Power Bill

[porky]

It all sounds so much easier just to chuck an extension cord over the fence when the neighbours are out to run the greenhouse.

QldKev

Mate, you have to have neighbours for that

 

[white.grant]

I agree, and I have a wind turbine ordered from the states, should be here in a few weeks.

Cool. Would like to see some photos of the installation.

cheers

grant

 

[Shed101]

Arrrrrrr....no one here from Tassie so far.

The power here is HORRENDUS

We have been here in Tassie for 5 years now and the cheapest qtly bill was $650...my latest which i got last week


$918

1 x Heat pump (reversve cycle air con....allways on for approx 8 mths of the year)


OH and we can expect a 27% increase in the next 18 mths according to the sunday paper..

What's your insulation like? Of all the states in the country the two with the worst insulation rates are (or were 5 years ago) the two that need it the most ... Tassie and Qld.

 

[Shed101]

Not much point of harnessing energy from the two days a month of sunshine we get.
We could always try to dam the Franklin, again.
I reckon we should be taxing all the big companies that turn power into pollution and huge profits that go offshore, maybe that will ease the power burdens forced upon the poor.
If only we could harness energy from cold air.

The answer for Tassie might be to harness the tides.

Or, as one of my Mum's neighbours in the UK has ... an Archimedes Screw.

 

[brando]

Budwiser, will you be needing to pay income tax on that $450 cheque from the electricity company?

Bump...serious question! I can't see the ATO allowing people to generate tax free income in this manner.

 

[Dazza_devil]

The answer for Tassie might be to harness the tides.

Or, as one of my Mum's neighbours in the UK has ... an Archimedes Screw.

Perhaps the waves, our west coast has some rippers.

 

[porky]

Bump...serious question! I can't see the ATO allowing people to generate tax free income in this manner.

Will let you know after next years taxes.

I know the gross meter in NSW is taxable, I don't know if it is here.
Have heard it isn't, but don't know for sure.

 

[jakester]

Looks like i gotta get me one of those power meters, our bill is usually anywhere between $750 and $1000 a quarter. Small 3 bedroom house in Sydneys west, 3 kids, pool, lcd tvs, all electric cooking and water, pool, ducted air, keg fridge, fermenting fridge and all the usual household stuff. I heard the downlights are a big drain as well.
I cant believe how low some of your bills are, i knew ours were high but now i will definately look into it, starting from the old keg fridge.

 

[Bribie G]

If you are on a pension then they dock it if you are getting income from supplying the grid. However if you have no other income from Super etc then you can get away with around sixty bucks a fortnight before it kicks in. However if you are a part private funded retiree currently being 'deemed' then watch out, you have shot yourself in the foot, apparently.

 

[Boondy]

Interesting post!

$900 plus per quarter:

Wife and 2 kids
Fridge
Beer fridge (kegs) :beerbang:
Chest freezer
Electric cooktop and oven
Air con on hot summer nights (and cold winter nights)
tank water (no mains water here), so electric pump
Supa-treat sewerage (no mains sewerage) - electric aeration and pumps
Small LCD TV
IMAC on a lot, plus wireless network
Solar hot water
etc

Looking at solar, and soon. Plenty of sunny days each year!

 

[brando]

I'm wondering if people are turning off their plasma/LCD TV's at the wall as opposed to just turning them onto standby via the remote? It would be much less convenient, but I'm told it makes a bit of a difference, but not sure how much.

 

[Hatchy]

I'm wondering if people are turning off their plasma/LCD TV's at the wall as opposed to just turning them onto standby via the remote? It would be much less convenient, but I'm told it makes a bit of a difference, but not sure how much.

If you've still got the book it should give you the wattage on standby. My (old) tv has a standby wattage of 12w so it's about 83 hours to use 1kw or about 20c. That's how I used to tell customers to work it out but I'm happy to be corrected.

 

[MarkBastard]

I'm wondering if people are turning off their plasma/LCD TV's at the wall as opposed to just turning them onto standby via the remote? It would be much less convenient, but I'm told it makes a bit of a difference, but not sure how much.

Nah, there's no way I'm ever going to do that to be honest. I've heard all the arguments but it's just a ridiculous thing. I purposefully hide powers points etc near TV's with TV cabinets and stuff like that so I don't see cables so turning stuff off at the power point isn't very practical. If the government really cares about this they'd make rooms have power switches like light switches, so you can just turn an entire rooms power off with one switch when you leave the room or whatever.

But with computers you don't want to do that.

Too complex. The real solution is to reduce the standby power used by devices.

 

[Shed101]

If the government really cares about this they'd make rooms have power switches like light switches,

Unfortunately you overestimate the power of government / political will.

I was personally involved in scoping a project for federal gov. which was to test (on the sly) a range of laptops and desktops for their real power usage. Studies in the states had revealed some significant disparities. Interestingly, Macs power usage was not dodgy. Project didn't go ahead in the end unfortunately, I was quite looking fwd to find out who the bastards were :lol:

This means the same for the m/f claims on standby power for many appliances too. The book won't necessarily give you the true picture.

