$8 electricity bill

“Sometimes the way to the best results is to start small”. A perfect example of this is Heather Harkis one our customers from Castlemaine. What Heather wanted to achieve was a way to reduce her electricity bills which were starting to bite into her single income existence. Heather started her solar experience a few years ago, with a small 1.5kW system on the roof of her single occupant unit.

After a few years of reaping the rewards she decided that she liked what she had and was starting to look for something more. Heather came along to one of our Solar and Battery information nights in Castlemaine in March 2016. In this session, we gave information and talks about the newer technology in the solar industry such as the Enphase battery storage system.

She liked what she saw, especially the Enphase battery module. With the Enphase battery module, you can start as small as you like. A lot of solar battery systems will work best with a larger solar array (solar panels on the roof) and thus will often make it harder for people with small systems to get any value out of the batteries. The Enphase is different because it has individual module technology that allows you to have bite size solar power. We call this a micro inverter system. Even if you have a larger solar system you do not have to have the batteries to match it fully. You can start small and build when you are ready.

Heather took the information from the night and thought about it for a while. She then gave us a call with only one question in mind. If I only have a small 1.5kW solar system what size Enphase battery module can I have?

We went out to meet her in her small unit to see what she had installed. That’s another great thing about the Enphase modules we weren’t even the original installers of her existing system, but it allowed us to fit it to what she already had. No need to install new solar just retrofit what is there. We installed a 1.2kW Enphase battery module.

First Enphase solar battery installed in Castlemaine

This battery module has lithium iron technology which allows you to cycle them twice a day. This means Heather can charge the batteries from the solar during the day and use the power from the batteries when she wants to. For example, at breakfast and dinner times, when electricity usage is higher. Not only is she saving electricity use she is using it when she wants to. Now that’s taking control.

I recently took a phone call from Heather and she told me she was so excited when she received her electricity bill. “$8 that was all”. So, with Heather the old saying of “start small and build” really worked. It may have taken too much out of her spending if she did it all at once. But by getting the solar first and saving from that she could use that money to get a better result. Well done Heather!