VPP, and their fees for leaving early.

    One other benefit not listed: you can ask for a 4 or 5 year interest free loan from them.

    (VIC users: the Solar VIC battery benefit just changed - everyone now qualifies, but its now a max $8880 interest free loan over 4 years with a credit check)

  • -1

    U will never pay it off…. Look up opportunity costs…. Add that to the years of payback

  • +7

    Want one because I like tech but won't get one as it doesn't make sense financially

  • Not sure if this has been asked yet, but is the Origin Loop Virtual Powerplant (https://www.originenergy.com.au/solar/panels-batteries/virtu…) supposed to be the exact same thing as Tesla's own Energy Plan? (https://www.tesla.com/en_au/tep)

  • This seems like crap rates:

    12.00 c/kWh solar feed-in tariff
    Higher than standard feed-in tariff until daily 14kWh export limit is reached, incl GST where applicable

    Daily Supply
    116.38 ¢/day

    Peak
    69.19 ¢/kWh
    Shoulder
    36.50 ¢/kWh
    Off-peak
    21.07 ¢/kWh

    Now compare to my red energy plan
    98c Daily Supply, then 42, 26, 17
    But these are ex GST. Still, just the plan cost will offset any savings of having a battery.

    • +2

      those are some day light robbery rates…

    • +1

      Need to think more like a powerwall owner.

      I own one myself and hardly ever use peak electricity. If I do, there's something wrong.

      In summer - leave it to "self powered" and the full battery is enough to get you through the evening peak.

      In winter - leave it to "time based control" and it will supplement solar with cheap off peak energy and charge up.

  • +1

    Have one of these and refused the vpp and associated bullshit conditions. Nearly all solar gets used at my place or stored in the battery. I barely export anything, and my consumption from the grid has also reduced considerably (peak rate consumption is nearly zero).

  • +2

    As a long time solar PV & 10kWh storage owner, my 2c worth

    Get Fixed Price installation, in writing.

    You'll never get full cost recovery. The Government endorsed Cartel will see to it.

    On the up side, zero or in credit invoices do make one feel smug.

  • +4

    Lol this is as good as the idiots buying a 90K EV to 'save' on petrol.

    You are prepaying 22 years' worth of electricity, for what?

    • +1

      Capex to reduce opex.

      • Yes, but we are not Government that can borrow at any rate, right now money is expensive to outlay for 10 years, but the long term cost increases might negate the upfront CAPEX, but that needs to be seen.

    • I bought a $52k BYD atto3. Same cost as a Rav4 and FBT free on a lease.

  • +6

    Why is fixed (home) storage 3x the price of mobile (car) storage per kWh ?
    e.g. $1000/kWh for Tesla powerwall vs $338/kWh ( https://www.biggerenergizer.com.au/whole-pack )

    When you export more power to the grid than you use, you're a vendor not a customer.
    Big enough battery, you don't need the grid at all.
    "They" know this.

    At $338/kWh a 30kWh battery would be about $10k, and would store enough for our daily needs.
    Assuming 25kWh daily usage at 30c/kWh and $1 daily access charge it's a 3.2 year payback.

    Time to re-nationalise the grid and have co-operative battery banks before there is the subtle, unpleasant sound of the universe suddenly catching on…

  • +2

    Doesn't make sense at this price for many reasons. First is payback times, as already pointed out.

    But even if one is not in it for the money, but wants to be able to use more clean electricity from ones solar panels: don't get ripped off. At $1k per 1kWh storage home battery prices are a joke.

    You get 50kWh for $40k - with a free car thrown in, if you buy an MG 4 or BYD Dolphin…

    The same $14k this Telsa battery costs are spent much better paying the extra an EV costs over an equivalent ICE.

  • Prices will become more reasonable in par with EV vehicles in the next 12 months when industry has excess capacity.
    Battery manufactures have signed a long term fixed priced supply contracts with EV manufacturers at a lower price.
    So they don't have much excess capacity to supply the household market.
    This will change when production starts to ramp up and have excess capacity.

