There is a last-minute rush from homeowners wanting to buy solar panels before the solar credits rebate is slashed by up to $1200 from July.
Some solar installers are so busy they have declared their books full and are turning away customers.
Solar Shop Australia, one of the nation's largest providers of grid-connected solar power systems, says it has stopped taking bookings for installations before July in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
"There is an across the board spike in demand," says Daniel Edgecombe, Solar Shop Australia's general manager of retail.
For the first 1.5 kilowatts of a home solar system, the federal government multiplies the number of small-scale technology certificates that are attached by five. This multiplier will drop to four in July.
"We are having to very carefully manage our work order book to ensure we know when we can no longer offer the five-times multiplier," Edgecombe says.
Most people are opting for a 1.5 kilowatt system, which would generally produce 5-7 kilowatt hours per day and supply about one-quarter of the average household's energy needs.
The output varies depending on an array of factors including climate, shade, direction the panels are facing and the panels themselves, as well as the inverter – the techie part that converts the sun's power into electricity a house can use.
A typical Australian house consumes about 18 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day.
they represent very good investments, especially the small ones!
most people just go "ugh, it will take X years to recoup the the cost"
but think about it more like you would any other investment.
figure out how much money it would have made after 20 years.
then figure out how much your money would be worth if you put it in the bank for 20 years... or in shares...
even with loosing the principle! you are better off than if it was put in a bank or shares growing 10% a year!!
furthermore, moving soon? they should add to the resale value of the house! sure, they have a limited life, but it is still very strait forward to calculate exactly how much they are worth relative to buying a new system, and EVERYONE uses electricity!
the biggest risk is that panels may get dramatically cheaper in the future, but honestly, with the gov cutting grants, they seem to be getting more expensive!
I suppose another big risk is power getting cheaper... but I HIGHLY doubt that will happen within the next 10 years...
edit:
in qld you can currently get a 1.5kw system for $2000, NOT $12,000!!
like every great safe, high return investment: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT WHILE YOU CAN!!
in qld you can currently get a 1.5kw system for $2000, NOT $12,000!!
like every great safe, high return investment: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT WHILE YOU CAN!!
Throw in a solar hot water system as well, and the savings can be quite significant. (hot water accounts for about a third of energy costs if using electric hot water)
Actually in Qld you can get that for $1600 and the savings should represent a return of about 20% to 25% tax free government guaranteed, which beats the hell out of anything else I know.
Any expressed market opinion is my own and is not to be taken as financial advice
they represent very good investments, especially the small ones!
You can get them a lot cheaper than $2,000... however there are a few catches.
1 - at the lower prices (~ 1,500), you might need to sort out the sparky yourself. (extra cost)
2 - they will be cheaper panels and inverters... this can be a problem as failure rate can be quite high for the cheap stuff (I know because we went down that path).
At the end of the day I doubt having solar power adds much to the value of a house... it's the kind of thing that people think 'that's nice', but don't actively go looking for.
If you are considering solar... I would recommend doing solar hot water system well before solar panels... assuming you qualify for the rebates the return on investment is far higher (we saved a lot on power by doing solar HSW)...
Our solar panels (1.5Kw) do offset our consumption... but not nearly as much as the HWS.
thanks for the advice on solar hw guys! I'll be sure to look into it.
is there an avenue for taking your solar panels with you when you sell?
I agree it would be on the bottom of the list of things people are looking at..
still though, SHOCKING as this may sound when talking about the aussie market, I'm sure practicality comes into the decision making at least a bit?
people go by number of bedrooms and bathrooms... parking ect... and I know "GREEN!!1!!1!111!" is becoming a USP and excuse to jack up the prices of some new builds.
if you have two identical houses next to each other... and one has solar panels...
I have been worried about dodgy ones too... after the insulation scheme... we all know what dodgy opportunistic wankers some people are in Aus...
thanks for the advice on solar hw guys! I'll be sure to look into it.
No problems Mathew
If the cost of power skyrockets then you might find that things change when it comes to priorities, however the extra bedroom (man cave) is something more important since space is what most of us crave in our house..
I would recommend against taking a solar system if you sell your house... unless it cost a lot of money (> 20k +10kw systems) I think is just not worth it... The only caveat might be if you know the new buyers don't want it, or they want to haggle and are willing to opt out of it... installing the system into another house is not a big deal, but you will need sparkies at both removal and installation address's... really not worth it for a 1.5kw system that is 2nd hand anyways..
