How to save almost $2000 on electricity

NEW technology is pushing our electricity prices ever lower as companies find ways to save us money and power.

NEW technology is pushing our electricity prices ever lower as companies find ways to save us money and power.

One company that’s using innovation to find savings is Evergen, which launched its intelligent home energy system in August this year. The company claims to be able to save homeowners almost $2000 on their power bills.

Evergen is a solar panel and battery system with an intelligent twist that was developed by AMP Capital and CSIRO.

It uses technology provided by the CSIRO, to analyse how much electricity the household generally needs and uses weather forecasts to decide when to draw energy from the grid, and when to use solar or battery power.

Sydney resident Greg Maclean, global head of research for AMP Capital, has been one of the first to try it out.

During his year-long trial, Evergen says Mr Maclean’s energy bill was just $848, compared to $2663 before he installed the solar system.

Of the $1815 saving, it calculated that $303 could be attributed to the system’s intelligent features, compared to a traditional solar and battery system.

Mr Maclean said because the electricity was so cheap he had even increased his use to run his pool's solar heating system and pump for longer.

“I’ve got a pool and grandkids and I like to keep the pool at a temperature they like,” he said. “So I was using more energy.”

He believes if his increased consumption was taken into account, the savings would probably reach $2100 a year.

The system saves people money because it is geared towards importing power from the grid when it is at its cheapest.

Greg Maclean has an Evergen solar system installed at his Sydney home.

For example if you take power from the grid between 2pm-8pm you may pay 50c per kilowatt hour, but if you get the power between 6am-2am it’s only 18c, and it’s even cheaper between 10pm-6am at 10c.

“By manipulating how and when I use power, I can improve the savings I can make,” Mr Maclean said.

The system is able to do this because it uses weather forecasts to predict whether it will be able to generate electricity from its solar panels.

For example, if it’s going to be cloudy tomorrow, the system may import electricity overnight (when electricity is at its cheapest) and store this in the battery to ensure it has enough to cover the next day’s expected consumption.

“This has no impact on the quality of your life but it can still save you a fair bit of money,” Mr Maclean said.

The systems cost between $10,000 and $20,000 installed.

“I’m not a greenie, I say you can have your cake and eat it as well if you’re smart.”

A limited number of systems featuring the beta version of Evergen’s energy management software are now available to Australians as part of an early release program, with a second-stage release program to be rolled out in January 2017.

The Evergen solar system.

SOLAR TILES

The solar industry also got a bit of a shake-up last week with Tesla Motors unveiling its solar roof tiles in the US last week.

The tiles are customisable and meant to look like the tiles on a traditional roof.

The energy-generating tiles would be a joint product with SolarCity, although the two companies have yet to complete a proposed merger.

Tesla has unveiled solar roof tiles. Source: Tesla.

The glass tiles, which come in four styles (for example, Tuscan Glass Tile), contain photovoltaic cells that Tesla says are invisible from the street. They’re meant to power a home when integrated with Tesla’s Powerwall, energy storage units for homes that are mounted on the wall or kept on the ground. The new version of Powerwall costs $US5,500 but there was no price announced for the tiles at an unveiling Friday night.

Two of the four solar tiles available from Tesla. Source: Tesla.

— with AP

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