  • That's the price of BYD Seagull EV converted to AU$13-21k. (au$18k LHD in Thailand).& charge from home PowerPoint ;)

  • Rumours of tesla powerwall 3 coming in future. Using LFP battery. I'm going to hold off until I see what happens there.

    If you are still looking to get one installed but don't want the Origin VPP, I've been quoted from Natural Solar for $13390, and if you sign up with them for the simply energy VPP they'll give a $800 credit with no commitment to stay with them. I think this deal finishes end of this month.

    People keep saying that you'd be better of getting a larger solar system, however I'm already exporting excess solar with my existing 6kw system during the day, and any further solar panels will mean I'll just be exporting excess to the grid with the reduced FIT (I'm currently on 10c). It'll still take me 7.5-10 years to recover my costs for a 10kw system.

    I'm tempted with getting a battery, as with these demand tariffs and likely future rises in energy costs, it'll mean I rely less on the grid and can use the battery during peak non-solar producing times. My rough calcuations, payback period is 8-10 years.

  • My Tesla PW2 made me $600 last winter thanks to wholesale price arbitrage (energy trading).
    This winter there is barely any earnings as Russo-Ukr war subdue and gas demand stablised.
    Low demand seasons & summer I go with traditional fixed price retailers and earn enough credits from solar FIT to get me going.

    ROI is only one side. The other side is convenience of having a PW2, no power outage. Three times in more than a year our local grid had issues and shut down for a sustained period. Apparently business usual with PW2.
    Even when you use up 13.5kW and the grid is still out, PW2 gateway will direct your solar panels to keep generating power whilst other (dumb) batteries cannot - this is the beauty of having PW2.

    That is why you shouldn't use any payback calculator. It is the freedom of traditional energy retailers, freedom of grid dependence that hooked me in.

    P/S: Im in SA and we are wind abundant, we have cheap wholesale electricity even on rainy days (rain often comes with lots of wind). There are winter nights when prices are like 5c / kWh and we heat the whole home for 80c the whole night or charge battery for the same amount.

    • Your PW2 will only charge from the panels when the grid is down if you have it wired to do so. A lot of installers including Natural Solar charge a couple of hundred bucks extra to have it wired that way…

  • +1

    If payback was so good the power companies will build all the batteries for themselves and charge you top rates to access the power from them

    They flog these hard for those less financially savvy

    Power companies with all their money have got so many brains on this and they don’t want to stump up the cash.

    Look at the grid level Tesla battery in SA. It is making big bucks but no companies want to invest in one for QLD, NSW or VIC? Maybe the economics are not so sound.

    • -1

      I think it may not stack up "financially" but it definitely stacks up "economically" which accounts for benefits such as environmental benefits of offsetting fossil fuel use.
      Source: Reviewing renewables business cases.

      • definitely stacks up "economically" which accounts for benefits such as environmental benefits of offsetting fossil fuel use

        So people with deep pockets can't make it would even for PR purposes to green wash their image, why would the regular person invest?

        • Why do people buy $5000 handbags or suits? Or $100k cars?
          Not everything is an investment considered in pure $ terms. Unlike a luxury expense like the above, this does have some utility and environmental benefits.
          It may not be for you, but it will be for some who have the means and don't mind a potential loss in dollar terms.

          • @cheaptech20:

            Why do people buy $5000 handbags or suits? Or $100k cars?

            More money than sense (explains why companies don't invest in batteries with zero returns). Notice this is OzBargains. PW is hardly a bargain.

            You know the "I drive a Tesla and I charge for free from my solar panels" crowd. I ask them where do you get free solar panels and installation?

            I am surprise nobody has suggested the Tesla PW gets to charge for free just like their Tesla.

            6kw solar system does 42kwh in Melbourne during best of summer. You can't charge 20kwh into the Tesla, 10kwh into the PW and potentially live off 10kwh. You're back on the big bad grid again.

