<
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/australian-homes-are-like-leaky-tents-and-free-solar-wont-solve-the-problem/>
"When Central Coast renter and energy analyst Declan Kelly tried to heat his
cold, damp home last winter using a retail plan offering three hours of free
electricity in the middle of the day, he was effectively road-testing the
federal government’s new Solar Sharers scheme.
From mid-next year, Solar Sharers will require every retailer to offer
customers a plan with a three-hour free-power window in the middle of the day
— a policy designed to help households soak up Australia’s rapidly growing
surplus of cheap solar. It’s pitched particularly at renters and people who
can’t install PV, giving them access to the benefits of daytime solar without
owning panels.
Kelly is a self-described “electricity guy” who writes the newsletter
Currently Speaking and works as the regulatory policy and corporate affairs
manager at Flow Power. But his home experiment offers a rare glimpse of how the
scheme may play out in real households, especially those living in cold,
inefficient homes.
Most winter mornings Kelly’s rental drops below the safe 15°C threshold, and
working from home has become, as he told the
SwitchedOn Australia podcast,
“kind of unbearable.” Armed with smart plugs, temperature monitors and a
willingness to “take it to the extreme,” Kelly set out to test an electricity
plan that already offered three hours of free power. He wanted to see whether
shifting everything into that midday window could heat his home for free."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
