The indicative cost

With nothing better to do I decided to analyse the electricity bill

During the previous billing period we purchased 1052kWh of electricity.  For the current period we purchased 356kWh; a reduction of 66%. 

Our latest electricity bill was $4.65. However that includes some credit for a small amount of solar power we sold back to the utility company during the previous period.  If I deduct that from the current bill then our bill would have been $12.62.

In summary, we purchased 356kWh and sold 2062kWh.  The purchase price from the utility company is 25.752 cents kWh and the price they buy our solar is 7.135 cents kWh.  So we sold them $145.22 and purchased $91.68.  However they also charged us a connection fee of 92.3175 cents daily ($53.54) and GST (VAT) of 10% on the total.  The connection fee was the amount that moved us from credit to debit.

If I use the previous period consumption as a baseline (1052kWh) it would mean we have a daily average of 23.55kWh of surplus electricity.  This is sufficient to supply a 15kW battery which would enable us to be self-sufficient. 

However as you can see from the above figures our major electrical cost is the connection fee.  Current government regulations prevent a home owner from disconnecting from the electrical network.  So even if a battery was a financially viable option (it currently isn’t) we wouldn’t spend the money (approx $10,000) to save $12.62 every two months.  A battery will only be a viable option when they become cheaper AND the government allows home owners to disconnect from the network.  I don’t see the latter happening!