Sambell Family, Northern Suburbs, NSW
“People think they should wait for home batteries to become more affordable...with falling feed-in-tariffs, a home battery is a better investment instead of getting a small return for any unused solar power you send to the grid.”
Make hay while the sun shines
Having achieved a level of energy independence back in 2015 when Peter Sambell installed 4kW of rooftop solar panels in his home, he wondered if he could reduce his electricity bills even further.
Prompted by a 20% increase in the price of electricity in 2017, Peter started to research how a home battery could help his household get the most out of their rooftop solar system instead of exporting unused solar power back to the grid. Rather than relying on grid electricity which was predominantly generated by fossil fuels, he was a firm believer in the environmental benefits of using more solar power that came from his rooftop.
As a retiree living with his wife, Peter was concerned about how rising electricity prices would have an impact on their energy bills especially during summer and winter when their air conditioning and heating was often running. Instead of being at the mercy of energy retailers, he started to look into how home batteries could be a solution.
“Before we had solar, we were paying about $2,800 a year for our electricity. With solar panels, our bills came down quite dramatically to $1,600 a year. I was quite certain that having home batteries would only bring our bills down much further.”
Real-time monitoring.
Peter and his wife rely on the sonnen app to get a real-time perspective of how their home appliances, air conditioning or heating has an impact on their energy consumption.
“The sonnen app is great because it reminds us how our energy usage spikes when we run the air conditioning or turn on a kettle. It also allows me to monitor the capacity of my battery so I can see it being drained to power my air conditioning and heating during summer and winter. I like the feeling of being energy independent instead of relying on grid electricity.”