            • @netjock: All depends on your use case - if you don't drive much and have low usage, that example is realistic.
              Agree on pure financial terms, payback is MINIMUM 15 years in most cases. But support people doing it for the stability of the grid, better environment etc

              • @cheaptech20:

                But support people doing it for the stability of the grid

                That is the narrative the electricity companies want you to believe.

                Read into how electricity prices are determined. If it is bid up to $10k MWH then all the MWH for that period is sold at that price. It isn't progressive like airline seats revenue management. Even solar that is costing 5c kwh is sold at the $10k per MWH price.

                If you look at why prices sometimes turn negative is also because the cheap coal (in Victoria at least) keep on pumping out to try to get renewables off the grid to ruin the economics. (Okay, you can't wind down coal easily that is why you have gas fired).

                There is salt water batteries (disadvantages are lower peak power ouput, advantages are it has at least twice charge cycle as lithium, safe and non toxic) which for grid scale back up would work well. But power companies want to sell you the narrative that you need to save the environment, they are just the tools. If you think government green policies include subsidies from the tax payer, we're paying subsidies, paying for electricity and maintaining the network and they are still giving us trash electricity?

                You heard about the new policy that the government can remotely turn off your roof top solar to stablise the grid when there is too much solar? That is convenient isn't it. The grid is unstable because there is no grid level battery / coordination of generation (ie turn off solar / turn off wind) but lets turn off people's roof tops (someone else's investment).

                Not a rant. I have 6kw of solar and I only use 5kwh from the grid in winter (about 1kwh during summer) and I drive a hybrid. It is just very fishy when you start looking into it.

                I'll get a battery at some point but just not now because either vehicle to home / grid will happen or new technology will come out. There is molten sodium batteries that basically lasts forever they figured out in 2021.

                • +2

                  @netjock: If you only realized this just now, you are way too late and I suspect most population is waking up to this.

                  I used to work for Hazelwood Power Station. Back then, people were sold Green Electricity saying if you are on this plan, that meant your power came from green source. It was false because the way the grid works is that you cannot determine the power pole that hooks to your home came from say, windpower / gas (which was considered green at the time).

                  The fallacy has been there all along for people to see but people either didn't want to see or just gets blinded with green ideology.

                  The same with this solar and battery. As per your description, you can see why green investment will never pay back (with some exception but essentially if you entered in early enough, you would have got your ROI)

                  Example: If you bought PHEV/EV in 2014, you would have got your RoI if you have been charging offsite. That ROI has been nearly diminished to zero since 2022/23 when VIC introduced the ZLEV tax. By my calculation, the extra tax it charged would add at least the equivalent of 2.2ltr/100kms to your efficiency so if your PHEV has been giving you 2.1ltr/100kms, then the ZLEV tax will increase that to the equivalent of 4.3ltr/100kms. That is only 1.2ltrs/100kms more efficient than parralel hybrid systems such as Prius, making the ROI ineffective.

                  The same goes with Solar, it only gives you ROI as long as they leave it alone. As you just said, Govt is introducing a law to either charge Solar Tax or turn off people's solar roof tops. That will destroy the ROI.

                  Governments are smart mf. They encourage you produce your own power so they don't have to spend theirs (money better spent buying votes - cue Rent Control). Once established, they introduce disincentives / tax to milk on your investment.

                  That's why I said you'll get your ROI if you were in earlier.

                  • @burningrage:

                    Example: If you bought PHEV/EV in 2014, you would have got your RoI if you have been charging offsite. That ROI has been nearly diminished to zero since 2022/23 when VIC introduced the ZLEV tax. By my calculation, the extra tax it charged would add at least the equivalent of 2.2ltr/100kms to your efficiency so if your PHEV has been giving you 2.1ltr/100kms, then the ZLEV tax will increase that to the equivalent of 4.3ltr/100kms. That is only 1.2ltrs/100kms more efficient than parralel hybrid systems such as Prius, making the ROI ineffective.

