How We Slashed His Power Bills From $300 Per Month To $40 In Credit

The biggest mistake homeowners make is thinking that every solar system will produce the same results, but that’s not the case. Your roof, electricity rates and the way family uses energy all affect how much of a difference the system will make to your bill. This is why blanket promises of savings are worthless. I’m I’m Cam. We own Source Energy Group, where we have designed and installed numerous solar and battery systems for Australian In this issue, we’ll break down the “before” and “after” results of one of our clients, the system they installed, and the specific changes that helped reduce their bill, so you can see what a result looks like in real life.

Well, good afternoon, guys. Welcome again. Here again with Tim and Jace. And we have one of our valued customers here, Angus. How are you, Angus? Okay, guys. And you? We installed your batteries a few months ago. How is everything Yes, just great. Perfectly. Absolutely great, we changed electricity supplier and now we have an overpayment. We paid about $300 a month. With 20 kW on the roof, we were still paying, and now we are in the black.

Yes, great. So you had 20 kW on your roof and you were paying 300 a month? Was it a quarterly or monthly payment? What? With 20 kW of solar panels on the roof? Yes. Yes, we have a connection in the house. House with a 16 kW air conditioner, and we run it 9 months a year. Even on low settings it worked consistently, Yes. Another of our clients, Jamie, did the same thing.

He doesn’t turn off the ducted air conditioner 24/7. Yes, it’s terrible. And you said you have a good result now, so what’s the score now? And probably what was added to your system to achieve this. We started with 7 kW, and a few years later, about 3 years ago, we added another 13, bringing the total capacity to 20. And each time this upgrade was because getting bills.

These 20 kW then reduced our costs to almost zero. And then we bought, a plug-in hybrid car. So, it has a battery of about 30 or so kWh. So that, along with the came to about 300 per month, which we paid. Yeah, even in the winter, even without the air conditioner on, it was still just consuming electricity. So we installed a 50 kWh battery, it’s a GoodWe, and we also changed our inverter: we had a 5 kW for the 7 kW panels, and a 10 kW inverter for about 13 panels.

And we switched to one combined at 15. That means we can charge the battery, you know, really quickly during the day, because through GloBird, we get electricity from 11:00 to 14:00. So it’s almost charged, even if, you know, it’s a cloudy day. How do you like GloBird? We, are pretty open about saying that we like GloBird. Not many people, could, not everyone can benefit from it, but, I think with a fairly powerful system, it’s probably an obvious choice to go over to them and take a look.

If you live in the GloBird service area, it’s definitely worth it. It would be great to hear what you have to say about them. We know our opinion. Yes, I like them. It took me some time to set up the system. So communicating with your technical support was very appropriate, because initially I had all the settings in the system incorrectly. But I think there have also been a few updates in the last few months that have helped.

So, yeah, pairing your battery with the GloBird allowed me to set it up so that it would charge from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM every day, from the grid for free. And we’re also trying to, we have that electric car, but also a full SUV. So we connect it at the same time, between 11:00 and 14:00, and get free energy. And then store as much of the 50 kWh battery charge as possible for the evening.

And as soon as 6:00 PM hits, I have it set up so that the system only uses battery power, because from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM with GloBird, if you don’t take anything from the network, you get a dollar back as credit. So, since then we’ve just been running on battery power. And besides, from 6:00 to 9:00 you get a pretty energy return rate. It seems to be about 15 cents.

So I usually export power until the battery charge drops to about 35%. And then once it reaches 35%, that’s enough for us until about 8:00 AM the next day. And by then the is charging again. I know you’re right. I was just going to that Tim asked about Amber before we started, because a lot of people know about Amber. But for those who don’t know: in my opinion, the difference between, say, GloBird and Amber is that GloBird you need to understand your consumption and adjust some parameters manually.

And that’s something that, Angus says, Joe helped him set up. Joe, yes. Amber has a feature they call “smart shift” where everything automatically, but they charge a subscription fee for it. Of course. And it still takes a week or two or even three for the artificial intelligence to adapt before everything starts working. Yes. That’s the difference between them. You get the same benefits. So, either you want a fully system and pay a subscription, or you just want to change a few settings that can be adjusted two or three times a year depending on the season.

