A new wave of Sydney households are installing solar power systems at the moment as power prices jump yet again in 2017. Solar installations have spiked by over 20% and battery storage sales have gone through the roof. Sydneysiders are fed up waiting for the politicians to sort out this mess, and so as electricity prices in Sydney rise, power bills are being slashed thanks to solar power and battery storage.
Here is The Project’s take on what is behind the latest price rises:
Australia’s Rising Electricity Prices
Earlier this year, the national energy providers enacted an increase in electricity and gas prices of up to $400 a year, which took effect on July 1, 2017. The increase came at a time when most Australians considered electricity costs one of the primary residential expenditures. While Southern Australia was hit the hardest, NSW follows closely in second place to have some of the highest power prices in the world.
To add insult to injury, different energy providers are offering different rates on top of the mandatory increased levy. For instance, residents using EnergyAustralia in NSW have experienced a 19.6% increase while those using Origin Energy get a slightly lower increase of 16.1%. A few energy companies have blamed the closure of large coal-fired power stations for the irregular hike. Others also claim that rising demand for exported gas is partly a cause for the increase.
In his coverage of the energy crisis in NSW, Waleed Aly from The Project shows how power prices have skyrocketed by 183% since 2008, increasing 3 times faster than everything else. This is hitting Australian households in the back pocket, and many people are fed up with their ever-increasing power bills.
The Cheapest Electricity Rates in NSW
The TV co-host cited low long-term investments in infrastructure, pole and wire management, the electricity market’s deregulation, and soaring retail mark-ups as some of the reasons for the increase in energy prices. According to Waleed, nobody in the world pays more for their electricity than Australian households. Waleed also claimed that after being screwed for years on end by electricity prices, Australians are now feeling the pinch.
Seeing that different companies in NSW offer different rates regarding energy costs, Waleed encouraged NSW residents and businesspeople to switch to the cheapest energy providers. However, switching retailers during the current rise in energy costs is nowhere near a solution and as such the people shouldn’t suffer while the government tries to find a solution.
Solar Power Can Slash Your Power Bills
Solar power is fed directly into your home and is used before you buy any power from the grid. This allows you to directly reduce your power bill by between around 30% and 70%, depending on how much solar power you generate and are able to use in the home. Solar households don’t have to worry as much about the price of power because they are not buying any electricity from the grid as long as the sun is shining.
Adding battery storage to a solar system is the next step in reducing your power bills. By storing excess solar power in a battery, we can size up your solar array to replace up to 100% of your daily energy consumption. Many Solaray customers are now running on solar power 24 hours a day during the summer half of the year, and often have a power bill well under $100!
For more information about how solar power can reduce your power bill, request a callback from the Solaray Team today. We can help you size up a system that will be the best fit for your household and help you save you big bucks on your electricity bills!
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