EVs may be the way to drive down everyone's power bills
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
11 hours ago
- News.com.au
Aussies paying off their mortgage with home battery savings
An Aussie homeowner has revealed how he slashed his power bills from $500-$600 to zero - and now gets a passive income from the home changes he installed. Michael Tat from Sydney's south-west said he pocketing money every quarter from his electricity company after pairing a home battery with rooftop solar panels. He is now using the extra money to pay off his mortgage quicker and looking to add a second battery for an EV to avoid paying for petrol. It comes as Australia is reportedly seeing a home battery boom, with new data showing one in two households want to pair a household battery with new or existing rooftop solar to maximise their energy savings. And families are often diverting the savings into their mortgages in the hope of paying off their debt faster. Mr Tat said he made the changes after the recent run of energy price hikes. 'What really drove me was the beginning of the increase in price for electricity,' Mr Tat said. 'I was one of the early adopters in terms of purchasing an EV and getting on the green sustainability track.'' Mr Tat said having solar was a great starting point, however, the home battery allowed him to store power generated during the day when he would otherwise be at work and instead use this at night. Mr Tat is now looking for a second battery, which he said will help not having to worry about potentially taking from the grid at all. 'It's really trying to future-proof myself knowing that the federal government rebate is available now, looking at that initiative it actually is a very good offer in terms of being able to get a second battery at a low cost,' he said. 'Since I got the battery in October last year, I haven't actually had to pay a cent in electricity bills until now, even in the winter period,' he said 'My credit bill at the moment for my energy is actually in positive $487.' The father of one paid $5,200 for the battery and $6,100 for solar, with a passive income from the excess he is sending back to the grid. His current credit was received via this excess which accounts for about a $30 profit per month. Australian energy solutions provider VoltX Energy is reporting a 2000 per cent growth in battery solar pairings over the past year with data showcasing half of all households making the changes to reduce and even eliminate their energy bills. VoltX Energy CEO David Sedighi said this surge is 'unprecedented' and reflects a major shift in how Australians are managing energy costs. Mr Sedighi said solar panels generate electricity during the daylight with peak productions hours being between 10am to 2pm, however, excess electricity is typically exported back to the grid. Home batteries store excess solar power so you can use this at night time when electricity is the most expensive, essentially cutting bills and giving consumers energy independence, he said. 'It's a much smarter way of using and capitalising on your solar system,' Mr Sedighi said. 'Consumers might have a reduction in their bill from 90 to 100 per cent and we do see consumers going credit.' Data from Climate Council shows 9.5 per cent of homes in NSW with solar now have a home battery, while in South Australia its 13.9 per cent and just 4 per cent in Queensland with another 160,000 installations slated across Australia in the next 12 months. Mr Sedighi said the biggest barrier was the number of qualified installers available. 'Homes with solar panels are already more common than a backyard swimming pool and now household batteries are making them even more popular because they can eliminate reliance on the main grid entirely,' he said. 'The average reduction we see is somewhere between $2,000-$2,500 a year.' According to Mr Sedighi, the conversation has transformed from a year ago explaining the benefits of batteries to customers, to today, consumers lining up to be next for installation. VoltX Energy has attributed this growth to a combination of factors such as the Federal Government's solar battery rebate, growing awareness of the benefits of the home battery systems and rising electricity costs. These batteries use lithium iron phosphate, which Mr Sedighi said is the latest tech in lithium battery technology, safer and can go through more charge and discharge life cycles and includes thermal stability. 'We provide a 10 year warranty, the battery lifespan has 8,000 cycles which is approximately 20 years of battery life,' he said. 'It's essentially maintenance free, you set it up and forget.'