                    PHEV tax was biggest policy mistake. PHEVs are not good unless you do only city driving but you'll probably destroy you engine because it will hardly turn on and it was almost same price as EV

                    parralel hybrid systems such as Prius, making the ROI ineffective.

                    Reason I bought a Corolla hybrid sedan, it is around 4L/100km

                    Governments are smart mf.

                    I keep telling people. There is that many brains in there. Plus they spend your smart money on consultants. So something is going on. Governments are dirty as you can get. Some countries the corruption is total. Ours is just well covered up. The elites need to be careful else they are going to have a revolt on their hands.

                  • +1

                    @burningrage:

                    people were sold Green Electricity saying if you are on this plan, that meant your power came from green source. It was false because the way the grid works is that you cannot determine the power pole that hooks to your home came from say, windpower

                    Hang on a minute.

                    If you sign up to a "green" plan, then that simply means that clean energy is purchased by your billing company to match your usage.
                    If you use 30KW each day then they'll buy 30KW of clean power alongside whatever else they're buying in their mix.

                    There's no suggestion that the actual green power is coming specifically to your house, for obvious reasons.

                    There's no fallacy here, nobody is signing up thinking that they get a dedicated cable to carry clean energy only to their house…

                    • +1

                      @Nom: just because they worked at a power station doesnt mean they know how the grid works. Might have been an accountant!

  • -2

    Wind turbines charges the battery all through the night.

    • How naive are you

  • +2

    So the general consensus here, even among many true believers, is that this isn’t really a deal.

  • +1

    With two way charging (or V2H and V2G) meaning your 70-80kWh car can charge your home - will that be the future?

    • Hard to see how it won't be…oh wait only SA gets it because…. I don't recall why. I guess they can enjoy it though.

      • Interesting - Is that for now? Do you have a source?

  • Nectr and other energy providers can bundle up batteries and solar, in arguably better, cheaper deals than this.

    Still not quite cheap enough for me, frustratingly close though

  • Are there any plans that let you feed battery power into the grid at particular times for an increased $ per kWh? Or is it always a flat price per kWh? Seems like it would be of benefit to let people with batteries flatten the curve of excess power needed for the grid.

  • when are they going to let me use the 60 kw battery sitting in my car to power my house? not being used all night. can run leads but they forbid us connecting to house. just a big scam for the power companies to keep ripping us off.

    • Some cars can do this that have been imported from Japan as Japan mandated in years if not a decade ago. Check out good car co for info. From memory there’s v2h and v2g and it is in the works.

      https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/ev-v2g-sa-mb2764/

      • my car can do it, but the bloody state regulations forbid actually connecting to house for power. being slow walked so the power companies can extract as much blood as possible

        • Yeh sa can do it for Mitsubishi and Nissan which are the only two vehicles currently so they need to start mandating car makers do it too so it becomes more wide spread.

          Japan mandated it in something like 2012 and when they had the power plant explosion way back they deployed a bunch of vehicles as emergency power.

  • +1

    Got one of these around 2018 for 5.8k in sa with the rebates and a grand back from Tesla. Joined energy locals Tesla vpp which has no daily supply charge to get a bigger head start. They rarely if ever draw it down so it was a no brainer. At nearly 14k and small a small discount for a 5 year commitment I’d say not a deal at all. Possibly look at a wholesale supplier like amber electric which I’d try if I was game enough to give up no daily supply charge but for nearly full price and only 300 a year discount for vpp origin not really giving you much.

    FYI I pay monthly so sunny months usually make a credit and winter months like now can be $20-90/mo because wfh and I run a ducted reverse cycle in heating mode which is really in efficient but you get that. As we hit spring the credits will start to earn back what I’ve been paying since about may.

    At full price. Standard fit. And paying a daily supply charge the roi would be pretty long.

  • I wouldn't recommend joining the VPP at this stage. They need to subside more for VPP.

    Beware with the warranty, need to confirm whether you can exit easily/freely or not.

    Just take advantage of the fact that battery is almost $1/Wh installed.