I am saddened by the bad taste that many have of the insulation scheme . I still support the concept .. That scheme, single handedly would have saved a massive amount of power across Australia... it is really a shame it was managed so badly with existing installers being ignored with their warnings of what could go wrong... thats what you get when you have to rush money into circulation and want to do something productive with it as opposed to simply giving it away to families to spend at harvey Norman.
HOME OWNERS will be able to avoid the initial cost of solar panels, and future electricity price rises, under a pay-as-you-go offering that has been a hit in the US.
Private equity-backed Sungevity Australia, a partnership between Lismore solar installer Nickel Energy and San Francisco's Sungevity, will initially offer the product, called Roof Juice, in northern NSW and Queensland, and extend it nationally by the end of the year.
In the US, the pay-as-you-go model has been a ''game changer'', Nickel director Nick Lake says, because it offers consumers immediate savings on their energy bill with no upfront cost.
More than 40,000 homes had been fitted with panels using such third-party finance. In California this now accounted for 74 per cent of all residential solar installations - up from 16 per cent a few years ago.
Australian Property Forum is an economics and finance forum dedicated to discussion of Australian and global real estate markets and macroeconomics, including house prices, housing affordability, and the likelihood of a property crash. Is there an Australian housing bubble? Will house prices crash, boom or stagnate? Is the Australian property market a pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme? Can house prices really rise forever? These are the questions we address on Australian Property Forum, the premier real estate site for property bears, bulls, investors, and speculators. Members may also discuss matters related to finance, modern monetary theory (MMT), debt deflation, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Ethereum and Ripple, property investing, landlords, tenants, debt consolidation, reverse home equity loans, the housing shortage, negative gearing, capital gains tax, land tax and macro prudential regulation.
Forum Rules:
The main forum may be used to discuss property, politics, economics and finance, precious metals, crypto currency, debt management, generational divides, climate change, sustainability, alternative energy, environmental topics, human rights or social justice issues, and other topics on a case by case basis. Topics unsuitable for the main forum may be discussed in the lounge. You agree you won't use this forum to post material that is illegal, private, defamatory, pornographic, excessively abusive or profane, threatening, or invasive of another forum member's privacy. Don't post NSFW content. Racist or ethnic slurs and homophobic comments aren't tolerated. Accusing forum members of serious crimes is not permitted. Accusations, attacks, abuse or threats, litigious or otherwise, directed against the forum or forum administrators aren't tolerated and will result in immediate suspension of your account for a number of days depending on the severity of the attack. No spamming or advertising in the main forum. Spamming includes repeating the same message over and over again within a short period of time. Don't post ALL CAPS thread titles. The Advertising and Promotion Subforum may be used to promote your Australian property related business or service. Active members of the forum who contribute regularly to main forum discussions may also include a link to their product or service in their signature block. Members are limited to one actively posting account each. A secondary account may be used solely for the purpose of maintaining a blog as long as that account no longer posts in threads. Any member who believes another member has violated these rules may report the offending post using the report button.
Australian Property Forum complies with ASIC Regulatory Guide 162 regarding Internet Discussion Sites. Australian Property Forum is not a provider of financial advice. Australian Property Forum does not in any way endorse the views and opinions of its members, nor does it vouch for for the accuracy or authenticity of their posts. It is not permitted for any Australian Property Forum member to post in the role of a licensed financial advisor or to post as the representative of a financial advisor. It is not permitted for Australian Property Forum members to ask for or offer specific buy, sell or hold recommendations on particular stocks, as a response to a request of this nature may be considered the provision of financial advice.
Views expressed on this forum are not representative of the forum owners. The forum owners are not liable or responsible for comments posted. Information posted does not constitute financial or legal advice. The forum owners accept no liability for information posted, nor for consequences of actions taken on the basis of that information. By visiting or using this forum, members and guests agree to be bound by the Zetaboards Terms of Use.
This site may contain copyright material (i.e. attributed snippets from online news reports), the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such content is posted to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of such copyright material as provided for in section 107 of US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed for research and educational purposes only. If you wish to use this material for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Such material is credited to the true owner or licensee. We will remove from the forum any such material upon the request of the owners of the copyright of said material, as we claim no credit for such material.
Privacy Policy: Australian Property Forum uses third party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our site. These third party advertising companies may collect and use information about your visits to Australian Property Forum as well as other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here: Google Advertising Privacy FAQ
Australian Property Forum is hosted by Zetaboards. Please refer also to the Zetaboards Privacy Policy