Yes. Yes. Yes, these are just results you’ve already gotten. Yes, it was almost instantaneous, as soon as What is your bill now? Not sure if you mentioned this before. Maybe I missed it. Oh, that’s…yes, we’re overpaid. Yes. So, That’s $40 in credit, and we’ve had the battery for, oh, probably 6 months, maybe, yeah, about 6 months or so. Probably somewhere like that. Yeah, yeah, because that was right before It was like with a 20 kW solar system, you still paid 300 a month.

Now you’re overpaying, even though you have a full-fledged electric car, a hybrid, and that 16 kW ducted air conditioner. I would be scared to see what the bill would be without solar panels and a battery. That would be Yes, we have never had a period without solar energy. We installed it as soon as we built it, but yeah, I wouldn’t want to see the bills if we didn’t because it would be like…

Even at 300 a month I only charged the car during sunny periods and only used solar power. So, these 300 are essentially air conditioners. Yes, well. Yes, well. This is a big savings. You talked a little bit the app and good it is. About how easy it is to use, read data, and so on. Especially with a hybrid that can be recharged, well, particularly with the GloBird, you can connect it so that you can track what you’re actually doing.

You think it shows all your loads and Yes quite accurately. Everything else you have there Yes. Yes, I, as you said, GloBird requires a bit of manual setup and testing. But yeah, just testing it for a week or so, I saw, because I think one evening GloBird or, excuse me, Sims app showed that maybe 0.1 kW was exported between 6:00 and 9:00, but GloBird didn’t record that.

So yes, it’s within the margin of But yeah, there have been times when I’ve had to take a pickup truck and I’ve used up the battery charge during the day and I need it again tomorrow, so I have to charge it in the afternoon, and it’s 30 kW, so that’s going to eat up most of the battery. So in the evening I just need to go into the GloBird app and turn off the export, or just make sure now because there was an update recently where you can set the percentage.

So I’m just saying: you know, don’t discharge more than 35% into the network or into the So yeah, it’s really easy to work with, and I learned something. I just realized, like in previous episodes, where we talked about people switching to electric cars because of fuel economy and all that. Earlier, when I talked about how big his bill would be, I was only thinking about saving on Angus has two electric cars, so the savings in your simply astronomical.

When you have fuel and This is incredible. Yes. Yes. This is really We recently had a project with another client, and she was in the same situation. She installed a solar system knowing she would buy an electric car, so she built it with power to spare, and now she’s in the same position. She doesn’t electricity bills, and, you know, she doesn’t pay for gas either Honestly, I’m even a little jealous.

The results are simply amazing, it’s a remarkable success. Again, I like hearing this from clients because we know we are doing the right thing, implementing it Please tell us about your first encounter with our company. How did it So, if I go back even further, I started getting interested in probably over a year ago. First I went to Google and looked for the batteries, etc. I found a company that installed an extension for us for an additional 13 kilowatts, something like [another installer].

They were relatively cheap. Yes, that’s right. Yes, yes. They were very difficult to deal with. Yes. I worked with them, and they really messed with my mind. What? Really? Yes, yes, believe it or not. They tricked me for a few months, I paid a deposit, but in the end I had to fight to get it I returned it, but it was still a pleasure. Then I took a break for a month or so, and then started searching again.

I found another company, I don’t remember the name anymore, but they went bankrupt, you know, closed down. I lost my $500 deposit there, it just disappeared. Now I remember it. Yes, yes. So, there was also this story. This was also quite a mess. After that, I started looking for companies again, and I don’t remember how I came across you, probably through Google or some solar energy review site., I think I had a bunch of other offers and was almost ready to sign with someone else and then I talked to you.

And just the confidence I got from you, you know, you’re local, you’re on the Gold Coast. I know where you are. And the confidence you instilled in me, at least you know, you have Joe from tech support who is also local. Whereas in other companies I dealt with, it was obvious that it was a call center, regardless of whether it was in Australia or not. There’s just no such certainty.

You don’t feel like you’re talking to someone who really knows their stuff like you guys. You feel like you’re just talking to a salesperson. And yeah, I mean, for the price you were maybe 500 more expensive or something, but overall I would rather pay that 500, get a quality product and the kind of service I got than save a couple hundred dollars and be ripped off over and over again Yes, the 500 bucks trade-off is good compared to what you had to go through.