    Think of it drom business perspective. They just trying to get someone to cover their upfront and installation cost for their VPP 'trial'. They need someone to fund their project.

  • -1

    Be really careful what solar panels you use.. Not much point in getting a great battery if your panels degrade badly after 5-8 years like some of the ones being sold today. If you are in SA I recommend Tindo Solar.

    • How does one know the panels being sold today will degrade badly in 5 to 8 years time?

      I've had my Trina panels on my roof for more than a decade now, and yes they don't produce as much power as they used to, but the degradation over time has been very small, within the estimated 1% per year.

    • +1

      Why do you recommend Tindo Solar? Are you associated with them? 😉

  • Hi, i have solar panels and inverter at my place that i bought but they dont generate any electricity. The panels are over 6 years old now. Is it that the panels were bad or the inverter might be faulty?

    Thanks

    • get a multimeter or sparky to check each panel and the inverter. Turn the isolator off before you touch anything.

    • One option is to get an electrician to inspect your setup. Oh wait, that's just about the only meaningful option.

    • It should still be under warranty after 6 years I would have thought .. or did you use a cheap-ass retailer such as the ones on the TV ads with washed up old cricket players on them .. ? :)

  • -3

    Batteries are an easy sell to people who struggle with maths

  • Is this Origin offloading batteries before Powerwall 3 is released?

  • Expect additional charges for components within your electrical box (if you want to utilize backup feature of the battery), depending on where you want the battery installed there could be some extra charges too. In total though it would be around $500.

    There are fees involved if you decide to leave VPP calculated based on how many years left in your contract (they basically take back the discount they give you)

    My install is scheduled next week :)

  • +2

    FYI being connected to the vitrutal loop, screws your battery over. Its better not to be connected to the grid.

    • Stay connected to the grid by all means but don't sign up to the vpp.

  • +3

    These things are still too expensive. Even in SA with enormous power prices it doesn't make economic sense to buy.

    13.5kWh, so you can drain up to 90% of that. 12.15kWh available every day, maximum. In SA that's worth $5.46 (45c x 12.15). I'm using my power price for the calculation. $1995 per year. That sounds good, but hold on, the FIT eats into that. On the most generous plans you can get 14c/kWh, so subtract $620 (0.14 x 12.15 x 365) from that. Now you're gaining $1314 per year.

    How did you get the $14k to buy the system? In my case it would be by redrawing from the 6% home loan, so in the first year financing costs $839.70 (13995 x 0.06). So in the first year the system pays $474.30 at the very best for me (1314 - 839.70).

    I would be paying off just 3.39% of the system's purchase price in the first year. Chances are it will never pay for itself.

    Now I know people buy these things for other than economic reasons, and that's perfectly fine, but economics must come into it somewhere too. When I purchased my 5kw PV system in 2012 it cost a small fortune, but paid for itself (including maintenance and interest costs) within 6 years. After 6 years the Tesla battery will have paid off less than half its purchase price.

    • +1

      only thing you might be forgetting here is future electricity price inflation. It's a bit of a gamble.

      • That is true, power prices might continue to rise rapidly and interest rates fall, making the calculation better. The interest cost of course falls over time, but the payback is so slow that it will take many years to do so.

        Let's say power prices in SA go insane. They double from here within a short period of time. 90c/kWh, and interest rates fall to 4%. FIT stays at 14c.

        $10.93 income per day.
        $1.70 FIT per day

        $3989 - $620 = $3369 income.

        Take away the interest costs (at 4%, $560), and that returns $2809 in the first year. So we're now at a payback period of less than five years, which is what I would expect if I was buying a battery.

        All calculations assume the battery is fully charged every day and discharged by 90% every night. I know for me that's completely unrealistic.

