Yahoo Finance Aussie family slashes $2500 electricity bill to zero without reducing power use
The dad expects to pay off his $17,000 solar and battery investment in the coming years.
After paying $2500 a year in electricity bills, a father-of-four knew something had to give. He thought that money could have been better spent going on holidays with his family or going out to nice restaurants.
Not wanting to reduce his air conditioner and heating use, five years ago he took the plunge and invested in $7,500 into solar panels. The change from this 7.5 kilowatt system was immediate.
“I saw my electric bill fall below $1,000 a year, so I was getting over $1,500 a year in savings,” Mamoon Reza told Yahoo Finance.
The Sydney dad has shared how his personal financial situation has improved as advocacy group the Climate Council released new findings this week that Aussies with solar panels are saving a combined $3 billion per year in power bills. The Seize the Sun report suggests the nation increase its roof-top solar capacity by 26 GW of solar in six years by:
Adding two million new household batteries and 5000 community batteries.
Installing 260,000 solar systems on social housing properties.
Mandating solar on new buildings.
Providing no-interest loans for solar.
Up-skilling workers to work as electricians and solar installers.
Can a battery lead to further electricity bill savings?
With Mamoon’s savings close to paying off his solar investment, he’s gone all in on solar, buying a $10,000 battery.
“We haven’t paid any electricity bills since we put the battery in, and I think we’re actually making a little bit more money,” he said.
“We use the battery in the evening and put the excess back into the grid and that’s how we ended up with a $400 credit.
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Mamoon has also ditched his 28-year career in IT, and started up a solar brokerage business, finding finance for consumers so they can make the switch.
“For me it came down to the Japanese concept of Ikigai – so what does the world need, what am I good at, and how can I make a living at the same time. So rooftop solar was the best for me,” he said.
While the savings have been welcome, there was an even more important factor that’s continued to inform Mamoon’s interest in solar, and that’s lowering emissions so his 14 and 16 year old daughters have a brighter future.
“Once I became a father I realised the issue wasn’t just about me. I wasn’t going to see the worst impacts of climate change in my lifetime, but my kids definitely will,” he said.
“Having said that, I suspect the accelerating effect of climate change probably means that we'll probably see more than what we expected to see maybe 10 different years ago.
“I feel that climate change is a wicked problem. It’s not by anyone’s design.
"Fossil fuels have enabled us to live a lifestyle that we’ve become adjusted to, and we don’t want to change. But household energy consumption is probably one of the easiest problems to solve, because we, especially in Australia, we've got the abundance of solar.
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