It’s terrible that you had to go through this. I remember when you first reached out, and it seems Anthony was supposed to handle everything. Yes, I think we were pushing hard to make it to the May 1st discount. The discount has fallen. Yeah, that was…yeah, that was pretty late. It seems like about a month before or something like that. There is also a shortage of supplies. Yes.

Huge stock shortage with SAI. And I think we were also waiting for the delivery of three-phase SAI systems, inverters. And many people ordered, let’s say they ordered 10 and only received two. Well, we’re actually some of the lucky ones who still got what we did. So. Yes, it’s crazy that his bills were so high, and then he added Yes. There are more appliances in the house, and there are still savings.

Well, it seems like, yes, Ben, you’re pretty smart about accounts, and tech- savvy, and how to use it all yourself. You really have a very good understanding of the system itself, how it works, and even electricity itself. Who do you work for? Well, I’m a civil engineer at Queensland Good understanding. You know, Tim, what you just said made me think that there are more than two types of people.

But of course, when we talk about solar panels and batteries and whether they work, there are always going to be a lot of people who say, “Oh, it’s all a scam” and stuff like that. It actually comes from experiences you’ve had, you know? Yes, but you obviously knew it would work anyway, so you didn’t stop, you just looked for the right people, as I understand it. But your consumption is high, you obviously live how you want and live the way you like and you found a way so that it doesn’t cost you money.

Em. It makes sense to us because we know the results. This obviously makes sense to you, and you overcame that negative experience with the down payments and the inability to find specialists because you just knew what the end result would be. So I’m really glad you came and shared this experience with others, because I hope it helps them understand and see that not everything related to solar energy or batteries is a Yes.

One hundred percent. This is just wonderful. Thank you. No, no. Thank you. My brother-in-law was in the same situation. He thought it was a scam, but they installed them in their own homes too, so it couldn’t be that big of a scam. I will also add that the battery also gave us the confidence to buy an electric car, that is, a full-fledged electric car. So, I know some people don’t like them, and that’s fine, but we started with the plug-in hybrid as a kind of test for us.

And it wasn’t until we the battery that we decided, “Yeah, let’s go ahead and get a real electric car,” and we saw the benefits of that as well. So, yeah, it definitely helps him in terms of. Yes, the return on investment increases due to the positive effect of what you can do. Yes, definitely. And we could give you, well, of course, when we make the initial sale, we can give you an payback period for that system.

It doesn’t quite take into account the purchase of this hybrid or electric vehicle. No, it’s based only on that electricity bill. This does not take into account the additional benefits we are talking about. Yes, this is an additional And you also have a three-phase conditioner that you can turn on, and that’s not a problem at all. You save on fuel for two cars, which is certainly very beneficial.

Have you done any calculations on what the payback period of this battery system will be? Oh, I think these were very rough estimates, even before electric car and we solar charging as much as possible, but if we take very simple numbers, we paid a minimum of 300 per month for the whole year. So that’s 3600 per year. The system cost about 14 thousand, so it turns out less than 5 years to pay back, based on Electricity is only getting more expensive.

This is something we have constantly taken into account fuel savings. That’s right. And we doing that, you know, the initial solar system that we installed, 7 kW, I think it cost us, I don’t know, 7 to 10 grand at the time. And then the additional 13 cost something like 6 grand at the time. And with each of them you did the same calculation to determine the payback period.

But within a few years of its energy prices skyrocketed and feed-in fell. Whereas the battery, in my opinion, gives us stability, and now we control it ourselves. And even if, you know, global or other Yes. We always remember when solar energy first appeared, there were high feed-in tariffs. Many Queenslanders still have a 44 cents redemption rate. The battery is essentially the same, as your peak usage is now costing about 44 cents.

So if you have a battery, you don’t technically get that 44 cents, but you don’t pay it to anyone else either. So what is the new equivalent of the 44- cent tariff now? Yes, that’s right. And this will become an even more equivalent as energy prices rise. That’s right. Yes, definitely. He understands. How was the installation? He works there. He understands. Yes. Do you have any feedback installation day?

