$700-a-year increase running an airconditioner & snap price rises of as much as 15,000 %

[Maka]

Anyone see this story in the Sydney Daily Telegraph yesterday, so if you use more than average power in peak demand, you will be paying a massive premium for the privledge? (i'm frantically checking over our previous bills now!) This applies to all states i gather?

"The Australian Energy Markets Commission (AEMC) says the way to curb future increases in peak demand is to give households “signals” to change power use"

"To beat the new electricity changes some households may have to surrender control of their aircon to their power provider"

"Those who can’t afford that investment — or spiralling running costs — may have to flee to more community “cooling centres” such as libraries"

(with thanks to the Daily Telegraph)

http://www.news.com.au/finance/money...-1227195669476

cheer's, Maka

[buggerlugs]

I heard about it and had to check the date to make sure it wasn't April the 1st..........

[Road_Warrior]

I seem to recall this rearing it's head a couple of years ago. Community outrage made it go quiet, looks like the powers that be have decided to have a go again...

[poppa smurf]

same old, same old.....you'd remember the "rolling blackouts" of old........they were due to under supply of power.

I wonder what they use as an excuse in this day and age of over supply.........the little chinese feller who owns most of the south aussie power stated he will put up power when he likes simply to keep the profits.

the almighty dollar must prevail, profits at any cost.

with thinking like that common throughout all business I see a very glum future for the "little man".

[davenl5l]

group buy to convert to off the grid sounds like the go . the government would probably find a way to tax us though !!!

[olfella]

If it comes out of a wire or a bowser of course it will be taxed. That is why I think all other forms of alternate energy have been 'shelved'. But then again, I am a cynical old B

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

the almighty dollar must prevail, profits at any cost.

with thinking like that common throughout all business I see a very glum future for the "little man".

Unfortunately when you have things like services owned by private companies rather than government owned its no longer about providing a service, its all about returning $$$ to the share holder.

They're within their rights to charge what they want I guess.

[nstg8a]

Just another reason to go solar.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Unfortunately when you have things like services owned by private companies rather than government owned its no longer about providing a service, its all about returning $$$ to the share holder.

They're within their rights to charge what they want I guess.

trouble is that privatisation is a multi edged sword.

sell the "essential's" then the income previously generated is gone, charges inevitably rise to beyond reach by many, then taxes have to increase to compensate for the loss of income of said infrastructure.

these people, whom we, supposedly, elect from a privileged "chosen few" make decisions that blind freddy can see is bad for the country and its people time and again.

no bloody wonder they took our guns away.

[olfella]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

Just another reason to go solar.

As long as they are pointing to the West. Sorry but could not resist..

[olfella]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Unfortunately when you have things like services owned by private companies rather than government owned its no longer about providing a service, its all about returning $$$ to the share holder.

They're within their rights to charge what they want I guess.

I think that is where a lot of governments of all persuasions have lost the plot. They are there to provide basic services to the masses - but when it becomes to hard they take the easy way out and sell off or outsource.

[CoupeKing]

Well until you go solar, most of us can cut our electricity by at least a third.

Is your Plasma on in another room burning $$$ while you're sitting in front of the computer?

Do you take 30 minute showers?

Do you walk around in shorts and a t-shirt and say '%$#^, it's cold, better turn the heater on?

Do you leave the incandescent porch light on over-night?

Do you leave the fridge door open for 2 minutes while you decide what drink you will have.

Do you opt to use the clothes dryer when you could use the clothes-line 10 metres away.

Well if you do, you`re paying twice as much for your car rego than me.

All our important companies were sold overseas from under out feet, add to that the lack of competition here, and the head honcho's can do pretty much what they want. Support the little man when you can. Just an example and nothing to with your air-con......

How about every now and then you decide 'not' to go to the giant BP service station on the side of the highway, that's got KFC, Macca's, Subway, but rather take a 20 minute detour and go through the old country town and inject your cash in their servo,bakery or pub. But be careful though, you mite see an old building or two.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by CoupeKing

How about every now and then you decide 'not' to go to the giant BP service station on the side of the highway, that's got KFC, Macca's, Subway, but rather take a 20 minute detour and go through the old country town and inject your cash in their servo,bakery or pub. But be careful though, you mite see an old building or two.

We had a huge shiny new Caltex servo open up next to our old run down Shell servo, then we had fires in the area around this time last year, and they wouldn't sell the CFA fuel for their fire trucks on an account but the old Shell one had no problems doing this.

So from that moment on a big group of the community refused to use their servo, after about 6 months the owner of the Caltex bought out the Shell servo.

So now I use the small servo in the next town along, gotta drive 7km out of my way to use it but I don't really care.

