Easy ways to save money on your business bills

[Make It Cheaper]

As the summer kicks in so does the cost of cooling the office. With this in mind I’ve recently put together some energy saving tips which will help you save money on your business and home office power bills.

If interested please take a look! There’s advice on a variety of ways you can save money, from office equipment through to keeping your office cool.

If you have any feedback or ideas on what’s previously worked for you please let me know and I'll look to include it.

Hope this is of use.

All the best
Jeremy

[Chris Bates]

Hey Jeremy,

Just thought I would help clarify your section on Solar Power, as it's a bit misleading...

Biggest thing being, Solar Credits and Feed-In Tariffs do not apply Solar Hot Water, it appears as though you have them under the SHW heading.

Solar Hot Water

• RECs for every system, value of RECs currently sits around $26 I think
• Federal rebate of $1600 for replacing an existing ELECTRIC hot water system
• Some state rebates may apply as well

SHW systems can either be gas or electric boosted. If you have an existing electric HW system you can normally figure out how much you stand to save. Here in SA we have J-Tariff (night tariff), which normally shows on your bill as 'Ancillary' - This is the cost of your Electric Hot Water.

Interesting to note that new installations of HW systems can only be gas or solar. Solar is certainly the better long-term solution, but do your research. Get a premium system.

Solar PV (Electricity)

• RECs again
• Solar Credits which is a 5x multiplier on the amount of RECs your receive
• Feed-In Tariff (more on this later)

There's two aspects to a feed-in tariff. Firstly every state has a minimum NET feed-in tariff (here in SA it's 44c), NET being you're paid this on every KwH you put back into the grid (that being at times when generation > consumption). This is typically paid by the electricity SUPPLIER, not your retailer. On top of this minimum, a retailer can pay more for your power, because they essentially get your power for free and resell it. Most places don't, or they only give you 5c. Hopefully this will change.

Australia wants a nation-wide GROSS feed-in tariff to be put in place, which means that solar PV owners would be paid for every KwH they GENERATE. If you would like to support this motion, please sign this petition.

I'll stop now...

Cheers,
Chris

[Make It Cheaper]

Chris,

Thanks very much for the feedback. Your knowledge on solar is exemplary! I'll amend the content accordingly.

All the best
Jeremy

p.s done my bit on the feed-in petition

[Chris Bates]

I sold products for ZEN Home Energy for a while, so I do know a fair bit about them. I actually gained quite an interest in the area, so I try to keep up to date on the industry.

Good job on the article though, all the best!

Chris

[mjames]

I find one of the biggest costs to be telephone/Mobile

Recommend you review your plans/providers on a regular basis.

A friend of mine saved $1000 on his monthly bill, but just paying an extra $100 on his cap (the phone company would not tell him (Three I think), but he had to take action himself - they did upgrade him mid way through contract which is good)

There are also some new providers in the Australian market that offer REALLY cheap rates - upwards of 30% off call rates and caps etc over the big players. They piggy back off the Optus/Three network so quality is just as good.

If anyone is interested in looking at this please email me at michaeljames1970a@gmail.com and I will pass your details to a close friend who is an agent for one of them (he does bill comparison so it is all black and white)

Hope this helps.

Michael

[King]

I rang one of the big names about solar hot water - even after $2300 in rebates it was still going to cost be $3500 - did systems EVER cost $5800 to start with???

[Chris Bates]

For a large one (to suit family of 4-6) that would probably be about right.

Especially if it's a gas boosted one!

You essentially get two hot water systems, a primary (sun) and a backup (gas or electric). Take into consideration the cost of the tank, booster, panels/tubes, installation, etc. It's not a little job.

Do you run Gas or Electric hot water King?

[King]

we run electricity.
I'm still flabbergasted at the price though. Not sure there would be a ROI in it 10 year life span.

[Chris Bates]

Correct.

Most homes I saw spent anywhere from $25-$100 a quarter on their electric hot water (thanks to SA J-Tarrif or night tariff). Solar HW really wasn't worth while until $80+ a quarter, and even then it's not an investment I would make just because.

If your HW system is about to go, sure Solar is fantastic option. If your HW system still has years in it, chuck that money on Solar PV instead.

[King]

I think we are higher than $100 /qtr - as we are not on night tariff (hard with 4 women with long hair in the house) but on the next one up.

Yes solar panels might be the way to go.