Origin Energy has fired off its opening shot in using power purchase agreements to beef up its sales of solar systems, and it is vastly better than buying power from them via the grid.
They are offering 15 year contracts where a customer who installs a 5 kilowatt solar system will pay as low as 11 cents per kilowatt-hour for power generated by the system. They also have a 16 cent per kWh offer for 3 kilowatt systems on a 7 year contract term where you can then buy the system outright at the end for just under $1000 or roll the contract over. This is a revolutionary price breakthrough for the customers in south-east Queensland and South Australia where the offer is available. For those in South Australia Origin Energy charges between 34 cents to 41.5 cents for power from the grid. In South East Queensland it’s between 25 to 30.6 cents. It means Australian households and businesses rather than receiving some of the most expensive electricity in the world will now have access to some of the cheapest in the world. But there’s a bit of a catch. You pay 11 cents whether or not you use the power from the solar system. For that proportion of generation that you end up exporting you’ll lose money. If you were with Origin Energy as your retailer, they are prepared to pay 6 cents for exported power in SE Queensland and 5.3 cents in Adelaide, so you’ll be 5 to 5.7 cents out of pocket for each kilowatt-hour you export. But you aren’t restricted to Origin as your power retailer under this offer. If you were to go with say Click Energy in SE Queensland then you could obtain as much as 12 cents for exports, but you pay for it with higher charges on power you consume from the grid. So really this deal is best for those customers who have high power consumption over the daytime period and therefore would consume most of the generation produced by the system. Based on even a 3 kilowatt system many households, particularly those that also use gas for heating and water heating in Adelaide, would end up exporting a very large proportion of such a system’s output. So it’s probably not such a good deal for them.
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NECF Update
The National Energy Customer Framework (NECF) comes into effect in Queensland from tomorrow - 1 July and will change the way electrical contractors interact with their customers and Energex. NECF Changes - Submission of CONNECTs As reported in previous Electrical Contractor Updates, a CONNECT (i.e a Network Connection Agreement) must now be submitted for new connection requests and any alterations of an existing connection (between network and premises). Please refer to Volume 6 Issue 5 for more information, or refer to the instructions on how to submit a CONNECT. Using a NMI to link a CONNECT with your EWR When submitting an EWR for a CONNECT, ensure the NMI matches in both the EWR and CONNECT. The best way to do this is to search by either NMI number, meter number, address or lot and plan. Using the 'Manually enter a new premise' option will NOT allow the NMI to match between a CX and EWR. This option should only be used if a premise cannot be found using the above search. New Connections requiring new National Metering Indentifiers (NMIs) CONNECTs requiring Energex to generate a new NMI may take up to 24 hours. If you have submitted a CONNECT requiring a new NMI, you will be notified via the Electrical Partners Portal when your CONNECT can be linked to your EWR. This notification will be either via email or SMS depending on the notification preference you have previously selected. NECF Frequently Asked Questions For further information regarding the NECF processes, please visit our website for a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's). This information has been sourced from the Electrical Contractor Update email (Volume 6 Issue 7) IMPORTANT CHANGES THAT COME INTO AFFECT AS OF TODAY 01/07/2015 Changes to Metering Charges What is happening? Energex is implementing changes to how customers pay for individual metering connections and personalised metering enhancements/alterations from 1 July 2015 to align with National Rules set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). This will result in changes to how customers are charged for some metering services. Due to late AER changes, Energex has made the decision to delay the charging of upfront metering charges until 1 August 2015, to allow the communication of this information to our customers and our industry partners. What are the changes? From 1 July 2015 Energex will:
From 1 August 2015 Energex will:
Please note, if Energex can reprogram a meter instead of installing a new meter a reconfiguration fee will be charged instead of the installation fee. This fee is $91.53 (exc.GST) for a basic meter reconfiguration.
It is important to note these upfront charges will apply to electricity retailers and are likely to be passed onto customers through their retail electricity bill. A full list of these services and prices are available on the Energex website This information has been sourced from the Electrical Contractor update email (Volume 6 Issue 7) |
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