The Sole Motivation to Install Solar Panels

According to David Green, Chief Executive of the Clean Energy Council, 2.5 million Australian households now have solar panels installed on their roofs, evidence that the switch from traditional electricity usage to renewable sources such as solar power has managed to save Australians some half billion dollars annually on electricity bills.

From December 2011 to December 2014, electricity prices would have a 40% increase because of costs attributed to network upgrading of the national power grid, a $55 billion figure that has already been locked in. It is this continuous uphill and steady increase in cost of electricity that has been the sole motivation for Australians to get solar quotes to have solar panels installed.

 

Only as a Backup Connection

The growing number of solar energy users may eventually spell doom for power network and grid operators. While they blame the replacement use of solar energy for traditional electricity, these operators have justified electricity bill increases as the result of difficulty in maintenance of a network and grid that is being patronised less and less by consumers. To perform at peak capacity, it is necessary to maintain optimal grid functionality, a condition which is impossible if there is less funds for its maintenance.

Only those consumers who can afford the increasing high prices will continue to patronise traditional electricity, paying for prices which would otherwise be equitably distributed if there no or few consumers who go off the grid completely. Those who choose to go off the grid totally, however, still retain a grid connection but only as a backup for emergencies. Lobbying to Government by operators to raise existing high electricity bills will be justified with the “connection as a backup” explanation in order to cover burgeoning maintenance costs.

 

Widening the Scope of Self-Wired and Independent Networks

As much as they would not admit it, operators have failed in their responsibility to serve consumers ethically. Because of their frequent price increases, micro-communities have already committed themselves to comparing solar quotes in order to install more solar panels and subsequently create their own network, “share” that network’s capacity, wire it with sufficient backup, and then go off the operators’ grid entirely.

This rise in every consumer’s electricity bill widens the scope of self-wired and independent networks of communities considerably, resulting in stronger and farther-ranging backup capacity with more consumers going completely off the grid day by day. Inevitably, these operators will fail and Government has to reclaim management of the networks ultimately and operate them as public service at regulated costs.