Occasionally a company (LG a notable example) get pinged for b/shitting their energy usage, but because it's industry-led it's too expensive to regulate.


There is a big campaign to reduce standby power in Europe where energy issues are getting more notice, I believe they even banned plasma screens because they're such energy munchers.

 

[Bribie G]

Europe is in a real power bind, although the new generation of fast fission reactors should solve that in the long run. I understand they are going to build a huge undersea DC cable from Iceland and generate huge amounts of Geothermal energy which will get them out of their current financial black hole. We should be doing that in Australia already but its just yak yak yak at the moment. If a shambles of a country like the Philippines can get 20 % of their power from relatively unsophisticated geothermal plants on Negros and wire it to the rest of the Archipelago why can't we do it as well.

 

[Shed101]

Europe is in a real power bind, although the new generation of fast fission reactors should solve that in the long run. I understand they are going to build a huge undersea DC cable from Iceland and generate huge amounts of Geothermal energy which will get them out of their current financial black hole. We should be doing that in Australia already but its just yak yak yak at the moment. If a shambles of a country like the Philippines can get 20 % of their power from relatively unsophisticated geothermal plants on Negros and wire it to the rest of the Archipelago why can't we do it as well.

Hmmm ... like the basslink project to export all of Tassie's hydro that has ended up importing to make up for the lack of rain... and sending prices through the roof?

For me it's like beer, I like to know what i'm drinking and provide my own. And I like the idea of being able to provide my own power and water and not be subject to potential price fluctuations and security issues, so when I'm in the right situation i'll be 'solarising' my roof.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

And I like the idea of being able to provide my own power and water and not be subject to potential price fluctuations and security issues, so when I'm in the right situation i'll be 'solarising' my roof.

We live completely off-grid. And I love it.

Installing a grid-feed system is much more cost-effective than off-grid if you already have a connection to the grid, or you are within walking distance of the grid. Mega-subsidies for any grid-connected solar system (appropriately installed) but only subsidies for off-grid systems if you are $60,000 away from the grid.

I reckon the way to think about it when designing (or issuing instructions to a designer) such a system is to install a solar system that will (after all the losses, as such systems are a little like computer hard disks and the differences between marketing and usable capacity) generate at least as much energy as you use. Think of the grid as a big battery, but never expect to recoup the cost of the system. If you do, buy a lottery ticket...

 

[cdbrown]

Moved into our new place in April which is an old timber framed house built 100 years ago so old floorboards with a fair few gaps and very high ceilings. Cost $10 per day on average during winter due to running 2 oil radiating heaters most of the day as the wife was home and we have a young kid. Since the weather. At the moment it's about $3 per day based on some rough meter readings

1x kitchen fridge
1x kitchen freezer
1x pc and laptop on all the time
1x plasma and 1x LCD probably adds to 14hrs day with amp and foxtel
2x ferment fridges
1x chest freezer for kegs
Electric stove and oven
Occasional use of dishwasher
Washing machine and dryer (got lots of use in winter as well)

 

[Snow]

Nah, there's no way I'm ever going to do that to be honest. I've heard all the arguments but it's just a ridiculous thing. I purposefully hide powers points etc near TV's with TV cabinets and stuff like that so I don't see cables so turning stuff off at the power point isn't very practical. If the government really cares about this they'd make rooms have power switches like light switches, so you can just turn an entire rooms power off with one switch when you leave the room or whatever.

But with computers you don't want to do that.

Too complex. The real solution is to reduce the standby power used by devices.

Complex? Not at all! just get one of these http://www.originecostore.com.au/6-Outlet-...oard/PT9778.htm

You can set it up so that when you turn off your tv, stereo or whatever it switches off the standby power from all the other appliances plugged into it. The one I've got also has a plug that will leave the standby on so you can keep the Foxtel IQ box on if you're recording something. It was free when I joined EzyGreen in Brisbane.

With 4 fridges and a chest freezer, A/C and all the usual appliances, we splashed out and installed 4.2kw solar power system. I estimate at current rates of power price rises, around about 6 years pay back. Cost just over $14K.

We also have solar hot water.

Cheers - Snow

 

[benno1973]

Nah, there's no way I'm ever going to do that to be honest. I've heard all the arguments but it's just a ridiculous thing. I purposefully hide powers points etc near TV's with TV cabinets and stuff like that so I don't see cables so turning stuff off at the power point isn't very practical. If the government really cares about this they'd make rooms have power switches like light switches, so you can just turn an entire rooms power off with one switch when you leave the room or whatever.

But with computers you don't want to do that.

Too complex. The real solution is to reduce the standby power used by devices.

Or use one of these remote controlled power boards? Or doesn't your tellie have an on/off switch on the TV itself? That generally means it doesn't use standby if you turn it off at the switch rather than the remote...