As part of the installation of Solar Panels we had monitoring hardware installed. One transmitter is attached to measure our power usage and another to measure our generation. Both these send data to a receiver attached to a spare port on our ADSL line. Efergy who supply these units provide a free service which records all the data. As well as online graphs you can download various reports for analysis.
Step 1 was to change some household practices. The Dishwasher and the Washing Machine now only operate during the day after we are generating power. We are also looking at some of our refrigeration equipment to see if we can alter their operating times.
Step 2 was the assessment of our overall usage to see if our generator was big enough to run the house - it was. The Solar Panel installer will now fit a cutover switch to our meter board which allows us to plug our generator directly into the house. Rather than numerous extension cords snaking through the paddock and into the house a single heavy duty cable will run from the new (yet to be built) generator house. It will be positioned out of earshot but still close. Setup and changeover will be minutes. And the dismantling just as quick.
Each year we use our generator at least 3 or four times when power goes out. The last time was after the East Coast Low cut power for 3 days. We expect our country service quality to degrade in coming years when the state government sells off the service. The small investment in a quick changeover facility will make life just that little bit simpler.
Step 3 is the assessment of Time of Usage (TOU). Now that we have some usage history we were able to plug data from Peak, Off peak and Shoulder usage into a spread sheet and compare the cost of TOU to our current contract. Based on these numbers a changeover to TOU will give us a 14% additional saving on our quarterly bill.
Step 4 was to get the supplier to change us to TOU and then go to the Sales department and get a 12 month contract which would give us another 18% discount on the TOU rates. This has to be renewed every 12 months (calendar marked) and the bills paid on time and in full.
One warning here. Make sure you keep track of your conversations and write down the call reference numbers. We were able to eliminate a $66 changeover fee because in one call the operator said the fee was only applicable for meter configuration and not for the reading.
According to our spread sheet we have reduced our quarterly bill by a whopping 57%. A pay back period of 2.9 years on our Solar Panel investment.
The electricity supplier doesn't spell out all these discounts. It was only due to our solar installer that we were able to find out about and take advantage of the various configuration discounts.
Showing posts with label Saving Energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saving Energy. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Another good day at home, Saving Energy, Coffee, Cheese Making Community, Insurance
We are having visitors tomorrow for afternoon drinks. Sounds good? Yes and no. Time to get the place looking respectable. Lots of house cleaning and the lawns need doing. Still having visitors is a good incentive to have a general clean up around the place. Good to get it done very now and then.
Saving Energy
The electricity bill arrived yesterday. Another reduction in usage. This is the second bill in a row showing a reduction in usage prior to that it had shot up. An all time low compared to this time last year.
The cause of the original increase was the upright freezer. It wasn't that old and had a reasonable energy rating for an upright but we'd noticed it running fairly regularly.
A few years ago the operating temperature of all the fridges and freezers had been checked and adjusted. Then a meter was put on one in turn to measure consumption. All were fine.
As there was an opportunity to consolidate frozen storage about the time we received the big energy bill we defrosted each in turn and cleaned them finishing with the upright being turned off. Two months of no upright showed a huge reduction in electricity usage. This current bill reflects all three months of savings and as well our old analogue TV started to play up and was replaced with a more energy efficient digital reducing our usage a little more.
Only goes to show that major appliances need to be checked regularly for performance.
Coffee
Having harvested the best beans from the broken Coffee tree branches the pips were popped out and are soaking to get the flesh off. The earlier harvest had been cleaned and was sun dried and today over coffee the paper shell was removed and the beans are ready for roasting. After the next batch is done there will be enough to warrant a roasting session.
Insurance
The updated insurance policy arrived this week. When the reminder came the other week we made a few changes to it via telephone. Both the Building and the Contents Basic excesses were increased. We looked at a couple of options before settling on the final amount which reflected our financial position and ability to cover the excesses as well as the risk factors. In the end we ended up with a reduction in premium of 30%.
Always worth reviewing not only the coverage amounts but the Basic Excess every year for all insurance policies. Such as house and vehicles.
Cheese Making Community
The cheese community continues to grow. When we commenced collecting milk from our current supplier we would often leave them a sample of the end products as they were made from their milk. Cheeses, Butter and Yogurt.
The daughter-in-law of the dairy farmer had sampled some of these and was motivated to complete a cheeses making course. And today she brought us a sample of her work in the form of a Camembert. Absolutely delicious! An excellent creamy wonderfully smelly cheese.
Many years ago when we first started making cheese we were lucky enough to meet Richard Thomas in Milawa an Australian cheese maker famous for developing so many different and well known cheeses. He encouraged us to keep on with the cheese making not only providing references to reading material but also sending us off with rennet and starter culture. He had the view that the more people who became involved in home cheese making the more the market for good cheeses would expand as tastes changes and expanded.
Saving Energy
The electricity bill arrived yesterday. Another reduction in usage. This is the second bill in a row showing a reduction in usage prior to that it had shot up. An all time low compared to this time last year.
The cause of the original increase was the upright freezer. It wasn't that old and had a reasonable energy rating for an upright but we'd noticed it running fairly regularly.
A few years ago the operating temperature of all the fridges and freezers had been checked and adjusted. Then a meter was put on one in turn to measure consumption. All were fine.
As there was an opportunity to consolidate frozen storage about the time we received the big energy bill we defrosted each in turn and cleaned them finishing with the upright being turned off. Two months of no upright showed a huge reduction in electricity usage. This current bill reflects all three months of savings and as well our old analogue TV started to play up and was replaced with a more energy efficient digital reducing our usage a little more.
Only goes to show that major appliances need to be checked regularly for performance.
Coffee
Having harvested the best beans from the broken Coffee tree branches the pips were popped out and are soaking to get the flesh off. The earlier harvest had been cleaned and was sun dried and today over coffee the paper shell was removed and the beans are ready for roasting. After the next batch is done there will be enough to warrant a roasting session.
 |
| Soaking off the remaining pulp |
 |
| Ready for roasting |
Insurance
The updated insurance policy arrived this week. When the reminder came the other week we made a few changes to it via telephone. Both the Building and the Contents Basic excesses were increased. We looked at a couple of options before settling on the final amount which reflected our financial position and ability to cover the excesses as well as the risk factors. In the end we ended up with a reduction in premium of 30%.
Always worth reviewing not only the coverage amounts but the Basic Excess every year for all insurance policies. Such as house and vehicles.
Cheese Making Community
The cheese community continues to grow. When we commenced collecting milk from our current supplier we would often leave them a sample of the end products as they were made from their milk. Cheeses, Butter and Yogurt.
The daughter-in-law of the dairy farmer had sampled some of these and was motivated to complete a cheeses making course. And today she brought us a sample of her work in the form of a Camembert. Absolutely delicious! An excellent creamy wonderfully smelly cheese.
Many years ago when we first started making cheese we were lucky enough to meet Richard Thomas in Milawa an Australian cheese maker famous for developing so many different and well known cheeses. He encouraged us to keep on with the cheese making not only providing references to reading material but also sending us off with rennet and starter culture. He had the view that the more people who became involved in home cheese making the more the market for good cheeses would expand as tastes changes and expanded.
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