  • I feel like it would be better to wait for the Powerwall V3 that's said to be launching soon. Though it's yet unannounced and being Tesla, who knows when it'll be out.

    https://www.notateslaapp.com/news/1344/tesla-gears-up-to-lau…
    https://electrek.co/2023/05/23/tesla-powerwall-13-kw-power-o…

  • We made $300 the first year with our growatt batteries, as was getting 21c feedin and 70c daily charge.
    Now in SA, feedin is like 5-9c at best, or gimmicked like 15c for first 5Kw, daily charge is like 90-100c.

    At that rate, would of broke even after 5 years with power savings and making money. Sadly times are bad, inflation and SA being charged extra because NSW and QLD governments are corrupt. Joy.

  • +1

    Only available if you are within 150km of the CBD of Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne or Sydney

    https://imgur.com/a/N1RJToA

  • Had it installed at $12k via AGL plus joining their VPP. They lock you in for 5 years otherwise pay the rebate back prorata. It was $1k back then.

    Be aware, if you are on ToU M-F 711 tariff, they may load your PW2 ranging from 60-80% on weekdays hoping that it won't be enough to last until 11pm offpeak price (so you are paying peak) which would be bummer if you charge your car at home. In winter, my system produced bugger all Kwh so even worse.

    And on the weekend, they have been loading mine at 100% and when the sun shines, it sold back to the grid so you're paying for unnecessary grid purchase at offpeak albeit. Remember to turn the setting to Self-Powered on the weekends to avoid this.

    And I don't think PW2 will ever pay itself back. New installation costs up to $16k for Standard (mine had plus plus plus so $16k was minimum) and while this deal is okay, it didn't pay off at $12k so I doubt it will pay itself even at this price. Solarquotes are just that, simulation.

    • There you have it. Crappy non deal.

      A fool and their money ….
      What a fool believes……

  • +1

    Does the SA version come in rainbow colours?

  • Cheaper and free just using the free supplied stations why pay extra?

  • Thanks OP, bought 3 haha

  • "We can install and service solar systems up to 150km, from Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney CBDs."

    Damn

  • +2

    People who buy these must be buying for the illusion of getting "free electrcitiy" because ecnomically it makes zero sense.

    • if you have a home loan makes 0 sense …. offset account will save you alot more

      • It makes zero sense either way. Breakeven takes far too long.

  • If you completely discharge the battery every single night, 365 days a year, you save about $2000 (at a high 40 cents/kWh x 13.5 kWh capacity). Say the battery lasts for 14 years, the return of investment is $14k or $1k/year after break even at year 7. With an initial investment of $14K, that’s ~7% pa. If you manage to get off peak EV rates, the ROI is even lower.

    • SA rates are a lot more than 40c /kWh. More like around 60c.

  • Op just one minor correction, the max power output is 5kW (same as charge rate). The capacity is 13.5kWh.

  • 4.1 You agree that we may remotely access and
    control your Battery at any time during the Term.
    For example, we may:
    (a) charge part or all of your Battery or
    discharge part or all of your Battery to the
    national electricity grid at any time; and
    (b) preserve the capacity in the Battery so that
    it can be used for your consumption at times
    determined by us.
    4.2 Over the course of any 12-month period under
    this Contract, we will not discharge more than
    200 kWh of electricity from your Battery to
    the grid.

    So there's a limit of about 15 full discharges or equivalent pro-rata'd discharges… not that bad tbh

  • As others have said, wait on V2L. This tiny battery is incredibly expensive vs the flexibility of a much larger on on wheels. It's hard to view this as much more than prepaying for electricity.

  • I have a blog about this back in 2007!

    http://firestallion.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-solar-panel-cost…

    Need to update the numbers, it makes sense to have PVs now.

    But battery is another story and analysis.

  • Unless you disconnect from the grid, you will be paying the daily charge to the power companies, so you'd need to be returning excess power daily to the grid to offset this each year.

    Also keep in mind most people sell their house every 10 years, and I would expect it will make sense to upgrade the Powerwall after 10 years the way battery technology improves year on year. With some simple math, if your current power bill is less than $400 per quarter, probably not worth it.

    Easiest way to save money on electricity? PV + use less power.

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