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How's this for being disingenuous? Victorian budget 2008-09

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Mr Ed

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May 7, 2008, 1:11:35 AM5/7/08
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Hi all,
How's this?...

>Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor also announced that for the first time Victorian households will qualify for a bonus for installing solar power systems and providing excess electricity into the State electricity grid.

The new Feed-in Tariff Scheme will offer householders a premium rate
for excess power and is designed to increase the number of private
households in Victoria generating renewable energy.

Households will be paid 60 cents for every unused kilowatt hour of
power fed back into the State electricity grid, which is almost four
times the current retail price for electricity and the highest feed-in
tariff offered in Australia.

“The system will encourage more households to install solar
photovoltaic systems and encourage solar powered households to be
energy efficient and maximise the amount of power fed into the State’s
electricity grid for other customers to use,” he said.

This premium tariff means that the average Victorian household taking
up the Federal Government’s solar panel rebate will pay off the cost
of installation in under 10 years.

The scheme will be introduced in 2009 and will apply to all household
systems of up to two kilowatts capacity.<

Sure, it sounds good, but is actually "smoke and mirrors".

At latitude 37S the average daily power produced by a 1 KW system is
4.24KWH. If the average household uses 15KWH per day and the deal only
applies on systems up to 2KW, Then the rate of 60c per KWH for excess
power will only rarely occur.
And pay off the system in 10 years? Not likely. A 2KW system costs
$12K-$13K, a 2KW system at 8.48KWH daily will offset $447.57 per year
at 14.46c per KWH equates to 26.81 years to pay off just the capital.

Aa, pollies, don't you just love 'em?
2nd hand car salesmen can't come close.

Keep smiling,
Ed.


Roderick

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May 7, 2008, 1:42:04 AM5/7/08
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If that means that they count up the unused kWh at the end of a year,
then it's a raw deal.

Could it possibly be that they have two meters, and during the day,
one gets paid 60c per kWh for the excess, but when drawing power, pays
only 15c per kWh? Let's say you make 8 during the day, so get paid
$4.80. And you use 15 in the evening and night, that costs $2.25. So
you get paid - what - about $2.55 a day? If that's how it works.

Mr Ed

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May 7, 2008, 6:38:45 AM5/7/08
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Hi Roderick,
the feed-in tarrif only applys to excess kilowatt hours generated in
excess over the billing period. As the period is usually three months,
even if an average family (using 15KWH a day) goes on holiday for 3-4
weeks over summer, the daily amount used over the other remaining 8-9
weeks of the billing period will still be more than any excess
generated.
I would prefer a system that measured the total power generated by the
PV system and paid on that. It would not need to be anything as much
as 60c per KWH, but at a premium that would enable the paying off the
system in 10 years or less rather than the sham that the new feed-in
system appears to be.

The overall effect of the new feed-in tariff setup is that the
government gets the kudos of seeming like it is doing something, but
it is really doing nothing because it will cost the government next to
nothing. Also, anyone considering getting a grid-connect PV system who
sees through the sham will see that there is really no financial
incentive to proceed. It does nothing to encourage more domestic PV
systems.

Regards,
Ed.

Mauried

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May 7, 2008, 7:19:27 PM5/7/08
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On Wed, 7 May 2008 03:38:45 -0700 (PDT), Mr Ed <e...@breadwinner.com.au>
wrote:

>> only 15c per kWh? =A0Let's say you make 8 during the day, so get paid
>> $4.80. =A0And you use 15 in the evening and night, that costs $2.25. =A0So=
>
>> you get paid - what - about $2.55 a day? =A0If that's how it works.
>

The real problem with going Solar in Australia is the insane cost of
doing it,but no one seems to worry .
In the US, solar panels cost as little as $4 a watt, you can even do
better if you shop around , but in Australia the cost is close to
double, around $8 a watt.
Same goes for the Inverters and the install costs.
Without the $8K Govt rebate, a 1K grid tie install costs around $15K,
thats a total of $15 a watt.
Someone is making a lot of money out of solar installs.
Subsidising something to get people to adopt it , usually only drivers
up the price of whats being subsidised.


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