If you’re in Australia and have been thinking about getting a grid-connected solar power system, there’s a really good deal right now with Earth Utility. If you order before 15 December 2008, it’ll cost $2,500 installed (after rebates, RECs, etc and excluding utility connection costs).
**WARNING:** Earth Utility appears to be in trouble (updated 28-04-2010)
I just rang them, and the story is that they need to receive your application forms (downloadable from their web site) no later than Monday the 15th. So if you’re interested, you’ll need to fill them out tonight and Express-Post them tomorrow morning (Friday) to ensure they get there on Monday.
They lodge the application for the government rebates on your behalf, and if you get rejected for some reason they will happily refund your deposit and cancel the order. They won’t start work until your rebate application is processed, just to be sure.
Rebate applications are backlogged at the moment. The government department issuing approvals (the Australian Greenhouse Office) is experiencing around 8-12 week turnarounds on approvals. Earth Utility will then install within a month or so after that, so you’re looking at having your installation completed in around 4 months from now.
I’m filling out my forms now.
Hey Darren,
Fantastic to hear you are getting solar panels – that’s a pretty amazing deal you can get them for only $2,500 – didn’t realise they had come down that much!
We got our panels about 4 months ago through Solar Switch and all has gone well – the only thing we have problems with is getting an accurate bill from our energy company! We’ve been back and forth with them about 4 times so far, with reponses ranging from we owe them $120 to they owe us $500! And they still haven’t gotten back to us with the correct figure – but with more people taking up residential solar panels, they’ll get the hang of billing soon. Maybe just when you get the panels on, call your energy company to let them know you’ve got them installed so they can be prepared to read the additional metre and bill you correctly.
Cheers and good luck with it all!
Ally and Rich
http://www.happyearth.com.au
Thanks for the tips! We’re currently with Energy Australia, I think – hopefully they can get it right, but I’ll be taking my own daily meter readings to keep ’em honest :-).
Given the current rebate approval backlog, it sounds like we’ll get our panels installed just in time for winter. At least our “settling in period” with billing etc should be over before the summer peak production time hits.
We’ve also asked them to leave space on our roof for a future solar hot water system. It seems a waste to replace our perfectly-good off-peak system at the moment, but if it ever fails it’ll be whipped out quick smart!
Prices have dropped. I got a 1.5kW for $2750 fully installed from Infinite Energy http://www.infiniteenergy.com.au – they’re WA-based. And I’m also getting an ENVI energy monitor which can show me how much power I’m producing (and selling back to the grid!). About time I get an invoice from the govt, instead of a bill! Very happy with my investment.
@Friska: Sounds like a very good deal. I’m sure you’ll be smiling about that purchase for many years to come, with an added giggle every time a power bill arrives :-).
I think the prices in this article are a little out of date. Try a quoting site like (link removed) and that will give you some up to date pricing.
@Kev: Err, yeah, as you can see from the date on it, this post is from December 2008. I’d say the prices are exactly 3 years out of date :-).
Its very expensive?!?!
@Tran: Err, have a look at the date on the post. In 2008, this was a very good price!