I had a good laugh when someone set fire to the new Servo trying to knock off their ATM, and they cried to the CFA to come put it out, irony.

[danzvtil]

Heres a brain wave, how about, the consumer wants to use the power when it gets hot, then these genii GENERATE it, without peak power excuses and putting prices up.
And mark my words with the elderly, they WILL DIE in heat waves as they are too scared to switch on airconditioning, because they have a knack of taking news they read to heart.

[cram_it_frog]

that will be interesting for people who live in the outback who often get 45 pluss


I know in the UK in the 50s and 60s many elderly died from the cold in those days people had a coin box next to the meter no money no power

that is what will happen here many family's will suffer

I can tell you what it is like to get a $3500 bill for power in your home we got one last march after a investigation it was found out to be a mistake but they insisted we pay up front and sort it out later

we had to get the Ombudsman on the case to tell them to back off

[lisaishername]

Just think of all of the housing comission blokes who will now use those cheap and nasty butane stoves instead of the bribed-to-be-installed electric hot water heater systems and electric stoves and ovens. With these changes in place I don't think anyone on welfare will have enough money to live there anymore. That means crime rates will go up and you might even start seeing tents propping up on your property or lawns. Sorry to say it but who is a more desperate person the one being paid peanuts to go work while his car has wear and tear on it or the one who owns a home and some land where they can farm?.

I don't know what the hell we will do without air conditioning, are they trying to send us all mad? I'm sure there will be a huge rise in the number of violent events around suburban areas.

For lack of better words I am in the same bathtub as the cranky old bastard, I'm pretty cynical too.

I'm stockpiling Gold & Food and preparing for the worst, I mainly fear hyperinflation. I'm anti-guns too so I'm not a target for the cops. If you can't defend yourself with everyday items laying around then don't bother being a survivalist.

The main reason why I got a Ford XF is because I'm going for fuel economy and reliability, according to the youtube ad for the XE I can get 8.0L/100k highway on a Six, I'm sure that will be better with the computerised dizzy that I've got installed at the moment but I'm also going to keep a set of points dizzy out of an XC handy incase some dumbass in China or Russia decides to drop the atom on us.

I don't like having to go through heaps of trouble getting to stuff in more modern cars, on my XF I can swap out the starter with one hand and a socket and wrench, I don't like the idea of being stranded in the middle of nowhere with a new car and needing a hall effect sensor too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-m4oF-8C0

As for saving electricity I recommend going down to Bunnings and having a look at those Arlec 6-outlet power strips with a RED switch on the end of them, that's what we are using here and they are only $13, you can get an extension cord too to make it a bit longer for $4. I highly recommmend that you put your computers and tv on one of these and turn it off at the switch on the power strip when you're done of a day. I found out that my LCD tv was drawing 10w when not even turned on (in standby) and my computer was drawing 10 watts too. When you add it up over the month its equivalent to running a 100 watt light bulb for an hour each day.

Also have a google search for "eco mods" for mods to do with your car, don't need to make an account there or anything I'm not a salesman, just trying to point you in the right direction. Weather stripping around the headlights might be something I'll do later but for now I'm working on fitting a 16" electric thermo fan to my XF.

You can also get a bunch of BC to GU10 adapters on eBay and then go down to bunnings and buy a bunch of those Clipsal 4w LED lights which have the GU10 base on them. These will be hell of a lot more reliable and cheaper than buying LED lights on eBay with BC fittings on the end. Our whole house has them now.

There is also DC Fridges made by Beier which stand upright but you can run from a 12v or 24v offgrid solar source. All it needs is a 200AH battery and about 140-200w of solar panels, I've got my offgrid solar system already all setup and its powering the laptop that I'm talking to you on right now. The fridges aren't cheap you can get them on eBay for $700 and its only 142 litres but it sure is worth it when you consider that I don't have to pay to run the thing anymore. I figured its better this way so later on I can get a Caravan and it will look heaps better than having one of those in-car chest-freezer types which carry a huge premium for their size anyway.

Oh yeah. Don't forget to raise your car and reinforce your sump.

[lisaishername]

Originally Posted by lisaishername

Also have a google search for "eco mods" for mods to do with your car, don't need to make an account there or anything I'm not a salesman, just trying to point you in the right direction. Weather stripping around the headlights might be something I'll do later but for now I'm working on fitting a 16" electric thermo fan to my XF.

Oh yeah. Don't forget to raise your car and reinforce your sump.

