Newsletter Archive

Festive Season

Well it is that time of the year again – looks like it will be a hot one this year – we have already had several days over 35C.

We will be closed for a well deserved break from 25th December through to the 3rd January inclusive. For our Stand Alone Power Systems customers there will be a contact number on our telephone service if you need urgent advice in the event of a break down.

NSW from Net to Gross Feed-in Tariff

After writing an article in the November enewsletter about how to best take advantage of a net FiT, the NSW gov’t surprised everyone with their back flip to a gross FiT of $0.60c/kWh. Set for a 7 year period form 1 January 2010. This is a great incentive for NSW residents as it generally means you can earn a return on investment of some 15 – 18% which is great. The Act has been passed by the NSW Parliament, however some of the regulations and fine print are still unknown at this stage. More information on Solar Bonus Scheme of NSW.

With power prices set to rise some 60% over the next 3 years, now is the best time ever to get a grid feed system! See the latest grid feed sytem prices.

Phantom Standby Loads

Campbell from Moonambel wrote in to say how shocked he was to find his house was consuming 3kWh/day while they were away on holidays. Fridges and freezers older than 1 – 2 years are usually energy guzzlers. Ray, our technician, was equally shocked to see how much his old fridge used on standby. Choice Magazine recently had an article about some of the worst ‘standby’ guzzlers which included TV’s, computer printers, DVDs, set top boxes, washing machines etc. A good way to see what your appliances are using is to buy an Energy Monitor.

Off Peak Power for Solar Hot Water

John P from Eungai Creek pointed out that Country Energy (CE) off peak power feed didn’t only come on in the night. On weekends and holidays it also comes on during the day, except at peak meal times. While CE are considering that they are doing you a favour by sometimes giving you cheap off peak power during the day, it means it may also be heating your solar hot water system during the day. Many people switch their solar hot water on and off manually. However, I believe Australian Standards suggest it should be automatic so it reaches a minimum temperature everyday to prevent the possibility of Legionnaire’ disease.

RPC Forum

The public are also able to participate on our BBS Forum to receive and give information. Kwaka wrote an interesting comment about how his 400W Latronics inverter runs his NEC 4.5kg washing machine.

Politicians and Our Planet

Once again our politicians have not been able to establish a sensible pathway for the future of our Planet - the outcomes from Copenhagen have been disappointing to say the least!! As one cynic put it ‘ahh well, . . . . better luck next planet’!!

A challenge continues for us all to encourage politicians (and our neighbours) that there are ways to re-think our country’s use of resources, and allow a slow up of the rising tide. If politicians can’t be convinced, then we vote for someone who will have the conviction to change, or the high tide will sort it all out for us!!

If you are into making New Year resolutions – may we suggest ‘a positive outlook to encourage our politicians that it can be done!’