An Orange man’s bold move to run his house on batteries has helped him cut his power bills – but it will be a while before he can recoup his costs.
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Watchmaker Dan Fock said he was fed up paying high power bills so he had a battery unit installed in July after placing 32 solar panels on his roof in 2014.
He said the whole project cost him about $25,000.
And he said that even though power prices shot up by 23 per cent in July his bill was well down compared to pre-2014.
Mr Fock said the battery company had told him his house was the first installation in Orange.
He said that with running his watchmaking business from home and having three children he used plenty of power.
“I’m a high energy user,” he said.
“I use 35-40 kilowatts a day.
“I just got to the point where I was sick and tired of paying electricity prices.
“My greatest motivation was money. Every year my power bills were going up and up and up.”
Mr Fock said it was hard to know when he would recoup his costs.
He said that battery and solar technology was getting cheaper and power prices were rising.
“Unless you’ve got a crystal ball you don’t know when those two lines will meet,” he said.
“It’s about a five to seven year payback period from what the industry says.”
Mr Fock said the $25,000 was a reasonable expense.
“It’s not too bad” he said.
“When I first looked at it in 2012 it was $50,000.”
Mr Fock said installing solar panels worked best for people who were at home during the day to use the electricity when it was generated from the sun.
However, he said was not cost-effective for working couples who used most of their electricity in the evening when the peak electricity charges applied.
“It is not worth it for mum and dads going to work, don’t bother about it,” he said.
“Your PV [photovoltaics in solar panels] is just being wasted.”
However, he said people should look at installing batteries to store electricity at off-peak prices and use when they would otherwise would use peak period electricity.
“Everyone should have a battery, step one, and then if you want to, go to PV, after maybe two years,” he said.
David Fitzsimons
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
I am a senior journalist at the Central Western Daily concentrating on council, government and real estate issues. Before moving to Orange I filled senior roles at the Daily Telegraph, Daily Telegraph-Mirror and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. They included being an editor, news editor, chief of staff and reporter.