Have the guys Oh, that was great. Everything Yes. How did this process go? How is the team? Yes, absolutely wonderful. I think there were two guys that day, and they had to fiddle around a bit, but they handled it great and explained everything. So it seems the issue was with the way everything was connected, the panels and inverter no longer met modern requirements. So, there were some changes that the guys, you know, didn’t know about in advance.

So they had to rewire everything a bit, which took more time and effort, but they were polite and even cleaned up after themselves. They did the job very neatly. Unlike the previous guys from [another installer], who did everything quite carelessly. It was obvious that it wasn’t the best job, I remember climbing up onto the roof after them, and there some of the insulation and wrap wasn’t secured in place.

Instead, your guys left everything clean and did a great job. And they were on time. They arrived exactly when they promised. That’s good. Yes, that was very good. And they were easy to talk to after work. I think I had a few questions for them afterwards, before talking to Joe, and they were willing to answer me in messages. This reinforces what we’ve been talking about in other episodes: there are a lot of solar systems installed now.

If a battery is added to such a system, it’s not just “plugging it in “, right? Often, as Angus just said, that’s exactly how it is. The system must either be brought into compliance with the regulations because you take responsibility for Yes, absolutely true. Often we would prefer simple, and as in your case, you have a fairly large system. It was probably still fine, but it’s often better to potentially update everything completely.

Yes, depending on the situation. Unless it’s relatively new. Do you have any suggestions or anything you can advise us as a business? No, no, honestly, everything was great from beginning to end., I think, as you said, it was not easy, to make it before the discounts expired. It seems like everything was planned for a week, but something went wrong, but you me right away, assured me that everything would be done on time, and that’s how it happened.

I don’t even know if it was a contractor you brought in, but they all acted and communicated as if it was your company, as a single team. I repeat, these are all our guys. We only work with our own Yes, yes, and it was good. That also gave me confidence, because, again, in [another installer], these were just random contractors that they sent out and who didn’t take So the experience with Jo…

I think I’ve figured out what’s what, but in the very beginning she was great to work with when I had difficult questions. She immediately contacted GoodWe, received answers, and got back to me very quickly, literally within a. And this is a mobile call, not letters to some general address or anything like that. It’s a conversation with a real person, and it helps a lot. Even integration with systems, like you mentioned about Amber, when that becomes available for the GoodWe battery, if that’s something that…

Maybe it’s in testing right now. We have a client who just signed up for their beta program. It took him almost a month to get it really working, but he’s getting good results now, even though it’s part of a testing program. Yes, but that’s something I’d like to explore once it becomes available to everyone. But yeah, when it comes up, I’m sure Joe and you can help.

So, honestly, keep doing what you’re doing; This is great. I have already recommended you to my family and friends. And so, it seems, my sister was looking for suggestions, and I immediately said, ” Call these guys,” because there’s no point in wasting time on nonsense. I have a question for you, although you have already partially answered it throughout the conversation. But, you know, I wanted to ask, what advice would you give to someone who is planning to install solar panels and batteries, not just based on our experience?

After all, you actually have three different systems at home, you’ve gone through this process three times, and actually, it seems like six times, considering the other problems you had. So you’re probably one of the best people to give advice because you’ve done it more than once. What advice would you give to someone else who is considering to solar and batteries to save money and help with the family Yes, just call you.

I always like to research everything myself, go to Google and find the cheapest deal, but you’re not the most expensive, but you’re not the cheapest either. And if you choose the cheapest, you will get something of poor quality. And you guys are honest. You, you tell it like it is. You help, if someone is not very knowledgeable or doesn’t accounts and needs help, you are always there.

And if someone like me calls and says, “I want this battery. I know what my savings will be. Just help me.” You are also always ready to help. So, google as much as you want to make sure of your choice, but be As I always try to say bluntly: a miser pays twice. We heard Angus’s opinion, from him personally. He is obviously a very educated man. He understands this, he understands how everything works.

If you are looking for solar panels or you may already have a system installed. Perhaps you have already had negative experiences with other companies. You know where to turn. You know where to call. Thank you, Angus. Thanks for your time, friend. I appreciate it. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. See you later.