Ok, I'm in New Zealand, (which isn't part of Australia
), but we have a very similar electricity regulatory system, and we follow most of the same standards and rules. The main difference being our electrical energy is ~90% renewable (from hydro, wind and geothermal).
Also, I work for a couple of the grid companies (utilities) here, and have my own reasonably large hybrid system which uses some retired grid components (batteries mainly).
I'll try to give a balanced point of view based on my experience as a home owner and as a utility employee/consultant.
I hope this works well for those aussie's that sign up for it ... my own opinion (warning, this is a long one) is that it is an end-run around DIY capability that is now present in solar. Why allow folks to DIY when we can put you on the subscriber list, and add you to the rolls?
So, there is the "service" that a supplier provides to you for some cost (cents/kwh). Then there is the "headache" factor associated with that service (harder to quantify in cents/kwh, but easy to spot in the bill) ... fuel surcharges, wire fees, more fees for this, that, and the other. Taxes on top of basic costs AND the fees. Add to that the fact that the government gets a right to come onto your property and do pretty much whatever they want, in perpetuity (and they did, all too often, when I was grid-connected). Madness ...
I'm not familiar with this headache factor associated with the grid supply, and all these other fees. We have a pricing agreement with our electricity retailer where we pay a time of use rate for the energy used (13-27c/kWh), and a fixed daily fee ($1.95) to be connected to the grid. There are plenty of other options available from various other retailers (it is free to change, pretty much any time) with different unit rates, solar buy back rates, and daily rates.
In regards to the government having a right to come onto your property to do whatever they want. Firstly, the distribution company/metering company are certainly not government organisations here. And yes they own equipment on our property which they have a right to inspect and maintain. But this is normally located outside the house. They have no right to enter our house or do anything else without our permission.
I'm off-grid, because the grid supplier in my area had a horrible premise for hooking me up ... I pay all the connection costs to run the grid to my rural home location ($30k USD), and then start paying usual fees/costs after that (I since found out I was at the low-end of this "bargain", with a $30k charge ... others put me to shame with their cost estimate to get hooked up to the grid). No thanks.
I am mostly on the side of the utility in this case. Why should they (and all their other customers) pay to connect your house to their grid? Their grid ends where it does, and most likely ended there at the time you bought your property. It is your choice where you build your house, and you should pay all the costs associated with that decision.
Remember even in residential areas, at the time these are developed from farm land or whatever, the developer would have been hit with a very large bill to build the electricity network throughout the development, this includes all the cables, overhead lines, transformers, circuit breakers etc associated with supplying that load.
Yes, we have the same issue here where the costs to do that work seem to be quite high in comparison to getting, say, a local electrician to do the same work. This is because the utiliites have high safety standards and quality standards for any work they have done, and therefore they normally have a very short list of approved contractors, which can easily result in inflated prices.
And the reason you still have to pay your fees to use the grid, even though you forked out $30k already, is because there is another $X billion worth of grid that is also required to get the electricity from the generator to your house, and all that needs to be maintained.
Also, I expect that the additional cable and maybe transformer that your $30k would pay for will now be owned by the grid company and they have to maintain it. I.e replace the transformer in 20-40 years at their cost, repair any cable faults etc.
Luckily, technology got to the point where I could absolutely be my own grid, and run things like a grid (installation, maintenance, backups/spares, etc.) ... I do it, my kids do it when I can't, it just works. This was 10 years ago. We went off-grid and never looked back (and never will). This is *self-sufficiency*, and I consider it worth its weight in gold. It's the reason many of us went rural in the first place. DIY, do it right, avoid all the madness in so many ways (AHJ's, codes, costs, grid-indenturedness for life, etc.)
I totally understand the desire to be off-grid. I would like to do it myself one day. I just don't think it makes sense for many people, as the electricity grid (at least here in New Zealand) is far more financially efficient than an off grid system is in most cases.
So the AU solution is a little better in that there wasn't a "startup cost", but my suspicions are that it's ultimately just a good deal for the grid in infrastructure terms. I'd guess that, like a mortgage, the homeowners (present, future) will be paying 2 to 3 times its initial cost to have the grid do it, vs them DIY ... self-sufficiency got bypassed for "the government solution", and what did you gain? A phone number where you can call and say "my system doesn't work, come fix it ... yes, we'll be there when we can get to it". The grid in this case still gets X number of subscribers, stuck for life. When has the government ever done it better than you can do it yourself? Do we think that the government will do solar better than us, because "someone else" puts it in? Did they spec things right? Do they service it right? Have all the scenarios played out where we find out what can and will go wrong? IDK, but my gut is "watch out, and hold on tight" ...
I expect that there would be a "start up" cost (connection fee) in Australia too, there certainly is here in NZ.
In my situation, you would be extremely hard pressed to build an off grid system that can produce very reliable power more cheaply than the grid does.
And how are grid users 'stuck for life'? Yes they likely paid someway or another for their grid connection. But they could just have it disconnected I expect.
They are no more stuck than someone who decided to go off-grid and spend $30-50k on a solar, battery system and would then have to fork out another $30k if they bought an electric car and decided they wanted to be connected to the grid. I.e it's just sunk cost.
Self-sufficiency is putting in every system (food, electric, water, sewer, trash, etc.), understanding how it works (because you did it), and being able to fix anything, instantly. No service people come out to my rural location; many wouldn't have if I asked, or their "trip charge" was designed to make me not ask for them. I haven't needed any of them ...
My kids understand all of this now, and they don't need any kind of service folks ... self-sufficiency is ingrained into them. They do it without thinking. I'm hoping that there isn't a scenario out there (disaster or otherwise) where they won't already be self-sufficient in all aspects. They won't be waiting for a solution, and nobody will be "telling" them what they can/can't do ...
Like the old pioneer days (but with modern technology, and little of the inconveniences of nostalgic ways), we just get it done ... and it works.
I totally agree, it would be a great feeling to be self sufficient, and I'm a little envious, I also think it's great for health being away from the pollution of cities etc. But sometimes it is just easier and normally cheaper to live in a more populated area where services are more reliable, there are more jobs, schools etc.
www.abc.net.au
