I'm also looking.

One thing I haven't worked out is do you use the solar power from the cells, or is that all just fed back into the grid, money paid to offset your bill cost?

I would like a setup with a battery backup and to only draw power from the grid when that is drained. Does that exist at a non-bullshit high price?

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[COLOR="Gray"]550Nm off a 2L... Just wish it was in the dak dak...[/COLOR]

you use power from the cells, any unused goes back onto the grid and you get 'credit' towards your bill. However the cost per unit has significantly decreased since the scheme was first launched. Ask Tristan. He gets paid the initial buy back price, which is 7 times the cost of a single unit of power I think.

we got a 3kw system thru them & had it installed 1 day before the cut off date in august.
no complaints here, first power bill for 2 months was 60c.

governmant has now clicked on that it was way way way more popular than they can ever have imagined, thier buy back rate is now slashed as kym said

Under the old rebate rate, we try not to use any of the solar power so we sell it all back into the grid at the higher rate. We buy back at night/peak time on the standard flat rate (not the "Smart" rates).

Our 3kW system is enough to meet half of our energy needs (family of 6) but almost all of our costs. We run in credit in Summer, debit in Winter. We are on target to pay for itself in under four years. With the new rates it would take about 10 years.

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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.

I got mine installed just over a year ago (1.5kW), during the better rebates, since they do not pay you back every bill, rather they let it accumulate and pay you in a lump sump, power company now owes me $432 (as of last bill).
Was definately worth me getting.
Under the new rates I would guess that I would just break even, ie, not have any bill to pay.

I got mine installed by allied energy out of this thread.

Out of my pocket it cost me $9500 for a 3kw system, but as of last bill I was about $1000 in credit.

I got in before they dropped the buy back tariff or the rebate so I get the 47c per unit buy back and the gouv paid about 5.5k to the initial cost.

Had it on the roof for 12 months this month I think we have never received a payment from the power company we just sit in credit.

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Its all about the pink flaps

These days getting huge systems isn't as good as it used to be. Correct me if I'm wrong but the buy back price is equal to the sell price, hence getting a decent 1.5kw system (as thats where most of the rebate goes to) makes more sense I reckon.

On that note, anyone can hook me up to a good 1.5kw system, I will install the same system on 3 houses and pay in cash (if that helps)

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Member of the 18-35 club and proud of it! (For another 5 years...getting old)

New toy has arrived, 1/4 mile in 11.2 sec and only 114hp!

Yup. You have to get a system to cover the power usage that you use during the day. All additional units get fed into the grid and you get 7c a unit. It used to me 47c and then 27c.

So it only makes sense to get a large system if you are at home during the day to use up all the power generated by your solar panels. You don't want to generate any excess and get 7c for it. There's no incentive to do so.

I had a 3.7kW system installed April 2011 thru Infinite Home Energy and so far so good. They also did my parent's place which had some minor issues. They came back and had it sorted so I am quite happy with them. The other guys that get positive mentions on Whirlpool Forums is GSI Solar.

My wife's cousin went via Solar Harness and they had all sorts of issues with them.

Have got a 4.2kw system with 16 x 250W panels. Not 190W panels. Since installation, haven't paid a cent. Currently $300 odd is credit. We have got it at the rate of 40c odd before the Gov clicked on. Got ours through Brockas, hassle free.

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Respect Mya Authoritaaaaaa!!!