Sky News AU
12 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Google hit with $55m fine after ACCC took it to court over 'anti-competitive' Android deals with Optus and Telstra
Google Asia-Pacific has agreed to pay a $55m fine after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions took the search engine to court for striking a 'anti-competitive' deals with the nation's two largest telcos. The search engine made a deal with Telstra and Optus to only pre-install Google Search, and not other search engines, on Android phones the telcos sold to customers between December 2019 and March 2021. In return for Google's exclusivity on these devices, Optus and Telstra would receive a share of the revenue the search giant earnt from ads on Google it showed to customers on the Android phones. Google admitted that by striking the deal with the telco giants it would likely reduce competition. The search engine's massive fine comes alongside Telstra, Optus and TPG last year agreeing not to enter exclusivity deals with Google. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the deal between Google and the telcos posed a detriment to Aussie consumers. 'Conduct that restricts competition is illegal in Australia because it usually means less choice, higher costs or worse service for consumers,' Ms Cass-Gottlieb said. 'Today's outcome, along with Telstra, Optus and TPG's undertakings, have created the potential for millions of Australians to have greater search choice in the future, and for competing search providers to gain meaningful exposure to Australian consumers. 'Importantly, these changes come at a time when AI search tools are revolutionising how we search for information, creating new competition.' A Google spokesperson said the search engine was "pleased to resolve the ACCC's concerns". 'We are committed to providing Android device makers more flexibility to preload browsers and search apps while preserving the offerings and features that help them innovate, compete with Apple, and keep costs low,' the spokesperson said. Ms Cass-Gottlieb lashed out at the deal as she noted the increasing availability of AI search tools allowed consumers opportunities to 'experiment with search services on their mobiles'. Google's fine follows a long investigation by the ACCC and concerns from the consumer watchdog about the contractual arrangements for Google search, which include how ubiquitous it is as the default search engine on devices. The ACCC chair stressed that co-operation with the ACCC is encouraged as it "avoids the need for protracted and costly litigation and leads to more competition'. 'More competition in markets drives economic dynamism, but the reverse is true when markets are not sufficiently competitive,' Ms Cass-Gottlieb said. 'The ACCC remains committed to addressing anti-competitive conduct like this, as well as cartel conduct. Competition issues in the digital economy are a current priority area.' The consumer watchdog settled on this matter with Optus and Telstra in June 2024 and with TPG in August 2024.
Sydney Morning Herald
12 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Hesitation nation: We have it in us, so let's unleash Australian innovation
Australia can't fix productivity without confronting its innovation hesitation. As the nation launches another national conversation on productivity at Jim Chalmers' roundtable this week, one can't help but notice what's missing. The usual policy levers – tax reform, regulation, infrastructure – are all there. But innovation, long the lifeblood of productivity, is treated as a hopeful byproduct of policy rather than a foundation that needs fostering. This is evident in the Productivity Commission's 21-page white paper, Growth Mindset: How to boost Australia's productivity, which outlines the five proposed productivity inquiries. Terms such as innovation, innovator, innovative are mentioned just six times. In the subsequent interim report on Creating a more dynamic and resilient economy, innovation is positioned as an obvious, almost expected, consequence of the structural reforms, without reference to the necessary educational and cultural reform needed to harness the confidence and mindset to innovate. We can't regulate our way to innovation. Policies enable it, but the Australian people will ultimately be the innovators. Until we prioritise how Australians think about and experience innovation in daily life, reforms will miss their full impact. Loading So why do we too often struggle to innovate? Having taught creativity and innovation for many years at the Stanford and now at Harvard Innovation Labs, I have observed that stagnating individual and societal innovation is often the result of a set of myths and cognitive norms that perpetuate a cautious and risk-averse approach. There are three primary forms of innovation hesitation. We've probably all experienced at least one of these, either at home or in our workplaces. The first is 'innovation mythology'. This is the myth that innovation is only for individual geniuses like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk in world-changing eureka moments. However, innovation is just as likely to come from minor, incremental improvements made by everyday people. There are, in fact, very few singular eureka moments in innovation, and it is often a much more collaborative endeavour than a solitary one. Next is the creativity gap, a false belief that creativity is a rare gift for special people, and that not everyone can be creative. It often resembles impostor syndrome, where people hold themselves back from contributing valuable ideas or participating in initiatives.