And if you do this don't forget to put in an Air Dam to regain the fuel economy that you lose by raising a vehicle. Might not be worth it but a general smoothening of all surfaces on the front of a vehicle including an under-belly pan the full length of the car is great for fuel economy. (And performance, reducing inefficiencies and reducing drag is always better for performance)

I'll also be adding a waterproof solar battery charge controller using a 555 timer (reason = easier to stockpile a few 555 timers incase something goes wrong with it) to my ride so I can use an on-the-dash 10 watt solar panel to keep my starter battery fully charged at all times. This helps keep the secondary battery topped up too for use with radios. Not having to hunt down a replacement starter battery is great from a survivalists point of view as you may never need to find a spare starter battery. I'm going to keep my charge voltage set to 13.4v (Its dangerous to charge Sealed batteries at 14.4 or 14.8v, basically don't give them an equalize charge. Only during the dump phase should a voltage ever get that high.) Basically only ever float-charge a SLA battery on a solar power system, float voltages are usually written on the side of the battery and its usually always 13.4v. (Float is also called "Standby")

Also if you are running radios or other important gear that is prone to EMI then I suggest that you steer clear of cheap and nasty MPPT solar charge controllers, they emit RFI. I use PWM or Relay-based solar charge controllers.

I've also found that sealed starter batteries last a lot longer, mine is about 5 years old now and still going strong and has been discharged fully so many times its not funny. (Which is really bad for it, if you want to run appliances use a secondary battery and only ever discharge lead acid batteries (even deep cycle ones) to at most 12v, NO LESS, it reduces their life expectancy, google "sla depth of discharge" for more info.) Whereas an older flooded cell battery that I owned lasted about 2 years, I think honestly that the build quality of the flooded batteries has gone to hell so am going to avoid them.

[Bill M]

Hmmm... something is not right, with the carbon tax gone what gives?

2014 Australian Energy Update
Electricity generation

Total electricity generation in Australia continued to decline in 2012–13, by 0.3 per cent
to 249 terawatt hours (897 petajoules). This reflects the fall in electricity demand in the
industrial and residential sectors in recent years in the National Electricity Market, although
has been partially offset by continued growth in off-grid generation

See the rest here...

http://www.bree.gov.au/files/files//...statistics.pdf

[ford man xf]

Originally Posted by CoupeKing

Well until you go solar, most of us can cut our electricity by at least a third.

Is your Plasma on in another room burning $$$ while you're sitting in front of the computer?

Do you take 30 minute showers?

Do you walk around in shorts and a t-shirt and say '%$#^, it's cold, better turn the heater on?

Do you leave the incandescent porch light on over-night?

Do you leave the fridge door open for 2 minutes while you decide what drink you will have.

Do you opt to use the clothes dryer when you could use the clothes-line 10 metres away.

Well if you do, you`re paying twice as much for your car rego than me.

It's just so true what you said. It really is just common sense.

[zabatron]

One more incentive to disconnect from power grid altogether,go solar with an adequate battery bank ,and with the current drop in oil prices,and the way the price of electricity keeps going up,might even become cheaper to just buy a generator and go off grid altogether.

[commodorenutt]

So we have all these household solar installs, pumping out quite a lot of kW/h during the hottest part of the day and the owners being paid for the additional power they are generating and feeding into the system (hence that tells me they're generating an excess of power)

These household solar installs have sprung up everywhere - there's lots of them.

And now they claim there's a shortage of power in peak times..... Times when these solar installs would be feeding back into the grid (with the exception of peak times in the evenings when the sun is setting).


Smacks of just another excuse to gouge the little man again.

No fore-thought about infrastructure, just keep on banging up buildings & new housing estates everywhere, then worry about the shortages later - then make us all pay for it. They squander the bulk money they make from land development, instead of investing it in the proper infrastructure to support it.

Because we have 30,000 more houses, we now need new roads - government sells the contract to private enterprise - and they make us pay tolls to pay for the govt's inept management of funds. They sell off power - a system that we're told is barely adequate to support out current population, and then tax the crap out of us (by condoning have massive price hikes) to pay for "upgrades"

[olfella]

Originally Posted by Bill M

Hmmm... something is not right, with the carbon tax gone what gives?
See the rest here...
http://www.bree.gov.au/files/files//...statistics.pdf

'Total electricity generation in Australia has been gradually decreasing over the past few years (Figure 6), declining from 253 terawatt hours (around 911 petajoules) in 2010–11 to 249 terawatt hours (897 petajoules) in 2012–13. This reflects lower demand for electricity, caused by increased energy efficiency practices in residential and non-residential sectors, mild weather across much of Australia, a reduction in industrial load, and consumer responses to higher retail electricity prices. Electricity generation includes household rooftop solar PV generation, as well as off-grid generation'

Adding my take on the report (page 13>), use of coal has decreased while the use of gas has increased. So price of coal has decreased to OS while the domestic price of gas has increased or is increasing?
Use of electricity has also decreased/declined caused not by global warming but rather global cooling? Industrial load declining as factories close? Consumers unemployed and cannot afford to pay? hence demand drops?
Am I close??

