Concerned about your energy bills? You’re not alone – many other Australians are too. Electricity and gas bills top the list of monetary concerns for people across the nation, according to Canstar, as energy prices have gone up for consecutive years with no signs of slowing.
Finding ways to cut costs is a priority for many households, but it can be tricky to know where to start, which means many don’t start at all! Between the onslaught of online advice articles and running around your house switching off lights and the air conditioning, figuring out what will make an impact can take time and plenty of effort.
Luckily, Clipsal Solar customers can lean on us to deliver practical and effective recommendations, so they don’t have to obsess over trial and error. Using sensors installed at your property, Clipsal Solar’s Clipsal Cortex Analytics Kit will give you the power to see your home’s electricity consumption habits, from the Clipsal Cortex app on your mobile, to reduce your energy bills with ease.
Finding the right energy plan
The first step to saving money on energy is to make sure you’re on the right retail electricity plan. As part of our Clipsal Cortex subscription, when our customers receive their first full electricity bill post solar install, we provide them with a Retail Plan Check (RPC) so they can make the most of their existing plan or switch to save. Our RPC collects information about available plans on the market, using data to match your actual home energy requirements with the most appropriate plan, so you can compare apples with apples on available plans, and make an informed decision about switching providers if that’s the best option.
For one family in Kidman Park, South Australia, an RPC conducted by one of our solar experts showed them a path to save more than $185 per annum on electricity, by simply switching providers!
The Kidman Park house had a 6.2kW solar system installed in January 2019. After two billing cycles a RPC found that the household’s energy consumption had since shifted, along with other plans available on the market. Our RPC found that a different retail provider* had a more favourable plan available in their area suited to their household’s energy consumption profile and solar generation.
This saving was achievable for the Kidman Park house with minimal effort – Clipsal Solar provided them with an easy to action notification, by using our Clipsal Cortex Analytics Kit. Clipsal Cortex put the power in their hands to make the right decision for them to save. This household now receives credits rather than bills in summer, since having solar installed and changing retail providers!
Making the right adjustments
Once you are on the right retail plan, it’s important to understand how to adjust your behaviour to save even more. Here are two examples of “load shifting” – using your major energy consuming appliances (like a pool pump) during different hours; therefore shifting your electricity ‘load’.
You might know your air-conditioner chews up a lot of electricity, but do you know how much? Certain appliances can use more energy than you think and switching them on at certain times can add to a bill – big time. Simply analysing when an appliance is using the most energy and switching it to a better time can add up in the long run.
From the insights Clipsal Solar provided via data from the Clipsal Cortex Analytics Kit, the Kidman Park family could see their pool pump was one of the biggest culprits for bill shock. Normally running in the morning and evening, it missed the solar window and consumed expensive grid electricity. They quickly rectified the situation and scheduled their pool pump to run in the middle of the day. So just how much have they saved? We chose a day in February and ran the numbers on how much it would cost them by to run their pool pump at different times of the day (shown in the video below). It turns out to be the difference between paying $0.54 for the day and receiving $1.39 in credit. If that trend were to continue it could equate to a whopping saving of $704 per year!
They’re not alone; a family in Fulham, a near-by South Australian suburb, also received advice generated by Clipsal Solar’s Clipsal Cortex Analytics Kit, suggesting they shift their load by changing their pool pump timer. They were able to save an average of $237.25, by turning on their pool pump at night! The exact opposite advice, as their circumstances are different – they’re on higher feed-in tariff rate, meaning it is more valuable for them to sell their energy back to the grid than consume it directly – and they can now use their money towards something nicer than a bill!
While it’s easy to understand that appliances like a pool pump can be huge drains on your electricity, each household has its own unique energy needs and no two will always receive the same advice. By connecting directly into the power supply, Clipsal Solar’s Clipsal Cortex Analytics Kit will determine the best energy approach for your home, from load shifting, to switching plans, and the Clipsal Cortex app will provide you with transparency and control.
If you’re looking to reduce your energy bills, you can achieve all of this today! Plus our Clipsal Cortex app has some useful new features in the pipeline that you’ll benefit from too: soon you will be able to validate bills to check for errors, identify power-hungry appliances running unnecessarily, and run a solar health check, to assess if your solar system is installed correctly and performing.
At Clipsal Solar we harness the power of solar and data to help you make the best energy choices.
*Clipsal Solar don’t take kickbacks from energy retailers to promote any products or plans. We are your independent advisor and energy partner for life.
If you’re interested in saving money on your electricity bills, reach out to Clipsal Solar for a free assessment today.