[zilo]

In my new home I am totally off the grid...for everything including power,

I have found that the new technology compressors use significantly less power than the old ones. so have done a lot of research and measurements on appliances...some whilst in the retail store.

Recently I purchased a Samsung "digital inverter " refrigerator that I measured as a peak of 80 watts and a quiescent 20w whilst making ice blocks in an hour.

That is the same as my laptop when charging.

I suspect that the same technology is or will soon be available for air con units?

[EB#]

The sale of a public utility (supply contracts, wires, infrastructure, whatever) is a blight of modern government policy and ultimately a dangerously unsustainable model.... Spineless and corrupt politicians in bed with the big end of town, yet again. All for the sake of piles of cash, some big houses, some big boats and an array of other expensive ridiculous trinkets - aka The Obeid Method.

Minor rant over.

[sbutler]

Its just the same crap the fuel company's dish up to us when they tell us its not price fixing.
The price of oil is at a ten year low, so why are we not paying price's we were paying ten years ago.. We are being bent over, & there is SFA we can do about it.

Solar was the anwser but not now, you pay
[eg] 62c per KWH off the grid.
If you have solar they pay you at most 6c ! Do the math, your still getting bent over. In the old days when they were paying 62c KWH you would make what you used, but they woke up to that & have been dropping at a monthly basis to the point its not worth having..
While it will make yo feel all fuzzy inside, its doing SFA for your wallet..
Rant over...

[EB#]

For what it's worth, here are a few notes on our household electricity use:

- We have a 1.75kw solar system with grid feed for excess generated. This was installed in Dec 2013.

- Yes, it is a rort given that they charge me 30c/kwh to buy electricity and pay me 6c/kwh when I produce it, which they then on-sell across the street at the 30c rate

- Our quarterly bill, post solar installation is in the order of $100 cheaper, or a saving of about 30% per bill. However a couple of years of averaged bills (only one year so far with solar) should give a more accurate indication of the savings/benefits.

- Our house is an older place, not 'open plan' and just me and my g'friend live here. We both work, so the house is empty during working hours. We live in northern NSW in a 'sub-tropical' climate, which can be pretty hot in summer (30+) and quite cold at night (7 or 8) in mid winter. Our extreme hot and cold periods are not that long and most of the year is pretty comfortable actually, negating the need for year round heating or cooling.

- Given that all the rooms have doors, we heat one room in winter and one room in summer, usually the tv room or bedroom (one only at a time, never two) at peak conditions when required. This is done with either a reverse cycle AC or a medium sized panel convection heater. As it happens, this doesn't need to happen all that many times throughout the year, just when it is extreme conditions. Otherwise throw on a singlet or a good jumper to suit the season.

- When the roof was repaired (post hail storm) and newly insulated a fair while back, I gathered all the sizeable insulation offcuts (foil backed) and then fixed them under the timber floor of the tv room. It made a considerable thermal performance improvement for the room.

- We are pretty frugal with general power use, switch off major appliances at the wall when not in use, run LED and/or fluro light bulbs etc. No heat lamps, radiant heaters etc.

- The building is a duplex and our neighbour (1 bloke) has a solar hot water system on his side. We struck a deal with him and plumbed his hot water into our side also (one main line with a valve) and shut down our old electric HW altogether. The single solar HW unit easily supplies 2 bathrooms and 2 kitchens, for a total of 3 people.

If there is a way to pay less for power, I am happy to try it out!

[EB#]

Originally Posted by zilo

In my new home I am totally off the grid...for everything including power.....

Kudos to you mate!

[Ford_The_Win]

Time to investigate going solar I think...I ain't giving up my tumble dryer or my AC.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by zilo

In my new home I am totally off the grid...for everything including power,

I have found that the new technology compressors use significantly less power than the old ones. so have done a lot of research and measurements on appliances...some whilst in the retail store.

Recently I purchased a Samsung "digital inverter " refrigerator that I measured as a peak of 80 watts and a quiescent 20w whilst making ice blocks in an hour.

That is the same as my laptop when charging.

I suspect that the same technology is or will soon be available for air con units?

I want to do exactly like you are doing. Being completely off the grid is probably the best thing anyone can do IMO.

[Maka]

Anyone considering or already using solar power generation for their places of residence, please have a look at this link -

http://www.solarcitizens.org.au/

cheer's, Maka